Determinants of the Heterogeneity of Regional Economic Performance in the Philippines During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Date

8-2022

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Economics

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Amelia L. Bello

Committee Member

Gideon P. Carnaje, Amelia L. Bello, Maria Angeles O. Catelo, Agham C. Cuevas

Abstract

Regional economies in the Philippines suffered economic loss in varying degrees due to the pandemic. Literature suggests how macroeconomic indicators, such as unemployment, poverty, and sectoral shares, could affect the severity of an economy’s loss during an economic crisis. Moreover, the economic crisis being induced by a health crisis should also be considered. This study aims to analyze the correlation between the macroeconomic and health indicators to the loss in gross regional domestic products, focusing on the 17 regions of the Philippines.

The study employed Spearman’s Rank Correlation to identify the degree and direction of relationship between the macroeconomic and health variables, namely unemployment, poverty rate, sectoral shares, GRDP per capita, health expenditure, health expenditure as a share of GRDP, number of health personnel, number of hospitals, and number of hospital beds to the loss in gross regional domestic products. The result indicates that regions that have ranked higher in unemployment, GRDP per capita, share of gross value added in manufacturing and services ranked higher in the loss in GRDP. On the other hand, regions that ranked higher in poverty ranked lower in loss in GRDP. Regions that ranked higher in health expenditure, number of doctors, nurses, hospitals, and hospital beds have also ranked higher in the loss in GRDP. The ranks of the region in the share of gross value added of the service sector had the highest correlation with the ranks in loss in gross regional domestic product. Consistent with the expectations, the service sector is one of the most affected sectors during the pandemic due to stringent health measures imposed by the government which had more adverse effects to service-dependent economies.

Language

English

LC Subject

COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Performance, Spearmans's rank correlation

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Call Number

LG 993.5 2022 E2 M36

Document Type

Thesis

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