Investment Climate, Productivity, and Regional Development in a Developing Country

Abstract

This paper examines the Philippines’s investment climate in relation to the performance of manufacturing firms and the productivity of regional economies. The thesis is that the country’s slow economic growth can be attributed in no small measure to its poor investment climate that hampered the productivity growth of firms; further, the disparities in regional development can be explained by, among others factors, differences in investment environments. Addressing the deficiencies of the investment climate would significantly contribute to enhancing the economy’s long-run growth and redressing regional inequalities.