Questions:

1. Suggest one policy that can reduce poverty?

One policy in reducing poverty is increasing the country's rate of productivity growth
through a variety of ways, including upgrading infrastructure, developing human capital,
supporting entrepreneurship, and stimulating research and development (R&D) (Kanodia,
2015). This policy focuses on ensuring that production and consumption per worker continue to
improve over time through sustained growth.

I. Upgrading infrastructure

Improving infrastructures are relevant because the quality of a country's

infrastructure—its roadways, bridges, utilities, dams, airports, and other publicly owned
capital—has a significant relationship to productivity. Highways that connect states minimize
the cost of transportation while also boosting tourism and other sectors.

II. Developing human capital

Human capital refers to the information and abilities that employees gain through
education and training, which leads to increased production, efficiency, and skill creation.
Human capital, like physical capital, improves the ability of an economy to generate
products and services. Productivity growth and human capital have a close relationship.
Educational policy, workforce training, and health initiatives are all ways that the government
may influence human capital development. The government must invest in human capital in
order to encourage such investment. 

III. Supporting entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs, often known as industry captains, serve as growth engines. It's

because they're people who can create a new product, start a new business, or present
something fresh to the market. If the government removes needless impediments to
entrepreneurial ability (such as excessive red tape, rent seeking, bribery and corruption at
all levels), and people with entrepreneurial talents make extensive use of those skills,
productivity growth may improve.

IV. Stimulating research and development

The government can also boost productivity by influencing scientific and

technological advancement rates. Scientific progress, like human capital development, has
a broad impact on the economy. From a societal standpoint, basic scientific research is
always useful. As a result, the government should invest more in such policies. Government
assistance and funding are also needed for more applicable, economically orientated
research.

Reference:

 Kanodia, M. (2015, November 30). 6 Main Public Policies to Promote Economic

Growth. Economics Discussion. Retrieved January 8, 2022, from
 https://www.economicsdiscussion.net/economic-growth/6-main-public-policies-to-
promote-economic-growth/15432
2. Is it better to help the poor with these in-kind transfers or with direct cash payments?

Direct cash payments to the poor are better than in-kind transfers because they allow
recipients greater control to manage their money and choose their own goods, can manage to
bypass corruption than in-kind transfers must deal with transportation, and are often more cost-
efficient because of less handling, transportation, and distribution costs.

Direct cash payments and transfers promote empowerment and responsibility of making
purchase decisions and tracking their expenses. According to research conducted by Bastagli,
et al. (2018), monetary assistance increases expenditure on food and other items while also
boosting education and health benefits. The authors also discovered little to no evidence of
unintended outcomes, such as persons working less because their nonlabor income is higher.
Moreover, with the increasing ease and use of technology, the allocation and distribution of
cash to recipients is easier and cheaper. When made electronically, cash transfers can reduce
the risk of corruption.

With the direct cash payments, recipients can also allocate this money into businesses
that would help families to stabilize their income, have more full-time jobs, and can further boost
the local economy.

Reference:
Bastagli, F., Hagen-Zanker, J., Harman, L., Barca, V., Sturge, G., & Schmidt, T. (2018). The
Impact of Cash Transfers: A Review of the Evidence from Low- and Middle-income Countries.
Journal of Social Policy, 1-26. doi:10.1017/S004727941800071

3. What is meant by the term neoclassical counterrevolution? What are its principal
arguments, and how valid do you think they are? Explain your answer.

The neoclassical counterrevolution is a 1980s economic theory and policy characterized

by a rebirth of neoclassical free-market approach toward development challenges and
strategies, as opposed to the interventionist dependency revolution of the 1970s. This promoted
supply-side macroeconomic policies, rational expectations theories, and the privatization of
public businesses in industrialized countries. It advocated for freer markets and the abolition of
public ownership, statist planning, and government regulation of economic activity in emerging
nations.

The central argument of neoclassical counterrevolution is that underdevelopment is

caused by inadequate resource allocation because of improper pricing policies and excessive
state involvement by too active developing-country governments. In other words, the inability to
progress is caused mostly by excessive government interference and control of the economy.
Its components are the free-market approach, the public-choice approach, and the market-
friendly approach.
 In my own opinion, the arguments of neoclassical counterrevolution are valid and true
because it is evident that most of the governments of developing nations are often corrupt and
do not offer economic incentives that results to a hindrance in their development. Markets are
efficient enough when they regulate by themselves. This means that the forces of supply and
demand will decide output and consumption, and the collective decision of all producers and
consumers will determine both. Consumers will distribute resources more efficiently than a
centralized entity and the intervention of the government may interfere with the automatic self-
regulation of the market, distort prices, and hinder growth. Moreover, foreign capital is attracted
to free and stable markets, and the stability of democracies, secure, and transparent financial
systems, which may result to a country’s greater foreign investment.

