Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-04T16:17:24.398Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - Poverty Reduction: Trends, Determinants, and Policies

from Part B - Background Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2012

Arsenio M. Balisacan
Affiliation:
University of the Philippines Diliman
Get access

Summary

Introduction

While economic growth in most East and Southeast Asian countries has been remarkably rapid during the past 25 years, the same cannot be said for the Philippines. The country's economic growth has barely exceeded the population growth rate, which has continued to expand relatively rapidly at 2.04% a year so far in the current decade (2000–2009). Economic growth quickened in the first half of the decade, but questions linger about its sustainability. Even at the 2004–2006 pace (5–6% per year), the Philippines has not come close to the growth trajectories of its neighbors. Thus, serious students of Philippine development contend that shifting the economy to a higher growth path—and keeping it there for the long term—should be first and foremost on the development agenda.

The country's disappointing performance in poverty reduction mirrors its growth performance. This is not unexpected. Every country that has chalked up significant achievements in poverty reduction and human development has also done quite well in securing long-term economic growth. Such a correlation is expected: economic growth is an essential condition for generating the resources needed to sustain investments in health, education, infrastructure, and good governance (law enforcement, regulation, etc.).

That achieving economic growth should be in the forefront of the policy agenda does not imply that nothing else can be done to lick the poverty problem. On the contrary, cursory evidence indicates that much can be done to enhance the poverty-reducing effects of growth.

Type
Chapter
Information
Diagnosing the Philippine Economy
Toward Inclusive Growth
, pp. 261 - 294
Publisher: Anthem Press
Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×