UP School of Economics Knowledge Center

22/10/2026

𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲, October 23, 2026, 4:00 PM, via Zoom
🎓 UPSE-PCED Friday Webinar, "𝑬𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚 𝑨𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉"

🧠📚💡𝘼𝙗𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩: Examining the relationship between energy access, reliability, and local economic activity in off-grid areas in the Philippines is challenging. Apart from endogeneity and the usual data limitations, load shedding or power outages lead to censored observed consumption. This makes reliable forecasts of electricity demand in off-grid areas, which inform public and private investment decisions on power generation and grid development, all the more difficult. To help address these issues, the study draws on micro-level data on power outages and electricity consumption, aggregated at the municipal level for the province of Palawan. The study measures power outages in four dimensions: frequency, duration, share of affected customers, and population-hours exposed to interruptions. Panel regression results indicate a negative association between power outages and business tax revenues, showing how unreliable electricity constrains local economic activity. The findings highlight the importance of improving access and electricity reliability in off-grid areas, particularly as these areas become increasingly diverse in terms of demand, growth potential, and service needs.

𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙧: Dr. Laarni C. Escresa is an Associate Professor at the UP School of Economics and currently a Visiting Researcher at the University of Pisa. She was a Marie Curie-Sklodowska Fellow of the EU at the University of Freiburg and, before joining UP, a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute and a postdoc at the Institute of Law and Economics University of Hamburg.

📝 Please join us by using the link below or scanning the QR code on the poster:
📍Zoom: https://tinyurl.com/aezcw2c2
Meeting ID: 821 3318 0496
Meeting Passcode: 632753

20/10/2026

🎉 CONGRATULATIONS TO MR. JONATHAN MEDINA! 🎉

The UP School of Economics Knowledge Center warmly congratulates Mr. Jonathan Medina on receiving the 2026 REPS Award!

This recognition is the pioneer award launched by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Development (OVCRD) for the Research, Extension, and Professional Staff (REPS) of UP Diliman. It honors staff members who have demonstrated a high level of productivity and excellence in research, extension work, and professional service.

Thank you for your unyielding dedication, passion, and exceptional service to the University!

15/10/2026

📚 UPSE KNOWLEDGE CENTER FEATURE: SPOTLIGHT ON THE 2026 NOBEL LAUREATES IN ECONOMIC SCIENCES

The UP School of Economics Knowledge Center joins the global academic community in celebrating Robert E. Hall (Stanford University) and Michael Woodford (Columbia University), recipients of the 2026 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel “for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation.” 🏆

Understanding Their Breakthrough Contribution

How do central banks control inflation and navigate economic downturns without causing structural unemployment?

When the 1970s stagflation crisis demonstrated the shortcomings of early Keynesian models, Hall and Woodford reshaped modern macroeconomic policy. By anchoring aggregate economic frameworks directly in microeconomic decision-making—specifically how forward-looking households and businesses adapt to policy expectations—their pioneering research provided central banks worldwide with quantitative, actionable tools to stabilize fluctuations and communicate monetary policy effectively.

📖 Featured Works Available Across UP Libraries

• Interest and Prices: Foundations of a Theory of Monetary Policy — Michael Woodford | Call No.: HG230.3 .W66

• Macroeconomics: Theory, Performance, and Policy — Robert E. Hall & David H. Papell | Call No.: HB172.5 .H35

• Microeconomics: Principles and Applications — Robert E. Hall & Marc Lieberman | Call No.: HB172 .H35

• Monetary Policy Rules — Ed. John B. Taylor (feat. Michael Woodford) | Call No.: HG230.3 .M65

• Handbook of Monetary Economics (Vols. 3A & 3B) — Ed. Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford | Call No.: HG221 .H36

• The Inflation-Targeting Debate — Ed. Ben S. Bernanke & Michael Woodford | Call No.: HG229 .I53

• Inflation: Causes and Effects — Ed. Robert E. Hall (NBER) | Call No.: HG229 .I54

• Economics: Principles and Applications — Robert E. Hall & Marc Lieberman | Call No.: HB171.5 .H345

• NBER Macroeconomics Annual Series — Featuring foundational papers by Robert E. Hall | Call No.: HB1 .N3

💡 Research & Inquiries:
Students, researchers, and faculty may check physical book availability via the TUKLAS or visit us at the UPSE Knowledge Center.

🔗 Nobel Official Documentation Links:
• Press Release: https://bit.ly/3UTT6S3
• Popular Information: https://bit.ly/4j2LJSg
• Advanced Technical Information: https://bit.ly/4gSu6TY

BREAKING NEWS
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2026 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford “for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation.”

This year’s laureates in economic sciences, Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford, have developed new macroeconomic models that have significantly improved our ability to implement effective stabilisation policy. On the basis of these models, well-timed fiscal and monetary policy measures can reduce the economy’s peaks and troughs.