With the neoclassical counterrevolution, beneficial role of free markets, open economies,
and the privatization of inefficient public enterprises are emphasized. Free markets can be
further developed from state control and regulation that results to a total freedom of movement
and greater openness to international trade that will ultimately lead to a country’s development.

4. Another source of differences in wages is discrimination. Explain further.

Wage discrimination occurs when someone performs a similar work but is paid less
because of their gender, age, religion, or race. It is an unlawful act that is prohibited under anti-
discrimination laws. In the Philippines, R.A. 10911 is an act that prohibits discrimination in
employment on account of age, known as the “Anti-Age Discrimination in Employment Act.” In
general, the Labor Code of the Philippines protects workers from different types of
discrimination such as sex, age, married status, pregnant status, solo parent status, disability,
mental health condition, ethnicity, actual, perceived, or suspected HIV status, having
tuberculosis, hepatitis, cancer or being a cancer survivor, and union membership.

However, amidst the laws that prohibit discrimination in workplaces, specifically in

wages, men and women are victims of lower pay. In 2017, women earned 82 percent of what
men earned, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of median hourly earnings of both
full- and part-time workers in the United States. Based on this estimate, it would take an extra
47 days of work for women to earn what men did in 2017 (Workplace Fairness, n.d.). In 2021,
according to The State of the Gender Pay Gap, women make only $0.82 for every dollar a man
makes, which is one cent more than women made in 2020, and the job with the most gender
pay gap, according to their research, are waiters and waitresses. However, their research also
shows that women of color start out further behind in pay, which worsens career progression.
When compensable factors are considered, a white female individual contributor receives $0.99
for every $1.00 earned by her white male counterpart, but American Indian and Alaska Native
women earn $0.60 for every dollar earned by a white male CEO (PayScale, 2021).

Some examples of wage discrimination are:

 An employer bases increases on a point system, and women are frequently given
penalty points than males for committing the same mistakes.
 An employer distributes incentives to "heads of homes" and considers that only male
employees are breadwinners, therefore the employer pays males more.
  An employer pays an employee with a disability less than similarly situated
employees without disabilities.

References:

 PayScale. (2021). The State of the Gender Pay Gap in 2021.

https://www.payscale.com/research-and-insights/gender-pay-gap/#section14
 Workplace Fairness. (n.d.). Pay or Compensation Discrimination - Workplace
Fairness. Retrieved January 3, 2022, from https://www.workplacefairness.org/pay-
discrimination
5. What can you say about Duterte's Build Build Build Program?

Duterte’s P8-trillion “Build Build Build” program, or simply BBB program, is an ambitious
program where the numbers of projects that were started or to be completed are far off from
what had been originally envisioned. The list of projects was modified, and those that were
unfeasible were simply shelved. Moreover, BBB program have simply resulted into a credit-
grabbing program, where several projects from the previous administration were claimed to be a
part of the BBB program by the Duterte administration.

The program is far from the “golden age of infrastructure” that Duterte administration
aims it to be. Out of the 75 of the original projects that BBB program aimed to finish, about only
half remained since the administration revised the program, according to a report by the Director
of Infrastructure and Utilities (2021). The administration modified the program through replacing
large, infeasible projects with smaller, more manageable ones. Three extensive bridge projects,
for example, (connecting Luzon and Samar, Leyte and Surigao, and Cebu and Bohol,
respectively) proved to be completely impractical and had to be canceled (Punongbayan, 2021).

The administration also simply took projects of the previous administration and
conveniently claimed into a BBB project, including the Skyway Stage 3, which was launched by
the Aquino administration in January 2014 (RTVMalacanang, 2014), the Cavite-Laguna
Expressway (CALAX), which was a public-private partnership (PPP) project of the Aquino
administration (ABS-CBN News, 2015), the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (New Passenger
Building), which is yet another PPP project by the Aquino administration where its
groundbreaking happened in July 2015 (Destacamento, 2015), the MRT-7, which was a project
initiated way back in 2004 (Ferriols, 2004), and many more (Punongbayan, 2021).

As of October 15, 2019, only two of the original 75 projects were completed, and only 9
were ongoing construction (Rey, 2019). While the project may have created 6.5 million jobs
from 2016 to 2020 (Patinio, 2021), the slow-pace of its construction, the repeated revision of its
list, and the cancellation of huge projects for a doable, more shovel-ready ones, shows how it is
disappointing and a huge letdown for the Filipinos who were continuously fed with lies and
promises by the BBB project of the Duterte administration.

