EVIDENCE AND IMPLICATIONS OF NON-TRADABILITY OF FOOD STAPLES IN TANZANIA 1983-1998

Economic reform programs assume that major goods are tradable, such that depreciation of the real exchange rate raises the value of output compared to factor costs in domestic currency. In Tanzania, major food staples that account for most real income are non-tradables in at least one-quarter of the country. This is demonstrated and implications assessed for the constraints imposed on macroeconomic-led adjustment strategiesAgricultural and Food Policy,

The Impacts of On-the-Job Training on Labor Market Outcomes Dual Training System in the Philippines

This paper estimates the impacts of the Philippine Dual Training System (DTS) on labor market outcomes using a recent survey that tracked graduates from DTS and non-DTS programs provided by vocational training institutes. DTS programs partner with local employers to combine on-the-job training (OJT) with the conventional school- or center-based instructions, while non-DTS programs consist solely of the latter. The estimation results in Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design show a significantly positive impact on the most-recent monthly earnings. Quantitatively, the impact on the most-recent monthly earnings attributable to DTS is large, that is, more than 75% increase relative to the average non-DTS program graduate earnings, and the impact significantly increases with the OJT intensity, measured by the number of hours of in-company training and work. The above results indicate that the OJT part of DTS is the essential contributor to higher earnings of the DTS graduates

Model for deriving benthic irradiance in the Great Barrier Reef from MODIS satellite imagery

We demonstrate a simple, spectrally resolved ocean color remote sensing model to estimate benthic photosynthetically active radiation (bPAR) for the waters of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. For coastal marine environments and coral reefs, the underwater light field is critical to ecosystem health, but data on bPAR rarely exist at ecologically relevant spatio-temporal scales. The bPAR model presented here is based on Lambert-Beer’s Law and uses: (i) sea surface values of the downwelling solar irradiance, Es(λ); (ii) high-resolution seafloor bathymetry data; and (iii) spectral estimates of the diffuse attenuation coefficient, Kd(λ), calculated from GBR-specific spectral inherent optical properties (IOPs). We first derive estimates of instantaneous bPAR. Assuming clear skies, these instantaneous values were then used to obtain daily integrated benthic PAR values. Matchup comparisons between concurrent satellite-derived bPAR and in situ values recorded at four optically varying test sites indicated strong agreement, small bias, and low mean absolute error. Overall, the matchup results suggest that our benthic irradiance model was robust to spatial variation in optical properties, typical of complex shallow coastal waters such as the GBR. We demonstrated the bPAR model for a small test region in the central GBR, with the results revealing strong patterns of temporal variability. The model will provide baseline datasets to assess changes in bPAR and its external drivers and may form the basis for a future GBR water-quality index. This model may also be applicable to other coastal waters for which spectral IOP and high-resolution bathymetry data exist

Determinants and implications of the growing scale of livestock farms in four fast-growing developing countries:

"The rapid growth in consumer demand for livestock offers an opportunity to reduce poverty among smallholder livestock farmers in the developing world. These farmers' opportunity may be threatened, however, by competition from larger-scale farms. This report assesses the potential threat, examining various forms of livestock production in Brazil, India, the Philippines, and Thailand. Findings show that the competitiveness of smallholder farms depends on the opportunity cost of family labor and farmers' ability to overcome barriers to the acquisition of production- and market-related information and assets. Pro-poor livestock development depends, therefore, on the strengthening of institutions that will help smallholders overcome the disproportionately high transaction costs in securing quality inputs and obtaining market recognition for quality outputs. These and other findings make this report a useful guide for researchers and others concerned with the opportunities and risks of smallholder livestock farming." from Authors' SummaryDeveloping countries, Economic aspects, Industrialization, Profit efficiency, Environmental externalities, Smallholder competitiveness, Livestock productivity, Livestock Industrialization, Scaling up,

Can the Philippines Achieve its CO2 Reduction Commitment with Renewable Energy?

The Philippines always aims to achieve economic growth, which requires expanding economic activities, resulting in increased pollution (Stern, 2017). The country signified its intention to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 75% in COP26 (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC], 2021). Part of its strategy to combat CO2 emissions is by increasing its share of renewable energy (RE) sources to at least 35% of the total energy matrix (Department of Energy [DOE], 2021). The Philippines’ ability to reach its COP26 commitment through a scenario approach on the effects of increasing GDP and share of RE to CO2 emissions using Kaya Identity and EKC was investigated. Geometric growth and target-oriented forecasting were performed to generate the forecast period. The Kaya Identity computed the total factor CO2 emissions of the country. The EKC investigated whether increases in GDP, incorporated with the share of RE, result in declining CO2 emissions. Results showed that in scenarios 5 to 7, where GDP and share of RE are increasing based on targets, the Philippines enters post-industrialization stage 3 of environmental responsibility, wherein increases in GDP result in declining CO2 emissions. Evidence suggests the Philippines must remain aggressive in its RE investments to reach its COP26 carbon dioxide emissions reduction commitment

Examining and Evaluating the Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI) in the Philippine Household Context

Energy poverty refers to insufficient energy consumption to meet one’s basic needs. Measuring energy poverty is a vital calculation for a household assessment concerning accessibility of energy, affordability of energy prices, usage of energy resources, and sufficiency of energy consumption. Previous literature has extensively used the multidimensional energy poverty index (MEPI) to analyze the lack of access to modern energy services, including energy poverty intensity and incidence, and provide a framework for government policymaking. However, there is a variation between countries on how MEPI energy deprivation factors affect household welfare. This study aims to determine more accurate measures of household energy poverty in the Philippines using the 2004 and 2011 Household Energy Consumption Survey (HECS) and illustrate critical factors that affect the energy deprivation scores of the improved MEPI in the Philippine household context. In conclusion, with the improved energy poverty weights and measures that are Philippine-specific, it revealed that households who are multidimensionally energy-poor across all regions have slightly worsened from 2004 to 2011. This calls for more interventions and more appropriate policy implementation of promoting access to modern energy services and aiding to improve the conditions of Philippine households

Reef state and performance as indicators of cumulative impacts on coral reefs

Coral bleaching, cyclones, outbreaks of crown-of-thorns seastar, and reduced water quality (WQ) threaten the health and resilience of coral reefs. The cumulative impacts from multiple acute and chronic stressors on “reef State” (i.e., total coral cover) and “reef Performance” (i.e., the deviation from expected rate of total coral cover increase) have rarely been assessed simultaneously, despite their management relevance. We evaluated the dynamics of coral cover (total and per morphological groups) in the Central and Southern Great Barrier Reef over 25 years, and identified and compared the main environmental drivers of State and Performance at the reef level (i.e. based on total coral cover) and per coral group. Using a combination of 25 environmental metrics that consider both the frequency and magnitude of impacts and their lagged effects, we find that the stressors that correlate with State differed from those correlating with Performance. Importantly, we demonstrate that WQ metrics better predict Performance than State. Further, inter-annual dynamics in WQ (here available for a subset of the data) improved the explanatory power of WQ metrics on Performance over long-term WQ averages. The lagged effects of cumulative acute stressors, and to a lesser extent poor water quality, correlated negatively with the Performance of some but not all coral groups. Tabular Acropora and branching non-Acropora were the most affected by water quality demonstrating that group-specific approaches aid in the interpretation of monitoring data and can be crucial for the detection of the impact of chronic pressures. We highlight the complexity of coral reef dynamics and the need of evaluating Performance metrics in order to prioritise local management interventions