The economy is characterised by alternating downturns and upturns. Ever since the economist John Maynard Keynes launched his theories almost a century ago, stabilisation policy has been important for tackling these fluctuations. During recessions, the economy is boosted by reducing interest rates and increasing the budget deficit, while the opposite should be done to slow a booming economy.

However, during the oil crises of the 1970s, it seemed that the Keynesian models that govern when and how measures should be implemented no longer worked. They did not reduce unemployment, but led to uncontrolled inflation instead. The West experienced a decade of low growth, high unemployment and high inflation. Many people believed that stabilisation policy had done more harm than good and that it should be retired.

Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford have been awarded this year’s prize in economic sciences for demonstrating how economic models could be reconstructed to revitalise stabilisation policy. Rather than basing the models on statistical links between macroeconomic variables, such as inflation, production and consumption, they chose to build them on a microeconomic foundation. This encompasses an understanding for how the total mass of individual households and businesses affect the economy through their actions.

A central component in these models is that households and businesses are forward looking when making decisions about savings or product prices. When governments and central banks communicate their plans for economic policy, they can influence this view of the future and move the economy in the right direction. Since the new models’ introduction, they have been extremely helpful in dealing with the economic downturns that have affected us.

Learn more
Press release: https://bit.ly/3UTT6S3
Popular information: https://bit.ly/4j2LJSg
Advanced information: https://bit.ly/4gSu6TY

14/10/2026

[Free Webinar] Cambridge University Press is inviting UP faculty, researchers and students to attend their Author Webinar Training Series.

Webinar #1: Your Path toward Journal Publication with Cambridge University Press
14 October 2026, 3:00 PM
Register here - https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cwuUp5x5S46QyG4h1RU5Lg

12/10/2026

The UP Science and Society Program of the UP Diliman College of Science invites everyone to the "Pax Silica: Progress for Whom?" Public Forum on Monday, 19 October 2026, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 NN at the Institute of Biology Auditorium.

The forum will feature a panel of experts who will discuss issues surrounding the proposed Pax Silica Hub and share their perspectives from their respective fields.

Speakers:
• Dr. Cielo D. Magno, UP School of Economics
• Dr. Giovanni A. Tapang, National Institute of Physics
• Dr. Jelaine L. Gan, Institute of Biology
• Prof. Herman S. Kraft, UP Department of Political Science

Moderator:
• Dr. Eizadora T. Yu, UP Marine Science Institute

The Public Forum will also be livestreamed through the UP Diliman College of Science page.

12/10/2026

Ready to put your research skills to the test and score awesome prizes? 💡✨

Check out the Emerald Insight Quiz Bee 2026! If you're a UP student, answer all 10 quizzes correctly using your official UP mail for a chance to take home one of these prizes:

🎧 1x Anker Soundcore R60i
🔋 1x Anker Zolo Power Bank 30W
⌨️ 1x Royal Kludge RK X87 (Blackberry Mousse)

🗓 Quiz Period: October 12, 2026 (1:00 PM) – November 13, 2026 (6:00 PM)

🔗 Answer the Quiz Form here: https://bit.ly/EmeraldInsightQuizBee

Don't miss out! Test your knowledge today! 🎓📚

💡Time to test your research knowledge and discover the power of Emerald Insight!💡

Join the Emerald Insight Quiz Bee 2026 and put your skills to the test.

Open to enrolled UP students. Use your UP mail to answer the quiz form. Answer all 10 quizzes correctly for a chance to win exciting prizes!

Prizes:
1x Anker Soundcore R60i 🎧
1x Anker Zolo Power Bank 30W 🔋
1x Royal Kludge RK X87 Blackberry Mousse ⌨️

📅 Quiz period: October 12, 2026 1:00 PM to November 13, 2026 6:00 PM
📲 Quiz form: https://bit.ly/EmeraldInsightQuizBee

09/10/2026

You are cordially invited to a Brown Bag Seminar by Manuel Leonard Albis, PhD candidate at the UP School of Economics. The seminar will be on October 14, 2026 (Wednesday), 12NN, at Room 301, Encarnacion Hall, School of Economics, University of the Philippines.

Seminar title: 𝗣𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀

Abstract:
The official poverty estimation methodology of the Philippines was last updated in 2011. This implies that the share of food to total basic expenditures (FETBE), used to estimate the poverty threshold, has since remained fixed. Arguments in favor of a fixed FETBE rely on the concept of an absolute poverty line that sets a constant level of welfare against which to assess households and the progress of the government's poverty alleviation programs. However, this study argues that the PSA methodology has only managed to fix the basket of basic needs, which does not necessarily correspond to a fixed level of welfare over time. This does not fare well when households experience significant economic shocks that change the composition of the basic needs basket, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the study found that, in recent years, the official poverty line is close to a theoretical lower limit, suggesting it is insufficient to meet households' basic needs. Other methodological issues in the calculation were discussed, including the selection of the reference group, exclusion of some items in measuring the share of food to household expenditures, and the potential asymmetry of the reference group in favor of higher-income households used to calculate the poverty threshold. Using the theoretical poverty threshold bounds as a basis for an updated PSA methodology is viable.

𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲:
Face-to-face: https://bit.ly/4zgO8Ob
Online: https://bit.ly/4hApVws

We hope to see you there!

06/10/2026

𝓗𝓐𝓟𝓟𝓔𝓝𝓘𝓝𝓖 𝓞𝓝 𝓕𝓡𝓘𝓓𝓐𝓨, October 9, 2026, 4:00 PM, at the Judith R. Duavit-Vazquez and Class of 1984 Lecture Room (UPSE Room 105)
🎓 UPSE-PCED Friday Seminar, featuring 𝐃𝐫. 𝐊𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐀. 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨, a Senior Research Fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). She leads empirical research on electricity markets, transport infrastructure, and education policy, using applied econometrics and quasi-experimental methods. Her recent work covers electricity subsidy reform, market power in domestic shipping, and the effects of transport connectivity on employment, inequality, and household welfare. Before rejoining PIDS in 2020, she was an Associate Professor at the De La Salle University School of Economics. She has also worked with the Department of Trade and Industry, the Asian Development Bank Institute, and the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Economics from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, where she was a Monbukagakusho scholar. She earned her B.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

🧠 📚 💡 𝙇𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙏𝙞𝙩𝙡𝙚: "Beyond Bridges: Ro-Ro Connectivity and Local Development in Island and Mainland Municipalities in the Philippines"

𝘼𝙗𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩: Most causal evidence on transport infrastructure is based on roads and railways, leaving archipelagic economies understudied. This study addresses this gap by examining how local development unfolded after municipalities joined the Philippine Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) network, and whether the effects differ between island and mainland municipalities. In doing so, it aims to inform local infrastructure planning and deepen understanding of local development in archipelagic settings. We build a harmonized panel of 1,610 municipal units linking census microdata, satellite indicators, annual local fiscal data, and a national port inventory. Ro-Ro municipalities are compared with port municipalities that were never part of the Ro-Ro network, so our estimates capture the effect of Ro-Ro conversion relative to other forms of port investment. Combining propensity score matching with the Callaway and Sant’Anna (2021) staggered difference-in-differences estimator, we estimate effects for all port municipalities and separately by geography. Preliminary results show that real property tax revenue in island municipalities rises by about 22 percent, building gradually as periodic property revaluation would predict. This estimate, however, is sensitive to treatment timing and parallel-trend assumptions. In contrast, mainland fiscal effects are near zero. Across both geographies, employment, living conditions, and urbanization show little robust change.

Please register using the links below or by scanning the QR codes in the poster:
📍 Onsite: https://tinyurl.com/36vb7h3s
📍 Zoom: https://tinyurl.com/53fz6zws

We'd love to see you there!

02/10/2026

🧠 Test Your Knowledge & Win GrabFood Vouchers! 🍔

Calling all UP School of Economics students and faculty! The Cambridge Knowledge Quiz Online 2026 is officially open.

Organized by Cambridge University Press, this quick 5-question quiz gives you a chance to be 1 of 10 lucky winners of GrabFood vouchers!

📍 How to join:

Search for answers using Cambridge Core: https://mainlib.upd.edu.ph/cambridge-core/

Submit your answers here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/UoP2026 (or scan the QR code in the poster)

📅 Promo Period: October 1, 2026 – November 30, 2026

Good luck, Iskos and Iskas! 💡

📝 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐳 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 | 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 (𝐔𝐏) 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦

🌟 Test your knowledge and win Grab Food vouchers!

The Cambridge Knowledge Quiz Online 2026 is now open for all UP System lecturers and students! Organized by Cambridge University Press, this quiz gives you the chance to be 1 of 10 lucky winners of Grab Food vouchers by answering five questions correctly.

🗓 Date: 1 October 2026 - 30 November 2026

🔗Join here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/UoP2026 or scan the QR code on the poster!

Access Cambridge Core < https://mainlib.upd.edu.ph/cambridge-core/> to search for the correct answers and submit them for a chance to win. Best of luck!

01/10/2026

👀 COMING SOON!
📣 SAVE THE DATE!
9️⃣ For the 9th CFME Talk!

The Center for Financial and Monetary Economics (CFME) invites you to a timely discussion on:
“𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸: 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹, 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮, 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗭𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀”.

This lecture will be delivered by Vincent Conti, MSc, Global Head of Macro Modelling & an Asia-Pacific Economist at S&P Global Ratings, and David G. Fernandez, PhD, Senior Fellow of the Center for Financial and Monetary Economics, and Visiting Professor at the Philippine Center for Economic Development.

THE LECTURE IS ON:
🗓 21 October 2026
🕓 4:00 P.M.
💻 Via Virtual Lecture

Register now by scanning the QR code below or by clicking on this link:
https://bit.ly/4r8r2Xc

👀 See you there!








Philippine Center for Economic Development