Enhancing a country’s own best practice

Best practice inspiration for any economy, including the Philippines’, should ideally include long-term improvements in standards of living for the whole society. Though I currently can’t point at any country where near-term economic growth doesn’t play an important role as well, and this naturally represents a challenge, it’s not impossible to solve.

Hong Kong is currently in a very stormy situation but how the economy has been built and has expanded over the past decades is admirable. It is also one of the Philippines’ closest neighbors and therefore easy to get inspired by. What I assess as very strong is the complete open economy that Hong Kong represents: it’s simply a platform for trade, investment, finance etc. — sectors that since centuries have generated wealth growth that is above average. The inspiration I would point at is that the Philippines should not fear more open borders concerning capital movements, especially allowing a higher share of foreign ownership of Philippine companies — it brings growth and wealth.