Internationally renowned economist and author Dr. Keijiro Otsuka was forthright on the main reason why the Philippines failed to develop economically: the country’s inability to learn from abroad.
Dr. Otsuka, a development economist and distinguished honorary professor at Kobe University in Japan, highlighted this view and more in a seminar held on 03 March 2025 at the REDREC Auditorium, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) on the topic “Why did the Philippines fail to develop?”
More than 200 attendees filled the venue to capacity to listen to Dr. Otsuka.
The seminar is part of a continuing series initiated by the College of Economics and Management (CEM) of UPLB. The activity was organized by the Department of Economics, a unit under CEM.
Dr. Otsuka emphasized that innovation is central to economic development but for poorer economies, this involves learning technology and management skills from more innovative countries.
He explained that other economies in Asia such as Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea were able to successfully exploit cross-country knowledge and technology spillovers to propel their economies to greater heights, which the Philippines has failed to do.
Dr Otsuka prescribes that for the country to develop, it should promote learning from abroad, further develop its human capital, and support the development of promising industries.
Dr. Otsuka is coauthor or coeditor of 29 books and 149 articles in international journals covering a wide range of topics such as development economics, the rural economy, industrial development, poverty, Green Revolution in Asia and Africa, among others. He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) from 2004 to 2007.
He received his PhD in Economics at the University of Chicago and is currently a Visiting Professor at the UPLB Department of Economics. (written by the Seminars Committee of the UPLB Department of Economics)
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