As an alternative to accommodate intraregional diversity in the context where organizations aspire toward more ambitious integration goals, differentiated integration has become a feature in many regional groupings. Such a mechanism allows member states that are ready and willing to move forward...

This paper presents how APEC has evolved as an institution, the changes it undergoes and the challenges it has faced for the past decades. More importantly, this paper tries to enumerate the roles of APEC in positioning the Philippines in the global economy. Established in 1989 in Canberra,...

In 1993, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) published a report containing recommendations that recognized the economic interdependence and economic diversity of APEC economies and welcomed the challenge to achieve free trade in the Asia-Pacific. This came to be known as the "Bogor...

As a single market and production base, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) enabled ASEAN Member States (AMS) to take advantage of the free flow of goods, services, funds, and labor. The free movement of labor, particularly skilled, to economies with lucrative opportunities allows them to realize...

This paper considers the APEC and proposed EGA agreements which grant tariff concession in favor of "green" goods. We .nd that the practical significance of the APEC agreement should not be overestimated as it involves modest tariff concessions over a subset of goods which are not heavily...

Small and medium enterprise (SME) development as a major domestic policy objective that is consistent and reinforced within APEC would not only engender inclusive growth but also enable SMEs to become drivers of growth for the domestic, as well as the regional economy. This paper provides a...

The RTAs with trade facilitation provisions have been expected to generate a larger net trade-creating effect and complement the discriminatory feature of RTAs but have yet to be empirically proven. Recognizing the limitations of existing studies, we conducted a quantitative analysis on the...

Since 2006, the World Bank has been ranking almost 200 countries in terms of their ease of doing business (EoDB) to underscore the importance of a thriving private sector in promoting high and inclusive growth. Comparing these metrics for business friendliness among economic partners is more...

The paper evaluates the feasibility of sectoral liberalization of environmental goods for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Using the model originally developed by Wonnacott, it argues for the liberalization of goods predominantly supplied by APEC members, thereby minimizing the free...

Studies find increasing frequency, intensity, and impacts of natural disasters, especially as they interplay with the negative effects of climate change, environmental degradation, and rapid urbanization. The financial implications could be massive, especially in terms of damages on private...

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...