The Philippine Economy after COVID: Poor Development Prospects amid Continuing Governance Problems
Date and Time: September 29, 2024 from 4:00pm HST
REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME
About the Webinar
The Philippines faces daunting economic challenges in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Apart from an anemic economic recovery, the Philippines has had to grapple with a drastic spike of inflation in 2022-2023, persistently high underemployment, and slow structural transformation. Moreover, the growth and development agenda has been hampered by misplaced priorities on the part of the government (like underinvestment in human capital and overinvestment in car-centric infrastructure) as well as long-standing governance issues such as weak rule of law and chronic corruption.
About the Speaker
Dr. JC Punongbayan is an Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE). He earned his PhD from UPSE in 2021, where he also graduated summa cum laude in 2009 and was awarded the José Encarnación Jr. Award for Excellence in Economics and the Gerardo P. Sicat Award for Best Undergraduate Thesis. He previously worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the World Bank Office in Manila, the FEU Public Policy Center, and the National Economic and Development Authority. His current research interests are macroeconomics, Philippine economic history, education economics, and development economics. JC writes a weekly economics column for Rappler.com. He is also co-founder of Usapang Econ and co-host of Usapang Econ Podcast. In 2023, his first book, False Nostalgia: The Marcos “Golden Age” Myths and How to Debunk Them, was published by Ateneo de Manila University Press. In 2024, JC received The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Award for economics.
About the Discussant
Professor Hal Hill is the H.W. Arndt Professor Emeritus of the Southeast Asian Economies at the Crawford School, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University. His main research interest is Southeast Asian economic development.
He is the author/editor of 20 books and about 170 journal articles and book chapters. He has held visiting academic appointments at the University of the Philippines, Gadjah Mada University, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Oxford University, Colombia University, the International University of Japan, the Tinbergen Institute, the National University of Malaysia, the Rockefeller Bellagio Center, and Freiburg University. He serves on various boards and committees, including the Honorary Board (Dewan Kehormatan) of the Bank Indonesia Institute, the Council of the East Asian Economic Association (of which he is President in 2020-21), and boards at the ANU, Macquarie University, and Monash University.
He has advised and consulted to the Australian Government, the Indonesian Government, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and various United Nations agencies. He is also a member of the editorial boards of 12 academic journals, and a frequent media contributor. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia, and has been an official guest of the Republic of Indonesia under its Presidential Friends of Indonesia program. In 2020 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
Registration
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