Comment on “Dutertenomics: Populism, Progress and Prospects”

• Date: 01 July 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.12303
• Published date: 01 July 2020
• Author: Yusuke Takagi

Comment on “Dutertenomics: Populism,

Progress and Prospects”

Yusuke TAKAGI†

National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)

JEL codes: E20, E60, O53

Accepted: 9 January 2020

Capuno (2020) is one of the most articulated studies about the political economy of the

Duterte administration. He convincingly distinguishes Duterte’s political style

(Dutertismo) and his economic policy orientation (Duternomics), and argues that the

former is a mixture of populism and strong man rule, while the latter is guided by liberal

economic principles; the former indicates change, while the latter reflects a continuity

from previous administrations. Besides, it is really appropriate for Capuno to pick up

the tax reforms and infrastructure development programs as the distinguishing items of

the economic policy of the Duterte administration. The following are some points for

further consideration about the Duterte administration and the Philippine’s political

economy based on Capuno’s insightful paper.

First, while I agree that we should distinguish Dutertenomics from Dutertismo, I

still wonder what is the relationship between these two terms. Are they independent of

each other? For instance, to what extent can economic managers make decisions with-

out any consultation with the president? While Capuno argues that the president is

not so interested in the economy, Capuno’s observations reveal cases where the eco-

nomic managers failed to convince the president on particular policy issues. Does the

president need Duternomics in order to carry out Dutertismo or vice versa?

Second, Dutertismo is apparently composed of authoritarianism or strong man rule

and populism. It may be possible, but we may still wonder why these two factors are

combined. During the cold war era, we often observed a combination of a strong man

rule with liberal economic reform in East Asia, for example, President Park Jung Hee in

South Korea and President Soeharto in Indonesia. Those who discuss the so-called

“Beijing Consensus”may argue that authoritarian rule is more suitable for rapid eco-

nomic growth with liberal economic policies which may not necessarily be popular

among the people (Halper, 2010). Why does President Duterte need popularity if he can

consolidate his power based on a strong man rule? If he maximizes the strong man rule,

should we still call him a populist? Do we need a strong man rule to carry out liberal

economic policy? Which should we pay more attention, populism or strongmen rule?

†Correspondence: Yusuke Takagi, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS).

7-22-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8677, Japan. Email: y-takagi@grips.ac.jp

280 © 2020 Japan Center for Economic Research

doi: 10.1111/aepr.12303 Asian Economic Policy Review (2020) 15, 280–281