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DLSU-ANGELO KING INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS STUDIES |
DLSU-AKI PUBLICATIONS
The Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies commissions studies and projects with the goal of sharing the results and findings with the academe, policymakers, and other relevant groups. The objective of this dissemination is to contribute in the appreciation of relevant issues and problems confronting the Philippine economy and the formulation of appropriate policies to address contemporary economic problems. The Institute’s published works come in several forms including books, monographs, and policy briefs depending on the scope of the study. All studies and projects are featured in summarized forms in the AKI Policy Brief, which are published after the completion of the project. The Policy Brief presents a brief background of the situation, their underlying problems and implications, and the alternative courses of action that policy makers can undertake.
The Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies commissions studies and projects with the goal of sharing the results and findings with the academe, policymakers, and other relevant groups. The objective of this dissemination is to contribute in the appreciation of relevant issues and problems confronting the Philippine economy and the formulation of appropriate policies to address contemporary economic problems. The Institute’s published works come in several forms including books, monographs, and policy briefs depending on the scope of the study. All studies and projects are featured in summarized forms in the AKI Policy Brief, which are published after the completion of the project. The Policy Brief presents a brief background of the situation, their underlying problems and implications, and the alternative courses of action that policy makers can undertake.
RECENT AKI POLICY BRIEF PUBLICATIONS
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In the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), 15-year old Filipino students ranked last in reading proficiency among all countries/territories, with only 19% meeting the minimum (Level 2) standard. It is important to understand the different factors that contribute to the low reading performance and proficiency of these students, specifically the interventions that may help address this learning problem. Based on the result of a study using machine learning approaches, specifically binary classification methods, to identify the variables that best predict low (Level 1b and lower) vs. higher (Level 1a or better) reading proficiency using the Philippine PISA data, 20 variables that discriminated low reading proficiency students were identified. The results reflect aspects of the students’ psychosocial experiences at home, the classroom, and in the schools that relate to their poor reading proficiency. The results point to how interventions to address poor reading proficiency need to go beyond the curriculum and instructional interventions. What is needed are localized interventions that try to improve the psychosocial experiences of students in school, and that involve stakeholders from the local communities.
Click here to read the article The policy focuses on data management of opportunities for upskilling/reskilling and the profile management of individual laborers’ professional information to effectively integrate the influence of technology on day-to-day life (Schwab, 2016).
Laborers that register onto the platform will be matched with programs that can help them meet demands that emerged due to the evolution of their job description. The registration is done to make workers capable of integrating new technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) into their workflow. Reskilling and upskilling can evolve operators of the past into “smart operators” that can work with augmented reality, virtual reality, and data analytics, allowing them to keep up with demands (Romero et al., 2016). Digitalizing operations in a socially sustainable manner means optimizing workflows with technology while equipping laborers with the skills to meet evolving job descriptions. The 4IR-based needs of the labor market will be added to the database and will be perpetually updated to ensure that the education system can adjust to the ever-changing labor landscapes. A similar program is “LinkedIn Learning,” which keeps people updated with the developments in their industries while adding to the qualifications of their LinkedIn profile (Carson & Marshall, 2019). Click here to read the article In most written literature on labor, wages are determined by labor market supply and demand factors. With this, what a person can control to increase their wages is to focus on their skill endowments, particularly honing skills. These skills this paper will be focusing on are those occupational-specific, which pertains to the tasks and activities that a worker does in their job. That being said, it is important for an average worker to improve their skills through human capital (i.e., internships and on-the-job training) identified in this study as cognitive-interactive, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and computational skills are found to have wage premiums. Along with skills, the variables education, experience, and firm tenure have been found to provide wage premiums.
Click here to read the article As production processes improve, the stimulation of economic growth has overlooked its externalities over time. In pursuit of sustainable development, nations were driven to combat climate change and increasing greenhouse gas emissions through the Kyoto Protocol. The policy brief is based on the investigation of the Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms (Clean Development and Emissions Trading Scheme) through difference-in-difference (DID) estimation, together with panel regression to evaluate the path towards viability using the metrics for externalities (total greenhouse gas emissions) and economic growth (GDP). For this reason, the DID takes into account the quantitative aspect in evaluating the effectiveness of the said mechanisms by investigating the pre- and post-treatment periods. The panel regression results then quantify the influence of the drivers of development towards the specified metrics. Results show that relying on the mechanisms aforementioned in promoting and reinforcing cleaner economic growth throughout the globe is inefficient. Such evidence will be fundamental in enhancing the said mechanisms for its continuity.
