Posts by: Doy Santos aka The Cusp

Do we even know what affects growth and poverty?

On May 8, 2012 By

Don’t we know that all that matters for reducing poverty is growth, especially after China? And therefore we development economists should focus on the things that make growth happen: Macro policy and creating the right institutional environment. And not bother with the micro evidence…

No, no, and, as the expression goes, no. Every step in [...]

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The Straight Path Needs to Turn a Corner

On May 2, 2012 By

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

-Matthew 7:13-14

I am [...]

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Untrustworthy

On April 27, 2012 By

That seems to be the label which the instigators of ‘memogate’ want to attach to the Vice President Jejomar Binay.

As the 2013 race for the senate heats up, members of the rival faction within the Palace opposing Jojo Binay have leaked a confidential memo he wrote to the president concerning a case involving corruption [...]

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ADB tells Aquino to start “picking winners”

On April 24, 2012 By

According to the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines needs to beef up its industrial policy if it is to achieve rapid and inclusive growth.

Taking the right road to inclusive growth, the report that Norio Usui penned is chock full of evidence in support of this position. The ADB has added its voice [...]

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Identity Matters

On April 19, 2012 By

How the principle of “shared destiny” shapes the way voters behave.

In the West, identity politics is often equated with minority interests. Barack Obama in 2008 won the presidential contest by refusing to campaign as a black candidate the way the Rev Jesse Jackson had attempted before him. Hillary Rodham Clinton on the other hand [...]

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A Government in Waiting

On April 12, 2012 By

The revolution that swept President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino into power in 2010 is about to engage in fratricide in 2013 with one wing, “the idealists” comprised of the LP/Roxas camp, squaring off with “the pragmatists” comprised of the UNA/Binay camp. Mrs Arroyo and her proxies won’t fit into the equation at all as she faces [...]

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In defence of P-Noy

On March 20, 2012 By

He became a noun (“Aquinomics”), he became an -ism (“noynoyism”), but now he has become a verb (“noynoying”), and it is pretty, well how shall we say it? “An-noying.”

Just like the president’s love life, which he says he would like to keep off limits to the media, but which he himself cannot stop talking [...]

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Between a conspiracy and a stuff-up

On March 2, 2012 By

The former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam famously said that between a conspiracy and a stuff-up, he would prefer the latter. The left-leaning former leader has the distinction of being the only PM to be dismissed by the Governor General. Conspiracy theories later circulated that the CIA had a hand in this given his position [...]

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Why people power flourishes in the East and founders everywhere else

On February 26, 2012 By

The parliament of the streets which saw its culmination in the Philippines at EDSA-1 on February 1986 took root shortly thereafter in places like South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and even Burma. Were it not for the tanks on Tiananmen, it would have triumphed in China back in 1989. It has spread even to Eastern [...]

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He who is without a false SALN, let him cast the first vote

On February 23, 2012 By

As we enter the season of Lent, I thought it befitting to highlight a biblical parable as it relates to the ongoing trial of Chief Justice Corona.

The story is found in the Gospel of St John (the Beloved). It talks of the need to temper justice with mercy. The Pharisees and scribes who were [...]

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