Does economics have a language problem that locks everyday citizens out of democratic debate?
That is the core question tackled by Ekonsepto—a Rethinking Economics network group and brilliant youth-led non-profit in the Philippines—in their newly launched working paper, Can Filipinos Follow the Economy? Public Understanding of Economic News and Its Democratic Implications.
The paper explores how far “econocracy”, the inaccessible, technical language used to describe economics that shields government policy from civic oversight, has affected the Filipino population.
They draw on nationally representative survey data to examine how frequently Filipino adults consume economic news, whether they report understanding it, and how these patterns vary across population groups.
It is great to see Ekonsepto build upon the work of others in the network. They’ve cited Econocracy’s 2016 survey data on the UK public’s understanding of economic messages put forward by politicians and the media to help make their argument and explore how this phenomena is manifesting in the Phillippines.
As the Ekonsepto team launches this piece of research at the YSI pre-conference at the 49th Conference of the Federation of ASEAN Economic Associations in Manila on the 12th November 2026, we are excited to share their findings with you.