Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Michael M. Alba Author-Name-First: Michael Author-Name-Last: Alba Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman Title: Measuring the Extent and Components of the Gender Wage Differential in the Philippines Abstract: This paper investigates the existence, extent, and sources of the gender wage differential in the Philippines, using data from the Labor Force Survey of the third quarter of 1988. Coefficient estimates of separate wage regressions for male and female workers (using Heckman's two-step procedure to control for possible sample selectivity) are use to calculate the magnitude of the gross gender wage differential and to decompose it into four components, namely: (a) the benefits that male wage earners receive because of nepotism, (b) the losses that female wage earners suffer because of discrimination, (c) differences in the productivity-determining characteristics of male and female wage earners, and (d) sample selectivity. The paper finds that the wage structures of male and female workers are apparently quite different: Women tend to derive higher rates of return from education and lower rates of return from tenure, employment in the private sector, and residence in regions other than National Capital Region; men tend to obtain high rates of return from industry affiliation and low rates of return from occupational status. The paper also finds that, if self-selection in the wage earning samples is controlled for, the wage of average male worker in 1988 turns out to be about 25 percent higher that of the average female worker. Moreover, the logarithmic decomposition of this wage differential reveals that gender discrimination in the labor market may distort the male-female wage ratio by as much as 52 percent of what it would be in the absence of discrimination - when, irionically, men are measured to be less productive than women by as much as 18 percent and male wage earners are found to be less able at wage earning than men who are engaged in other economic pursuits. Creation-Date: 1998-01 Publication-Status: Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. 1998-01, January 1998 Number: 199801 Handle: RePEc:phs:dpaper:199801 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Raul V. Fabella Author-Name-First: Raul Author-Name-Last: Fabella Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman Title: Reasonable and Affordable Wage Adjustment Due to the Currency Crisis Abstract: We estimates the affordable wage adjustment for various types of firms (by orientation and by share of labor in total cost) on the basis of reasonable estimates of price responses to the currency crisis. We conclude that, to minimize the likehood of layoffs, no more than 10 percent wage adjustment seen affordable for export-oriented firms. For domestic market-oriented firms, no more than 5 percent is reasonable. There are cases where even zero wage adjustment may not prevent layoffs. Creation-Date: 1998-02 Publication-Status: Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. 1998-02, February 1998 Number: 199802 Handle: RePEc:phs:dpaper:199802 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Raul V. Fabella Author-Name-First: Raul Author-Name-Last: Fabella Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman Title: The Economic Choices We Face Abstract: We examine the three options at the policymakers disposal to pull the Philippine economy out of the currency crisis and propel it to a sustainable growth orbit: the BSP option, the incentives restructing option, and the protectionist option. In a situation of financial panic and the resulting liquidity crunch, the BSP option is hastening a recession while the protectionist option will sacrifice the future for the present. The incentives restructing option seeks to nurture the gains already paid for before and during the crisis in the interest of quick recovery and future growth. Creation-Date: 1998-03 Publication-Status: Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. 1998-03, March 1998 Number: 199803 Handle: RePEc:phs:dpaper:199803 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Florian A. Alburo Author-Name-First: Florian Author-Name-Last: Alburo Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman Title: The Asian Financial Crisis and Policy Response in the Philippines Abstract: Both in country and regional evidence, show that the Philippines did have the symptoms of the "Asian flu" before its outbreak into a full-blown Asian financial crisis. Although it can not be validated (in a counterfactual sense), one can argue that it may have been the early start of the crisis elsewhere that now makes the country face less harsh consequences and adjustment. The Philippines is therefore not just an innocent bystander in the confluence of events in the region. This conclusion does not diminish the task of defining policies to address the root causes of the crisis and to adjust to the environment it creates. In terms of policy response it may have been a blessing in disguise that the country did not have sufficient reserves to put a defense early on. It is this which paved the way for the actual policy of freeing the exchange rate, rather than a conviction that the exchange rate should not be a target. Indeed there are policies which are vestiges of this defense mechanism still in the books (e.g. interest rate cure). On the other hand there remains a policy vacuum in the area of financial sector reforms, the very area that appears to be where the crisis started in the Asian region. Creation-Date: 1998-04 Publication-Status: Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. 1998-04, April 1998 Number: 199804 Handle: RePEc:phs:dpaper:199804 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Raul V. Fabella Author-Name-First: Raul Author-Name-Last: Fabella Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman Title: Bubbles, Monetary Policy and the Asian Currency Crisis Abstract: We propose a life cycle of bubbles (from a quiescent stable state to a bubble to its collapse) where the role of monetary management is crucial. We claim that the policy of liberalizing short-term capital and private foreign borrowing (which is a deflationary expansionary monetary policy with stable (pegged exchange rates) combined to precipitate and deepen the Asean bubbles and create unsustainable short- and unhedged forex exposures. Creation-Date: 1998-05 Publication-Status: Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. 