Ateneo Policy Center published 10 Scopus-indexed journal articles in 2020

The Ateneo Policy Center, Ateneo School of Government's policy research unit, is pleased to announce the publication of ten (10) Scopus-indexed journal articles in 2020:

Mendoza, R. & Cruz, J., Governing the “Golden Age of Infrastructure”: Assessing Transparency Innovations in Philippine Infrastructure Development, Asian Policy and Politics. Amidst rising infrastructure investment across the Asia‐Pacific, glaring accountability deficits have raised questions about governments’ capacity to contain corruption in infrastructure development in the region. Recent developments in the Philippines, however, indicate the presence of challenges related to the ability of digitally enhanced transparency measures to bridge such accountability deficits. This article presents the shifting emphasis in transparency and accountability reforms related to Philippine infrastructure development beginning from the 1990s and assesses transparency innovations under the Duterte administration. While milestone measures such as the establishment of an electronic freedom of information (eFOI) platform have provided convenient access to public information, major hurdles remain in obtaining critical documents concerning infrastructure projects. As borne out in an exercise to request the feasibility studies of 48 flagship infrastructure projects, access to information is still obstructed by factors ranging from technical constraints, uneven service delivery, coordination failures, as well as active legal restrictions against the public’s right to know.

Mendoza, R. & Dayrit, M., Social Cohesion vs COVID-19, International Journal of Health Governance. The control of particularly virulent communicable diseases such as COVID-19 can be considered a global public good. Unabated contagion, both within and across borders, can result in a global public bad. More effective control – such as by flattening the epidemiological curve – could prevent severe social and economic disruption by allowing domestic health and social protection systems to more adequately respond to the health crisis. This article elaborates on some of the main elements of counter COVID-19 responses, drawing on emerging international good practices. While a full evaluation of policy effectiveness is still forthcoming, it is critical to review and synthesize the emerging lessons and evidence even this early.

Feliciano, Z. & Doytch N., Trade Liberalization and Firm Performance: The Case of Thailand, Contemporary Economic Policy. After the Asian Financial Crisis, Thailand's trade policy has been driven by the proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs). We use firm‐level data to estimate the effects of reductions in tariffs applied to Thai imports on Thai firms. Reductions in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) tariffs were associated with increasing firm employment and exports, lower ASEAN‐China import tariffs were associated with increasing firm employment, while lower tariffs from the Japan‐Thailand FTA were associated with reductions in firm employment and increasing likelihood of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certifications. FTAs were associated with a decrease in firm R&D spending.

Ashraf, A., Doytch, N., & Uctum M., Foreign Direct Investment and the Environment: Disentangling the Impact of Greenfield Investment and Merger and Acquisition Sales, Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal. This study aims to examine the effect of greenfield foreign direct investment (GFDI) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on the environment and more specifically, on the sectoral emissions of CO2. The authors identify significant differential and income effects with various data classifications of foreign direct investment (FDI) mode of entry.

Mendoza, R., Dayrit, M., & Valenzuela S., The importance of effective risk communication: lessons from the dengue vaccine controversy in the Philippines, Journal of Public Health Policy. In 2016 the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) introduced a novel dengue vaccine in a mass immunization program to reduce the substantial economic and social burden of the disease on households and the government. The vaccine manufacturer’s announcement regarding new findings on the small but increased risk of severe dengue for vaccinated seronegative patients caused turmoil as various people claimed that the vaccine caused deaths and that health authorities are corrupt. While health department staff split—some having to preserve its reputation and others to monitor over 800,000 children administered the vaccine—communication between the frontline health workers and parents suffered. As a result, public confidence in vaccines dramatically dropped and the repercussions challenge the public health system. We examine factors that contributed to the crisis and argue for strengthening risk communication strategies and increasing transparency on decision making to counter misinformation and protect public health.

Mendoza, R., Francisco, A., Ilac, E., & Casilao, J., Diagnosing Factors behind Officers’ Performance in the Philippine National Police, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal. The Philippine National Police (PNP) faces myriad challenges, spanning governance, corruption and national security threats. Hence, securing a strong leadership pipeline equipped not only to face these challenges, but also to strengthen policing effectiveness and over-all security sector reforms is crucial. This study aims to map out some of the main factors that both build or erode key leadership qualities and performance in the PNP. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, and leveraging a comprehensive dataset of police officers in the National Capital Region (NCR), the study examines four main factors, namely personality traits, organizational culture, demographic profile and professional history. The results show that personality facets of openness, agreeableness and neuroticism, as well as number of transfers, area of assignment, training on managerial skills, age and education level are all factors for good performance for officers in the PNP National Capital Region Police Office. These findings emphasize the importance of training and mentoring components in preparing young officers and recruits for the rigors of service. It also underscores the need for a deeper analysis of recruitment and selection policies, to ensure that the PNP successfully attracts the strongest candidates with the right leadership characteristics and building blocks for service.

