Making upper middle-income status matter

February 20, 2025

Understanding what upper middle-income status really means easily clarifies that it is in many respects just a fantasy.

Rate expectations: Rethinking PH credit ratings

December 12, 2024

The economic managers don’t seem to realize that credit ratings are just, well, credit ratings. These shouldn’t be overstated as any kind of measure of economic performance or much less of national development.

PH “upper middle-income status” is just a number and a fantasy

December 1, 2024

The measure of being an upper-middle income country refers to an average that completely obscures the conditions of the majority. UMIC doesn’t really mean development in its most important sense of the well-being of people.

BBM admin to foreigners: Take our land, please

November 12, 2024

COMMENTARY

The proposal to increase the land lease limit to 99 years really won’t make much difference in making the Philippines more attractive to foreign investment, and certainly won’t mean anything for long-term economic development.

Unregulated power rate hikes: What are friends for?

October 31, 2024

The automatic power rate hike proposal is yet another step backward away from protecting consumers and regulating profit-seeking firms providing essential electricity services.

Mining incentives for our industrialization?

October 30, 2024

Incentives for mineral processing will support industrialization only if they prioritize Filipino firms over foreign ones and as part of a more comprehensive industrial policy.

What, more tax cuts on the rich…?

October 29, 2024

We should be skeptical about this nonsense that tax incentives for companies to establish corporate pension plans will create wealth for Filipino workers.

The fakeness of economic freedom indexes

October 17, 2024

The metrics of “economic freedom” indexes come from a narrow prioritization of so-called market freedoms and property rights that unfortunately doesn’t align with a broader and more inclusive understanding of economic well-being and development.

Korea-PH free trade agreement: Even BINI does better

September 24, 2024

COMMENTARY

South Korea’s world class industries today were built on protectionist foundations – reason enough for the Philippine government and our economic managers to radically rethink the country’s obsolete free market globalization policies.