Political Science is natural limit to a joyful journey of synthesis 337.0
Political science seems the natural limit to an enjoyable journey of synthesis that started with innovation. For an emerging market, I always believed that Government has a big role to play in catch up development. This is proven especially by the success of our neighbors in East Asia. The question is more about how to [...]
Industrial Development in the Philippines – Parable of the Toothpick 311.0
The bottle of imported bamboo toothpicks from China in the image at left tells a parable, a cautionary tale in fact, of how not to do industrial development. With a retail price of P12 per bottle and a wholesale price of 7.50 in a multi-purpose shaker dispenser, It has decimated the familiar hardwood-based Philippines toothpick [...]
Industrial Policy Wears Many Guises in America from Alexander Hamilton 308.0
Industrial Policy has been equated with Socialism in America from the middle off the 20th century. As an epithet hurled at President Obama typically by tea party members, Socialism is taken today as a term of abuse. Industrial policy has become a cliché where mere mention is often followed by outright rejection. In today’s cluttered [...]
Planning as Mixed Economy is Best for Emerging Markets and Philippines 300.0
The 2010-2016 Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) was accepted “in principle” by the Cabinet-level NEDA Board chaired by President Benigno S. C. Aquino III on April 28, 2011 reported the BWOnline. (BusinessWorld, 2011) This was after a seven-month long process – three months longer than planned – from September 2, 2010. I was extremely pleased [...]
Leontief Prize Winners have Much to Share with the Philippines 299.0
The Leontief Prize has been awarded by the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE) at Tufts University since 2000 for: outstanding contributions to economic theory that address contemporary realities and support just and sustainable societies. The Leontief Prize winners say many things that are relevant to the Philippines. I first noticed that I had written [...]
Manila and the Philippines will stay laggards also sprach McKinsey 298.0
Yesterday, McKinsey published Global cities of the future showing the 600 cities that will account for more than 60% of global GDP growth by 2025. From the article, I derived McKinsey’s current thinking behind the report – a disturbing though not surprising insight to me – that Manila will stay a laggard among its peer [...]
Modern Industrial Policy Discovers Locomotives in Global Supply Chains 297.0
Modern versions of industrial policy and the broader field of development economics are coming back into center stage says Nobel winner Joseph Stiglitz in an IMF blog. This renewal comes after the failure of neoclassical macroeconomics to forecast the recent financial crisis and to explain the continuing success of emerging markets like China and India [...]
Green Innovation Opportunities from Biophysical Finiteness 282.0
From 1996, when his book Beyond Growth was published, Herman Daly was considered the dean of “ecological economics.” I like two insights from the book that I take as “jolt[s] to conventional thinking”: finitude that I prefer to call finiteness and use as a more optimistic starting point for opportunities from innovation, and a clear [...]
General Purpose Technologies as Enabler to Emerging Markets 279.0
Engaging in basic science research is sexy but not practical as the basis of development for the Philippines. Note that science, technology and even innovation have different goals and means and affect different constituencies and incentives or penalties, as policy areas. I believe it is in the mis-appreciation of these differences as they affect policy [...]
Catch-up Innovation Systems for Emerging Markets 264.0
This is a great book for someone looking at innovation from a theoretical, evolutionary economics standpoint – the papers are good focusing devices for guiding a practical strategy for a country like the Philippines that must be finally defined by local context. The book looks at innovation mainly from a social science point of view [...]
GLOBELICS for Inclusive Development and Innovation for the Poor 262.0
The 8th GLOBELICS jumped right into its first order of business in the plenary and in Track 1 of the parallel sessions, “Innovation for the Poor [and Inclusive Development].” This after doing the right first thing in the memorial to Christopher Freeman. The highlight in the Innovation for the Poor track was the special panel [...]