Su Dinh. T, Nguyen Phuc, C. & Doytch N., Asymmetric effects of U.S monetary policy on the U.S. Bilateral trade deficit with China: A Markov Switching ARDL model approach, The Journal of Economic Asymmetries. This study investigates the dynamics between U.S. monetary policy and its bilateral trade deficit with China. Applying an ARDL version plugged into the Markov switching model to the U.S. quarterly time series data over the 1993Q1–2018Q3 period, the results show that the U.S. trade deficit with China exists in two regimes, namely regime 1 with a low trade balance and regime 2 with a high trade balance. Notably, the effects of U.S. monetary policy are asymmetric on the trade balance between the two regimes, and they are convergent in the long run. U.S. monetary policy, in return, is also affected by China’s monetary policy.

Mendoza, R. & Banaag, M., Political and Economic Inequality: Insights from Philippine Data on Political Dynasties, Journal of Global South Studies (forthcoming). There is an extensive empirical literature on economic inequality, yet few studies examine its political underpinnings. This paper contributes to the nascent literature in this area by developing and analyzing a new measure of political inequality. Drawing on a comprehensive provincial-level dataset on local government leadership in the Philippines, this paper develops a political inequality index based on the concentration of elective positions among political dynasties. It then empirically examines the possible links among economic inequality, political inequality and, development outcomes across Philippine provinces. This study finds that economic inequality displays a nonlinear relationship with indicators of human development—there is a positive correlation at lower levels of human development, and a negative correlation at higher levels. On the other hand, unlike economic inequality, political inequality seems to be associated with weaker development outcomes, regardless of the level of development the province is in. This finding emphasizes how future research on political inequality could yield new insights into the persistence and depth of poverty, human development, and other forms of social and economic inequality.

R Renjith, Sasidharan, S. & N. Doytch, Foreign Direct Investment and Industrial Agglomeration: Evidence from India, Economic Systems. This study analyses the spatial and sectoral distribution of Greenfield Foreign Direct Investment (GFDI) and its impact on industrial agglomeration in India for the time period 2006–2015. We employ a unique dataset obtained by merging GFDI data from FDI Markets and plant level data from Annual Survey of Industries (ASI). We find that the Indian manufacturing sector shows signs of industrial dispersion rather than agglomeration throughout the sample period. Likewise, the spatial distribution pattern of GFDI also shows a decline in regional concentration and, interestingly, GFDI also seems to target new destinations. We also find that the increased spatial spread of GFDI leads to an industrial dispersion in Indian manufacturing industries.

Mendoza, R., Banaag, M., Hiwatig, J., Yusingco, M. H., Yap, J., Term Limits and Political Dynasties in the Philippines: Unpacking the Links, Asia-Pacific Social Science Review. This paper reviews the empirical evidence linking political dynasties in the Philippines to the imposition of term limits under the 1987 Constitution. It finds evidence that political clans have found a way around this Constitutional constraint by fielding more family members in power—giving rise to more fat political dynasties. Hence, we carefully argue that the introduction of term limits—combined with the failure to introduce other ancillary reforms (notably an anti-dynasty law)—may have brought about instead some unintended consequences. So, it is not term limits per se that created fat political dynasties. We further argue that it is a non sequitur to argue that dynasties will be curbed by removing term limits. This is particularly true given fat political clans are already prevalent, and removing term limits will secure the political foothold of many already fat political dynasties. To illustrate their expansion, we use network analysis and illustrations of power concentration over time in particular jurisdictions. We conclude that real reforms should be focused not on removing term limits, but on further strengthening those reforms that should have accompanied it, including enhancing competition in the political sphere, such as by supplying alternative leaders, strengthening political parties, and regulating political dynasties.

Previous publications of Ateneo Policy Center are available through this link: http://www.ateneo.edu/aps/asog/research_materials/journal_articles.