Ateneo Policy Center releases research on Over-hyped Presidential Satisfaction Survey, Fake News Damage on Vaccine Confidence, Energy Trilemma, and Tariff Policy

The Ateneo Policy Center, Ateneo School of Government's policy research unit, is pleased to announce the publication of four (4) papers under the ASOG Working Paper Series for January 2020. 

ASOG WP 20-003: UNPACKING PRESIDENTIAL SATISFACTION: INSIGHTS FROM SURVEY DATA FROM THE PHILIPPINES authored by Tristan Canare of the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center, Dr. Ronald U. Mendoza, Leonardo Jaminola, and Jurel Yap from the Ateneo Policy Center.  As a contribution to the literature on leadership satisfaction and public opinion, this study empirically examines data on Philippine presidential net satisfaction generated by well-established survey firms in that country, as well as a unique survey commissioned by the authors of this study. Using both macro- and microlevel data, this study unpacks the links between survey results on citizens’ satisfaction with leadership and policies in the Philippines to try and advance our understanding of the possible factors that may drive them.

This study finds scant evidence that economic links are tied to presidential satisfaction, despite the primacy of the economy in Philippine surveys of key policy issues. Instead, there is evidence of herd behavior and partial evidence of disinformation possibly linked to presidential net satisfaction. The findings here suggest there should be more caution in interpreting presidential satisfaction indicators. 

To read the full paper, please visit https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3519651

Previous publications of the Ateneo Policy Center can be accessed through this link: http://ateneo.edu/aps/asog/research_and_publications/research_materials/working_paper_series

The three other working papers are:

ASOG WP 20-002: A CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE: THE CASE OF DENGVAXIA IN THE PHILIPPINES authored by Dr. Ronald U. Mendoza of the Ateneo School of Government, Sheena A. Valenzuela of Ateneo Policy Center, and Dr. Manuel M. Dayrit of the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH). This case tackles the governance issues surrounding the dengue vaccination program, emphasizing the important role of public communication. As there indeed were governance issues surrounding a vaccine program, how best to address them given the potential public health implications?

To read the full paper, please visit https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3519736

ASOG WP 20-001: MANAGING THE ENERGY TRILEMMA IN THE PHILIPPINES authored by Dr. Josef T. Yap of the ASEP-CELLS project, Aaron Joseph P. Gabriola, and Chrysogonus F. Herrera both from MERALCO PowerGen Corporation. This paper proposes a framework and methodology to manage the trilemma by applying methods related to multi-criteria decision making to assign weights to the various components of the trilemma.

To read the full paper, please visit https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3516435

ASOG WP 20-004: EVALUATING THE FEED-IN TARIFF POLICY IN THE PHILIPPINES authored by Joyce Marie Lagac and Dr. Josef T. Yap of the ASEP-CELLS project. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) policy in promoting renewable energy development in the Philippines by assessing its costs and benefits. Data show that while the FiT led to the increase in RE generating capacity, the share of renewable energy in the total power generation mix has been declining since 2011. The findings also suggest that the Philippines has incurred a net social cost from its implementation of the FiT.

To read the full paper, please visit https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3520401.