This essay discusses the rationale for economic charter change through the lens of services reform and identifies three issues with the current proposal of Congress: the retention of the legislative franchise requirement, the exclusion of mass media from the scope of the amendments, and the...

The paper looks at the role of services in the economy and discusses why competitive services are necessary for achieving inclusive growth. An overview of Philippine services sectors is first presented highlighting their economic contribution as well as performance. This is followed by a...

There is now broad consensus that the Philippines should aim to have a globally competitive services sector. Applying Porter's framework on creating national competitive advantage (the diamond), this paper presents a comprehensive government strategy recognizing that it has an important albeit...

APEC 2015 provides an opportunity for the Philippines to advance its economic interests in services and contribute to regional integration by focusing on global value chains (GVCs) which are now believed to account for more than 50 percent of global trade. This paper looks at the GVC phenomenon...

Services are critical inputs in manufacturing production, and this is likely to intensify with the advent of new technologies. Based on the trade in value-added data of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the share of services embodied in Philippine manufacturing exports...

This paper examines the evidence on service innovation using the 2012 Census of Philippine Business and Industry and the 2009 Pilot Survey of Innovation Activities. It reveals the wide variation in R and D intensities and differences in innovation behavior between the manufacturing and services...

Services trade is expected to be the new driver of global trade growing further in the coming years with the adoption of new technologies and rising incomes, among others. To some extent, the Philippines has already gained a foothold having achieved significant success in the BPO sector....