Updates
Just did an update on my site. Fixed my papers section. Some papers under revision will land there soon.

Still need to upload my other teaching stuff.

I was just in a productivity conference organized by the World Bank held at AIM. I co-authored a paper with Cielito Habito on Agricultural productivity, which he presented there.

I was glad to have attended the IT and electronics industry workshop session. The speakers there (don't have the details at hand right now) point out that the electronics industry in the country is weakly-linked, probably because it specializes in a very narrow range in the value chain (assembly, processing, and testing of semiconductors), which is highly depended on pre-fabricated parts, which can only be produced with considerable economies of scale (requires about a USD 2 billion fabrication plant!) But with a wider range of products - producing enclosures for cellphones, parts of the computer or gadget displays, etc. then the possibility of linkages, particularly with small and medium scale local entrepreneurs, increases.

If there is any dimension of poverty in this country that is most constraining, it is poverty of imagination. We need to imagine great things for our country, for example, having a vibrant electronics industry where spin-off industries abound, like what they have in Malaysia. It is possible, we don't have to lurch from "crisis" to "crisis". Sure we are corrupt, but to paraphrase Jesus, the corrupt ye shall always have with you - we can't twiddle our thumbs waiting for every last crook to land in jail. I tell you having stayed in Malaysia for a couple of years, they've done very impressively, but they are beatable in the growth race. China is beatable in the growth race. Thailand is beatable in the growth race. Vietnam is beatable in the growth race. Guess who is our country's worst enemy? You got it -