What really matters for income growth in the Philippines: Empirical evidence from provincial data

Mapa, Dennis S. and Balisacan, Arsenio and Briones, Kristine Joy S. and Albis, Manuel Leonard F. (2009): What really matters for income growth in the Philippines: Empirical evidence from provincial data.

Abstract

The provincial per capita income growth in the Philippines can be considered as generally dismal in the last three decades. In trying to investigate this phenomenon, the paper applies robustness procedures to identify variables strongly correlated with provincial income growth in the Philippines. The extreme bound analysis and Bayesian averaging of classical estimates procedures are applied to fifteen determinants of income growth from a data set consisting of 74 Philippine provinces for the period 1985 to 2003. Results show that the high level of inequality is a serious obstacle to Philippine economic growth. The study also shows that the percentage of young dependents, or those aged 0 to 14 years, over the total population also hinders the provincial income growth.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Extreme Bound Analysis, Bayesian Averaging of Classical Estimates, Inequality,Young Dependents
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O18 - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis ; Housing ; Infrastructure; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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