Divided politics and economic growth in the Philippines

As the 2016 elections drew near and the prospects of a Rodrigo Duterte presidency became stronger, there were concerns that the economy might be adversely affected by the expected political volatility under the new regime. Since the start of the campaign season, Duterte had been rocking the establishment through controversial pronouncements and outbursts, attracting the enmity of leaders of the Catholic Church, the United States, and the United Nations. Based on a review of recent political and economic performance, this article argues that unless there are significant changes in the major sources of macroeconomic growth and stability, the Philippine economy would likely withstand the impact of a "Duterte shock"

EP-1502: High resolution portal image prediction for radiotherapy treatment verification & in vivo dosimetry

International audiencePurpose/Objective: Historically designed as a control system for patient positioning for radiotherapy treatment, Electronic Portal Imaging Devices (EPIDs) are nowadays widely used for quality assurance and dosimetric verifications in new irradiation techniques. One of the main advantages of the EPID is its high resolution which can detect small details. The objective of this study is to compare the EPID image acquired during the treatment with a predicted high resolution portal image computed by Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. A new method for prediction of high resolution EPID images is tested for in vivo treatment verification. Materials and Methods: Experiments were carried out on a Siemens ARTISTETM, equipped with a 160-MLCTM, and its Siemens OptivueTM 1000 EPID. This EPID has an active detection area of 41 x 41 cm2 and a matrix of 1024 x 1024 pixels. A model of this linac and the EPID was developed with the MC code Penelope, and commissioned. We focus on a breast treatment conformational beam (6 MV) on the CIRS adult female phantom. The CT-scan of the phantom was used as input, and Hounsfield numbers were converted in density and atomic composition, so as to obtain a voxelized geometry used in the Penelope code. Particles exiting the phantom and impinging on the EPID are simulated up to the EPID in order to compute the predicted portal image by scoring the energy deposited in the phosphor layer on a 1024 x 1024 virtual grid. The simulated image was then smoothed using a denoising algorithm in order to keep the high resolution advantage. Several denoising algorithms were tested, among them IRON, LASG and a recently developed one called DPGLM. For now, we use the gamma-index technique to evaluate the accuracy of the simulated image against the experimental one. Results: Figure 1 shows the acquired image and the simulated one. The gamma-index is satisfied for 94.4 % of the pixels for 3.5 % and 3.5 mm criterion. The DPGLM gives the best result toward accuracy and computed time. Indeed, the denoising of 1024 x 1024 images takes about 1h30 mn, 2h and 5 mn using DPGLM, IRON, and LASG, respectively. The LASG algorithm is really fast but the result is too smoothed for the high resolution purpose. Conclusions: This work is the first step in the aim of in vivo dosimetry by comparing experimental portal images with high resolution predicted images obtained using MC simulations in a voxelized geometry. First results obtained on a breast treatment are encouraging, and we can expect to detect treatment errors

Zaibatsu Development in the Philippines: The Ayala Model

この論文は国立情報学研究所の学術雑誌公開支援事業により電子化されました。This article discusses the ability of the family firm to grow for several generations by examining the case of the Ayala group in the Philippines. Such an ability, called here as generational growth, has been the subject of debate regarding the future of the family firm and the zaibatsu, which is a special type of family firm. Two features that distinguish Ayala as a model are 1) the ability of the family to maintain ownership and management control for generations and 2) the rejection of the use of political influence for rent seeking. An examination of Ayala's ownership-management system points to strategies employed for the preservation of the family's position within the firm. The quality and process of such preservation, which family members called stewardship, is also consistent in family and firm's political behavior. The paper proposes that the adoption of superior stewardship strategies accompanied by skillful entrepreneurship would ensure the family's continued ownership-management of the zaibatsu

Entrepreneurship and Philippine development

Assessments of Philippine development performance raise questions about the quantity and quality of Filipino entrepreneurship. Despite the early attempt at industrialization, industrial entrepreneurship has failed to flourish in the country. Is industrial entrepreneurship constrained more by cultural limitations than by political and economic factors? This paper provides a brief historical survey of Philippine entrepreneurship and development. It argues that Philippine industrial entrepreneurship did not take off because of a combination of external constraints and internal motivations. © Revue canadienne d\u27études du développement, 2010. Tous droits réservé s

Divided politics and economic growth in the Philippines

© 2016, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies. All rights reserved. As the 2016 elections drew near and the prospects of a Rodrigo Duterte presidency became stronger, there were concerns that the economy might be adversely affected by the expected political volatility under the new regime. Since the start of the campaign season, Duterte had been rocking the establishment through controversial pronouncements and outbursts, attracting the enmity of leaders of the Catholic Church, the United States, and the United Nations. Based on a review of recent political and economic performance, this article argues that unless there are significant changes in the major sources of macroeconomic growth and stability, the Philippine economy would likely withstand the impact of a “Duterte shock.

Veto players and state decisiveness: Negotiating bilateral economic partnership agreements between Japan and Southeast Asia

This article extends the veto player framework introduced by Haggard and McCubbins in 2001 to examine state decisiveness toward bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) in developing countries of Southeast Asia. It uses as reference points Japan\u27s bilateral economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. As argued in the Haggard and McCubbins framework, decisiveness is a function of the number of effective veto players arising from a country\u27s institutional configuration. In addition, this article proposes that the political environment as it affects veto player preferences be considered in explaining decisiveness. The article further discusses the political consequences of decisive policy-making behavior in Southeast Asian democracies. © 2012 Philippine Political Science Association (PPSA)

Bypassing industrial development

Once called the Sick Man of Asia, the Philippines has recently gained a respectable record of economic performance. On the surface, the economic situation in the mid-2010s is far better than that of two or three decades ago. Both by design and accident, the country has “leapfrogged” industrial development and weathered external and domestic shocks with relative success. However, the Philippines is still beset with serious problems of poverty, income inequality, and unemployment/underemployment. Likewise, governance issues such as corruption, regulatory capture, and the lack of observance of the rule of law continue to obstruct the path to progress. This chapter, which provides a brief overview of the contemporary Philippine economy, is divided into three sections. The first revisits the 1980s, a critical period in the country’s economic history. The second outlines major institutional reforms and how they contributed to contemporary economic performance. The third and final section presents the Philippines as a consumption-driven, service-oriented economy in need of diversification in order to accelerate and sustain economic growth and development. © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Mark R. Thompson and Eric Vincent C. Batalla; individual chapters, the contributors