References:

 ABS-CBN News. (2015, May 26). Metro Pacific submits top bid for CALAX project.
Retrieved January 6, 2022, from https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/05/26/15/metro-
pacific-submits-top-bid-calax-project
  Destacamento, J. M. (2015, June 29). Aquino breaks ground on P32B Cebu airport
terminal project. Public-Private Partnership Center. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from
https://ppp.gov.ph/in_the_news/aquino-breaks-ground-on-p32b-cebu-airport-
terminal-project/
 Ferriols, D. (2004, March 29). NEDA body approves MRT Line 7. Philstar.Com.
Retrieved January 6, 2022, from
https://www.philstar.com/business/2004/03/29/244411/neda-body-approves-mrt-line-
7
 Patinio, F. (2021, June 18). Over 6M jobs generated thru “Build, Build, Build”:
DPWH. Philippine News Agency. Retrieved January 5, 2022, from
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1144177
 Punongbayan, J. (2021, June 23). [ANALYSIS] 10 Build, Build, Build projects that
started before Duterte. Rappler. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from
https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/analysis-build-build-build-projects-
started-before-duterte/
 Rey, A. (2019, November 12). Drilon calls Build, Build, Build a “dismal failure.”
Rappler. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from https://www.rappler.com/nation/244738-
drilon-calls-build-build-build-program-dismal-failure/
 RTVMalacanang. (2014, January 22). Launching of Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3
(Speech) 1/22/2014 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=BormGOIsRA4
6. Do you support Duterte's War on Drugs?

No, I don’t support and will never support Duterte’s War on Drugs. Thousands of
Filipinos, including children, have been killed because of this. Let us not forget those who were
targeted or were accidentally shot during the drug raids, which Duterte claimed as “collateral
damage”. It is a murderous campaign, taking innocent lives through blood and even behind
bars. It is a violation of our human rights, and I couldn’t even fathom how the family of the
victims felt and what they are going through because of this.

Additionally, majority of these killings have not been properly investigated. According to
the Philippine Department of Justice, only 76 fatalities in January 2019 resulted in probes. Even
then, only 33 instances resulted in court proceedings, and 5 were pending at the Office of the
Prosecutor, with the prosecutor dismissing half of them - 38 cases (Dalena, 2020).

The cold-blooded murder of Kian delos Santos, a 17-year-old student, who was just
found loitering in front of his house but was suddenly taken by two police to murder him in a
dark alley and plant drugs in his body, is just one of the many reasons why I can’t support this
campaign.

Drugs are unlawful, and efforts to prevent Filipinos from using them should not have
concentrated on a state-sponsored crime. Instead of murdering people, Duterte should have
focused on disrupting activities in drug retail marketplaces in as non-violent a manner as
feasible. The anti-drug campaign should concentrate on improving public health and reducing
the development of illnesses associated with drug consumption.
 Duterte’s War on Drugs is morally and legally unjustifiable, and I can’t understand how
one can support such a campaign that violated human rights.

Reference:

Dalena, K. (2020, July 31). “Our Happy Family Is Gone.” Human Rights Watch.
Retrieved January 5, 2022, from https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/05/27/our-happy-
family-gone/impact-war-drugs-children-philippines
7. When can you say that there is a higher level of inequality in a country?

There is a higher level of inequality in a country if the country has a higher degree of
income inequality. Inequality measures can be used to illustrate inequality between groups and
within groups (Haughton & Khandker, 2009). Calculating the ratio of the area between the
diagonal and the Lorenz curve divided by the entire area of the halfsquare in which the curve
lies provides an easy shorthand summary estimate of the relative degree of income inequality in
a country. This is known as the Gini coefficient, which is the most used measure of inequality,
which ranges from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality).

It's based on the Lorenz curve, which ranks people from poorest to wealthiest and plots
the cumulative proportion of the population on the horizontal axis and the cumulative proportion
of spending (or income) on the vertical axis. The Gini coefficient has several advantages,
including mean independence (if all incomes were doubled, the measure would not change),
population size independence (if the population changed, the measure of inequality should not
change, all else being equal), symmetry (if any two people swapped incomes, the measure of
inequality should not change), and Pigou-Dalton Transfer sensitivity (the transfer of income from
rich to poor reduces measured inequality; Haughton & Khandker, 2009).