Click here to read the article Illicit cigarette trade or the manufacture, distribution, and sale of cigarettes that evade taxes and violate trademarks, persists in the Philippines. Enhancing the affordability and availability of cigarettes undermines the effectiveness of the series of tax policy reforms meant to lower, if not eliminate, tobacco use in the country. Worse, it results in a loss in government tax revenues. This Policy Brief presents the estimates and recommends policy actions to address the problem. The results from residual methods provide a strong presence of illicit cigarette trade in the country. The magnitude ranges from 3.3% to 42.8% of total cigarette consumption, resulting in a loss in tax revenue from Ph11.96 billion to PhP40 billion.
Click here to read the article Sugar intake has been increasing globally and locally for individuals. Meanwhile, Philippine institutions continue to provide cash transfers (CTs) to poor households. This paper used propensity score matching and average treatment effects on the treated (ATET) evaluation method to compare the sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption of poor households with CTs to their consumption if they had not received CTs and determine the characteristics of households who were likely to receive CTs.
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Philippine economic growth plummeted to -9.5% in 2020 from 6.0% the previous year, reflecting the sustained economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during the period.
The Philippine economy recorded its worst annual contraction. The Philippines posted a real GDP growth rate of -9.5% in 2020, marking the country’s worst annual contraction since records began in 1946. The severe contraction reflected a sharp plunge in the country’s economic performance, considering that economic growth was recorded at 6.0% in 2019. From 2019 to 2020, inflation showed a minor uptick, but unemployment more than doubled. Despite the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s economic managers and international organizations forecast economic growth in 2021. In conjunction with the gradual reopening of the economy, stimulus measures are expected to support Philippine economic performance in 2021. Although growth is expected, future surges in COVID-19 cases and delays in COVID-19 vaccination present immediate risks to the country’s economic recovery. Click here to read the article |
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With poverty reduction as the government’s primary goal, monitoring the poverty situation of households is deemed necessary. In the Philippines, several local government units (LGUs) have adopted the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS)[1] as a local poverty-monitoring tool. This study used the constructed CBMS panel data for the municipality of Orion in Bataan province consisting of 4,299 panel households (for the period 2006, 2009, and 2012) to identify chronic and transient poor households.
Click here to read the article The Philippines, as a member of ASEAN, is part of the RCEP, which is the world’s largest trading block in terms of population and GDP. RCEP was signed on November 15, 2020, by 15 member countries. This policy note discusses the potential effects of RCEP on the Philippines. Using a global CGE model calibrated to the most recent GTAP 10 database, the results indicate that the Philippines will benefit from higher exports, lower consumer prices, higher factor prices, and factor incomes of households. Among the Philippine sectors, the largest positive effects are observed in electronic equipment. Interestingly, the impact on the agriculture-food sector is also notable.
Click here to read the article Aongside profit maximization and value creation, enterprises are in the pursuit of entrepreneurial venture growth. The need to pursue entrepreneurial venture growth given the risks brought about by a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous, and disruptive (VUCAD) world (Rafael et al., 2020) is vital to sustain entrepreneurs’ income, to continue generating employment, and to continue providing value-adding products and services for society. However, entrepreneurial venture growth requires the capacity to produce products that are acceptable to the market; and the level of support given to enterprises to help them produce, innovate, and gain market access. Various functional areas of the business and government can work together to achieve this objective. From an empirical analysis of the Philippine Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Adult Population Survey (APS) for 2006, 2013, 2014, and 2015, an auxiliary strategy was derived to make this happen.
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Investors regard trade volume as a crucial technical indicator that can confirm trends, predict trend reversals, and determine liquidity (Westerhoff, 2006; Mahender et al., 2014). Trade volume is reported throughout the current trading day as often as once an hour; however, the reported hourly and end-of-the-day trade volumes are merely estimates. Actual and final trade volumes are reported the following day. Given the relative inconsistency of reported trade volumes and uncertainty of future trade volumes, investors miss the opportunity to reinforce their trading decisions through the trade volume indicator.
