peer-reviewed publications

2023

1. CJRES

   Platforming populism: the services transition, precarious urbanization, and digital platforms in the rise of illiberal populism in the Philippines

   Jerik Cruz and Emille de la Cruz

   Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 2023

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   Existing research on the adverse impact of digital platforms on democratic politics has generally focussed on supply side factors underlying illiberal populism. Yet by reinforcing a services-led growth model of capitalism in the developing world, the platform economy has also been implicated on the demand-side of the global populist upsurge by fostering new insecure classes as well as precarious urbanisation patterns. Through a case study of the rise of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines’ 2016 elections, we show how our theoretical argument has unfolded in one of the most well-known cases of illiberal populism within the Global South. Even while waging unprecedented disinformation campaigns on social media, the political opportunity structure underlying Duterte’s electoral victory in 2016 was fostered by the growth of ‘rising yet insecure’ classes linked to the Philippines’ services and platform economy, as well as the socio-spatial legacies of the country’s experience of premature deindustrialisation.

   @article{cruz2023platforming,
     title = {Platforming populism: the services transition, precarious urbanization, and digital platforms in the rise of illiberal populism in the Philippines},
     author = {Cruz, Jerik and Cruz, Emille de la},
     journal = {Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society},
     volume = {16},
     number = {2},
     pages = {269--288},
     year = {2023},
     publisher = {Oxford University Press UK},
     bibtex_show = true,
   }

2020

1. JAPE

   The political economy of foreign investment and industrial development: the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand in comparative perspective

   Manuel F Montes and Jerik Cruz

   Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 2020

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   This article examines the contribution of foreign investment to industrial development by comparing the Philippine experience with two ASEAN neighbors: Malaysia and Thailand. Instead of viewing a failure to attract foreign investment as a binding development constraint, we focus on the appropriateness of such flows for industrial upgrading. Likewise, we underscore political economy factors—particularly the presence of effective state interventions and conducive state-business ties—as prime features of countries that have leveraged FDI for more successful industrial development. Without discounting flaws in these interventions in the cases of Thailand and Malaysia, we find that such forms of government involvement have been vital in driving both countries’ strong investment and industrial growth records relative to that of the Philippines. Revived industrial policy initiatives in developing Asia would be well-advised to heed these lessons on investment-related intervention, so as to reorient their investment policies for maximum impact on industrial development in the years ahead.

   @article{montes2020political,
     title = {The political economy of foreign investment and industrial development: the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand in comparative perspective},
     author = {Montes, Manuel F and Cruz, Jerik},
     journal = {Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy},
     volume = {25},
     number = {1},
     pages = {16--39},
     year = {2020},
     publisher = {Taylor \& Francis},
     bibtex_show = true,
   }

2019

1. JSAE

   Structural inequality in the Philippines: Oligarchy, (Im)mobility and Economic Transformation

   Philip Arnold Tuaño and Jerik Cruz

   Journal of Southeast Asian Economies, 2019

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   Over the past four decades, the Philippines has achieved significant advances in its growth performance and has undergone a series of transformations in its political, economic and social structures. However, while average incomes have risen, the country’s record in terms of generating quality employment and reducing poverty and inequality has been disappointing. High levels of income inequality and social exclusion have persisted in the country, even as the rate of upward socio-economic mobility, at least compared to its ASEAN neighbours, has been low. Moreover, new evidence suggests that key forms of wealth inequality have been rising. These trends are caused not only by poor human and physical investment as well as the adverse effects of premature deindustrialization, but also by the dynamics of an oligarchical political economy in which political dynasties and family-linked conglomerates have substantially curbed the capacity of non-elite formations and players to assert more developmental policy regimes and substantive democratization.

   @article{tuano2019structural,
     title = {Structural inequality in the Philippines: Oligarchy, (Im)mobility and Economic Transformation},
     author = {Tua{\~n}o, Philip Arnold and Cruz, Jerik},
     journal = {Journal of Southeast Asian Economies},
     volume = {36},
     number = {3},
     pages = {304--328},
     year = {2019},
     publisher = {JSTOR},
     bibtex_show = true,
   }