Economics Research Center

The research activities of the School of Economics are being coordinated by the Economics Research Center (ERC). Known as the Institute of Economic Development and Research prior to the establishment of the School in 1965, ERC seeks to maintain a balance between the academic interests of the School faculty and its concerns with policy matters.

Scope and Thrusts

ERC’s research program covers diverse areas, including economic theory and econometrics, international trade and finance, fiscal management, human resources, population, poverty and income distribution, regional and rural development, resource and environmental economics, and growth and development.

The scope of its research activity is continuously expanding to accommodate emerging issues of interest, the growth of the faculty, and the needs of government for planning and policymaking. ERC’s research orientation is partly reflected in the increasing number of collaborative research projects involving not only faculty members and graduate students but also other scholars, as well as the extensive use of primary data collected wither by School projects or by external agencies.

Institutional Links

In recent years, ERC, through the School faculty, has undertaken various research projects with international and local research institutions such as the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Institute of Developing Economies of Japan, the Asian Development Bank, and agencies of the Philippine government like the National Economic and Development Authority, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Philippine Institute for Development Studies. Some faculty members have also undertaken important policy research analyses for members of Congress.

Major Activities of ERC

The Economics Research Center or ERC oversees three main activities supportive of the School’s thrusts: visiting research associateships, research seminars, and publications.

Visiting Research Associateships

Visiting scholars spend from a few months to a year at the School to work on research topics usually dealing with aspects of Philippine economic development. Some of these scholars are Ph.D. candidates from various universities abroad; others are professors and researchers on leave from their home institutions. All of them come with their own sources of financial support but the School gives them access to facilities (own office, computers) and services (library).

The Institute of Developing Economies, a Japan-based semi-government research institution which has tie-ups with the School, has already sent four (4) visiting research fellows who have undertaken join research projects with the school’s faculty members.

The School has also had visiting scholars from universities like Yale University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Kyoto University, Oxford University, Australian National University, University of Surrey, just to name a few, and from organizations like the RAND corporation.

The interactions between researchers and academicians of international institutions and the School’s faculty have widened the faculty’s economic horizon and have extended the School’s presence in various economic institutions abroad.

Research Seminars

Seminars are regularly held on Fridays (except during semestral vacations, holidays, and summer) and occasionally on Wednesdays. They supplement formal courses and provide a forum for intellectual exchange.

The school holds an average of 25 seminars a year. Speakers have included Nobel Prize Laureate Lawrence Klein, internationally renowned economists such as Paul Krugman, Rudiger Dornbusch, and Jeffrey Sachs, as well as Philippine economists and researchers tackling important economic problems of the country.

Linkages with these institutions and agencies have contributed much to the growth of the Center’s research outputs in terms of addressing emerging economic issues.

For more information, email or call the Research Office:
Tel. No. (632) 927-9686 local 231 & 232
Fax No. (632) 920-5465
Email: upse_research@econ.upd.edu.ph; pced_research@econ.upd.edu.ph