1998-05, May 1995 Number: 199805 Handle: RePEc:phs:dpaper:199805 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Jose Encarnacion, Jr. Author-Name-First: Jose, Jr. Author-Name-Last: Encarnacion Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman Title: A Reformulation of the Keynesian Model (Full Employment or Not) Abstract: This paper reformulates the Keynesian model so that the sometimes observed procyclical real wage can be explained. The paper defines an aggregate demand function based on portfolio balance with three assets (money, bonds and equities) and an aggregate supply function derived from the supply behavior of a representative price-setting firm. The money wage is endogenous but the usual result is a short-period unemployment equilibrium. However the case of full employment is also covered. The model also provides explanations of Phillips curve and stagflation phenomena. Creation-Date: 1998-06 Publication-Status: Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. 1998-06, June 1998 Number: 199806 Handle: RePEc:phs:dpaper:199806 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Florian A. Alburo Author-Name-First: Florian Author-Name-Last: Alburo Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman Title: Competition Policy and International Rules and Disciplines Abstract: There are now talks of, if not calls for multilateral competition policy agreement. There is now a proposal for a fair trade commission in the Philippines. Yet the actual issues need clarification especially distinguishing between anti-trust laws and competition policy. The paper argues that it is too early to consider international rules and disciplines involving developing countries. Creation-Date: 1998-07 Publication-Status: Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. 1998-07, July 1998 Number: 199807 Handle: RePEc:phs:dpaper:199807 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Cayetano Paderanga Jr. Author-Name-First: Cayetano, Jr. Author-Name-Last: Paderanga Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman Title: Globalization and the Limits to National Economic Management Abstract: The emerging world environment with relatively freer flows of goods and finance has tremendous implications for macroeconomic management. Among others, both direct fiscal and monetary control are more difficult in an environment where individuals and firms have much greater ability to rearrange their portfolios, even across national boarders. Under these conditions, policy makers must depend less on direct control over macroeconomic magnitudes and count more on influencing the fundamental factors affecting macroeconomic changes. Creation-Date: 1998-08 Publication-Status: Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. 1998-08, August 1998 Number: 199808 Handle: RePEc:phs:dpaper:199808 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Cayetano Paderanga Jr. Author-Name-First: Cayetano, Jr. Author-Name-Last: Paderanga Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman Title: Currency Crisis and Policy Response: The ASEAN and Philippine Case Abstract: This paper describes the start of the Asian currency of 1997 and some of the more important responses by policy makers, using examples from the Philippines and other Asian countries. The ensuing developments are described and analyzed. Based on this latest episode of currency crisis, the study suggests responses that can be tried and those that must not be attempted. It ends with some lessons for the conduct of macroeconomic management. Creation-Date: 1998-09 Publication-Status: Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. 1998-09, September 1998 Number: 199809 Handle: RePEc:phs:dpaper:199809 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Florian A. Alburo Author-Name-First: Florian Author-Name-Last: Alburo Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman Title: Economic Turmoil in Asia: Prospects for FDI Flows Abstract: The economic and financial crisis that has plagued Asia since mid-1997 has left in its wake dramatic declines in output, large falls and volatile exchange rate changes, worsening poverty, and widespread social unrest owing to rising unemployment, among others. Yet it is important to remember that there are other effects that this crisis had left behind. These are the real economic dimensions of the countries that have made them achieve sustained growth rates in the past decades. These real factors are the outcomes of and were influenced by structural changes in the region itself, which in turn have created the environment defining the pace and pattern of foreign direct investment into the affected countries. These range from the domestic policy actions taken by governments to the transformation of the Japanese economy as a driving force for FDI. Much of this structural change in the environment for FDI in the region appears to be irreversible. It is in this context that the prospects for FDI in the region and into the affected economies seem to be positive. Creation-Date: 1998-10 Publication-Status: Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. 1998-10, October 1998 Number: 199810 Handle: RePEc:phs:dpaper:199810 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Casimiro V. Miranda, Jr. Author-Name-First: Casimiro, Jr. Author-Name-Last: Miranda Title: A Theoretical Derivation of the Laffer Curve and the Effect of the Tax on Wage and Employment Abstract: The Laffer curve showing tax revenue as a function of the tax on the prevailing money wage is derived from the aggregate supply of labor function. Consequently, the possible trade-off between tax revenue and employment (or total output) is considered. Then the tax is shown to result in wage rigidity downward even under competitive condition. Some policy implications and relevant theoretical issues are noted. Creation-Date: 1998-11 Publication-Status: Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. 1998-11, November 1998 Number: 199811 Handle: RePEc:phs:dpaper:199811