This article provides a review of regional inequalities in the Philippines, one of the most challenging countries in Southeast Asia due to its combination of continuing high population growth in both urban and rural areas and lack of gainful employment. The article connects structural drivers of regional disparities to policy options recently proposed in the important book Inequality in Asia and the Pacific, to bring about balanced regional development in Asia by: 1. improving regional connectivity, 2. transferring fiscal resources for greater investment in human capital and better access to public services in poor regions, 3. developing growth poles in lagging regions and 4. reducing barriers to within-country migration. While refinements of current policies and schemes with respect to the first three policy options might lead to curbing the persistence of regional disparities and to faster provincial poverty reduction, promoting more rural–urban migration will likely lead to a relocation of poverty to urban slums; in fact, the poverty incidence in several Philippine core provinces has risen in the last decade. The trends and patterns observed in the Philippines constitute valuable inputs for connecting structural drivers of regional disparities to specific empirical contexts in neighbouring countries and for improving regional policymaking.

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菲律宾的区域差异：结构性驱动因素和政策考虑

本文回顾了菲律宾的区域不平等状况，菲律宾是东南亚最具挑战性的国家之一，因为其城市和农村地区人口持续高速增长且缺乏有酬就业。本文将区域差异的结构性驱动因素与最近在重要著作《亚洲及太平洋的不平等》中提出的政策选择联系起来，以通过以下方式实现亚洲区域的均衡发展：1. 改善区域连通性，2. 转移财政资源以加大对人力的投资资本和更好地获得贫困地区的公共服务；3. 在落后地区发展增长极；4. 减少国内移民的障碍。虽然针对前三个政策选项对现行政策和方案进行改进可能会导致区域差异的持续存在并加快省级减贫，但促进更多的农村向城市迁移可能会导致贫困人口转移到城市贫民窟；事实上，菲律宾几个核心省份的贫困发生率在过去十年有所上升。在菲律宾观察到的趋势和模式为将区域差异的结构性驱动因素与邻国的具体经验背景联系起来以及改进区域决策提供了宝贵的投入。菲律宾几个核心省份的贫困发生率在过去十年有所上升。在菲律宾观察到的趋势和模式为将区域差异的结构性驱动因素与邻国的具体经验背景联系起来以及改进区域决策提供了宝贵的投入。菲律宾几个核心省份的贫困发生率在过去十年有所上升。在菲律宾观察到的趋势和模式为将区域差异的结构性驱动因素与邻国的具体经验背景联系起来以及改进区域决策提供了宝贵的投入。