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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a proposal to amend the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Reform Act (CITIRA) into the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE) Act. The proposed amendments are as follows: (a) An immediate five percentage point cut into the corporate income tax (CIT) rate starting July 2020; (b) Maintaining for up to nine years the status quo for registered business activities enjoying the 5% tax on gross income earned (GIE) incentive; and (c) More flexibility for the President to grant a combination of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, which will be critical as the country competes internationally for high-value investments (Department of Finance (DOF), 2020).
Click here to read the article The Philippines needs to re-align its corporate income tax rates to its neighboring ASEAN countries to be competitive. Thus, the reduction in the corporate income tax rate, which is 30% at present to 20% in 2029 under the tax reform, is critical. However, because corporate income tax is a major source of government revenue, corporate incentives have to be reduced as well to finance/compensate for the reduction in the corporate tax. Also, to realize the full economic benefit of the reform, the government has to ensure that the resulting higher corporate income is reinvested back to the economy.
Click here to read the article This brief proposes policy measures for enabling the hybrid delivery of tertiary education during the COVID-19 pandemic. These policy measures are aimed at supporting students, faculty, and higher education institutions (HEIs). The development of a regulatory framework for quality assurance of flexible learning is also proposed.
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This policy paper highlights the critical roles of both public and private organizations in creating an enabling ecosystem for social enterprises to grow while striking a good balance in their social ,economic, and environmental bottom lines. It contains recommendations on the formation aspect of social entrepreneurs and the support mechanisms that need to be established by different stakeholders such as the academe, national government agencies, local government units, private institutions, and communities.
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To determine whether antibodies against M. tuberculosis protects individuals against COVID 19, the author recommends the conduct of a patient-level study using Mantoux screening test to probe whether (1) there is a disproportionately high percentage of people with the antibodies against M. tuberculosis among those who test negative for COVID-19; and (2) there is a disproportionately low percentage of people with the antibodies against M. tuberculosis among those who are or have been in the ICU as severe positive cases of COVID 19.
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The authors provide a rational view of the issue of online learning in the time of coronavirus and cite necessary conditions that must be considered to make remote learning optimal, inclusive and engaging for students and faculty.
Featuring a model of human capital accumulation with network externalities, the policy brief maintains that "...in the time of coronavirus, learning need not be quarantined, too." Click here to read the article |
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The authors recommend providing direct income support and targeting the support to vulnerable labor groups in critical sectors. This may be channeled through the government’s 4Ps. Furthermore, they recommend that, if the lockdown is extended to three months, an additional support of PhP 70 billion is considered to reverse the change in all poverty indicators prioritizing our worst hit sectors such as agriculture, textile-garments, and construction.
This Angelo King Institute of Economic and Business Studies brief is co-authored by Dr. Caesar Cororaton, Dr. Marites Tiongco, and Dr. Arlene Inocencio of the DLSU School of Economics. Click here to read the article |
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In light of the risks posed by COVID-19 on Filipino health care professionals, this Angelo King Institute of Economic and Business Studies policy brief recommends short-term solutions that may support in containing the outbreak and at the same time mitigate the risks.
Authored by Dr. Tereso Tullao, Jr., John Paolo Rivera, and Dr. Cynthia Caudia Click here to read the article |
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This Angelo King Institute of Economic and Business Studies policy recommendation on tempering the negative economic impact brought about by the government-imposed enhanced community quarantine.
This is co-authored by Dr. Krista Danielle Yu, Dr. Kathleen Aviso, and Dr. Raymond Girard Tan. Click here to read the article |
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Future approved COVID-19 drugs will be short in supply until global production capacity is built up to meet demand. It is necessary for health administrators to exercise sound judgement in allocating a very scarce resource.
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The 2019 economic performance of the Philippines remained stable with a 5.9 percent growth despite falling short of the target of 6.0 to 6.5 percent. This was caused by a budget delay, unfavorable weather disturbances, policy uncertainties, and international economic challenges. The demand side was driven mainly by domestic consumption and registered a 5.8 percent growth; gross domestic capital formation and government spending posted a negative 0.6 percent and 10.5 percent growth respectively. On the other hand, the supply side was mostly driven by the Service sector with a 7.1 percent growth.
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