As such, higher inequality can be detected in income inequality using ratios of the Gini
coefficient in comparing different countries. Income inequality refers to the fact that different
people earn different amounts of money. The wider those earnings are dispersed, the more
unequal they are.

References:

 Haughton, J., & Khandker, S. R. (2009). Handbook on poverty and inequality.

Washington, DC: World Bank.
8. What government agency do you think has a greater contribution in the Philippine
Economy?

In my own opinion, the government agency that I believe has a greater contribution in
the Philippine economy is the Department of Agriculture (DA). One cannot argue with the fact
that agriculture is the backbone of the economy, and DA is the primary government agency in
charge of promoting agricultural and fishery development and growth in the Philippines. To
achieve this, it provides a policy framework that directs public investments and, in collaboration
with local government units (LGUs), provides the support services required to make agriculture,
fisheries, and agri-based enterprises profitable, as well as to help spread the benefits of
development to the poor, particularly those in rural areas (Department of Agriculture, 2012).
 The low level of productivity and slow expansion in the agricultural sector of the
Philippines has resulted in a high prevalence of poverty within the industry. The absence of
government efforts has been chiefly responsible for the agricultural sector's collapse, which has
been hampered by inadequate infrastructure and low levels of investment. Things appear to be
changing, though, since the government is currently significantly investing in this industry. The
government is supporting initiatives run by DA to increase food security, rural income, and
infrastructure (Bajpai, 2021).

Agriculture and fisheries supply food and raw materials to the rest of the economy. As
the sector expands and modernizes, excess labor is released to the industry and service
sectors. Rising productivity and efficiency in the industry are crucial for preserving food
affordability and purchasing power, particularly among the poor. The development and support
of the government for projects promulgated by DA are thus critical to attaining inclusive growth
and poverty reduction.

References:

 Department of Agriculture. (2012, December 21). Department of Agriculture –

Mission/Vision. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from Archive.Today,
https://archive.md/20121221055008/http://www.da.gov.ph/index.php/2012-03-27-12-02-
11/2012-03-27-13-24-48#selection-951.1-951.522
 Bajpai, P. (2021, December 13). Emerging Markets: Analyzing the Philippines’s GDP.
Investopedia. Retrieved January 7, 2022, from
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/091815/emerging-markets-analyzing-
philippines-gdp.asp
9. If you are one of President's economic adviser, what is the best advise you can give
in addressing economic development?

If I were one of the President’s economic advisers, the best advise that I can give in
addressing economic development in the country is to provide an active support towards a
balanced and harmonious growth of agricultural sector—through initiatives to reduce post-
harvest losses while making products less expensive and stabilizing labor costs; industrial
sector—focused in attracting foreign direct investments through manufacturing and
agribusiness, as well as improving the electronic industry; and services sector—focused on the
role of business process outsourcing (BPO) in the growth of services sector, as well as tourism
and export services.

When these are achieved, the Philippine economy will push ahead, and advances in the
tertiary sectors of the economy will follow relatively naturally. In terms of economic and social
growth, the Philippines has trailed behind its wealthier Southeast Asian and East Asian
neighbors for decades. But those days will undoubtedly pass, and the country will look to be
firmly on the path of growth and sustainability through the continued support of the government
in the aforementioned industries.

10. Give one factor of poverty.

 One factor of poverty is inequality. Inequality within countries and societies may come in
different forms, such as regional, racial, and gender differences. But there is no doubt that
inequality affects the economy of a country, specifically in terms of inequalities in opportunities
such as health, education, and income, resulting to poverty.

There is a huge correlation between the two. For instance, Cardoso and Faletto (1979)
argues in their dependency theory that development projects—such as the import-substitution
whereby countries in the South were encouraged to rely on imports from countries in the North
—provided by developed countries to developing countries, contributes to a decline in their
independence, and to an increase to their dependence on these developed countries. It further
argues an international division of labor, a class distinction where elites cooperate with one
another to ensure that they stay on power and increase their own wealth, and global capitalism.
As a result, this entire system all serves to the interest of the wealthy with the purpose of
remaining in power and position—promoting dominance and exploitation—leading to greater
global inequalities in opportunity and growth that may result to poverty. This is the embodiment
of the saying “the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.”

There is poverty because there is inequality, and a country experiences inequality

because of exploitation. If the world’s healthiest nations may somehow stop exploitation and
their intention of global dominance, perhaps child mortality rates, expected years of schooling,
and the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of countries in the South or the developing
countries, may develop that may contribute to their economic growth.

Reference:

 Cardoso, F. H., and E. Faletto. 1979 . Dependency and Development in Latin America.
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.