MAHAR K. MANGAHAS
(Mahar MangahasSocial Weather StationsQuezon City 1101
[email protected] )
Mahar Mangahas, a Filipino economist (PhD, University of
Chicago, 1970), has done research on rice economics, land reform,
poverty, hunger, income inequality, quality-of-life, governance,
and public opinion.
He was Professor of Economics at the University of the
Philippines, Vice-President for Research of the Development Academy
of the Philippines, and UNICEF Consultant on Social Indicators for
the Governments of Malaysia and Indonesia. He was editor of the
Philippine Economic Journal; president of the Philippine Economic
Society and the Marketing and Opinion Research Society of the
Philippines; co-founder of the Philippine Agrarian Reform
Foundation and the Foundation for Economic Freedom; Philippine
national representative of the World Association for Public Opinion
Research (WAPOR); and board member of the International Society for
Quality-of-Life Studies.
In 1985, Mangahas co-founded and has since been president of
Social Weather Stations (SWS) (www.sws.org.ph), the Philippines’
leading institute in quality-of-life monitoring, opinion polling,
and social survey archiving.
In 2001, he received WAPOR’s Helen Dinerman Award, the public
opinion profession’s highest honor, for “championing the rights and
freedoms of survey researchers in the Philippines,” after SWS
successfully petitioned the Philippine Supreme Court to nullify a
provision of the Fair Election Act banning the publication of
pre-election surveys, for being a violation of freedom of
expression.
In 2011, he received the University of Chicago Alumni Award for
Public Service, for being “a powerful influence in helping to
define a nation’s identity and to restore democracy by
demonstrating the public will through numbers. … [His] work—much of
which was done under difficult political circumstances—has led to
important public dialogue and policy changes for his nation.”
Education
1962 AB, University of the Philippines
1965MA, University of the Philippines
1970 PhD (economics), University of Chicago
Current positions
1985- present Co-founder and President of Social Weather
Stations, a private, nonstock, nonprofit organization, the
Philippines’ leading institute in quality-of-life monitoring,
public opinion polling, and social survey data archiving. Webpage:
http://www.sws.org.ph.
July 2007-present Columnist, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Previous positions
Asia Foundation Consultant
2005 Surveying religion, security, and development in
Bangladesh
2004 Local conflict survey in Cambodia
1994 Public opinion polling in Bangladesh
2004, 2006 and 2007 Global Integrity Reports, Philippine
expert
Columnist
1995-2002 Manila Standard
1996-97Evening Paper
1988-93Manila Chronicle
1989ESCAP Consultant on Quality-of-Life Indicators in Asia and
the Pacific
1987 National Economic & Development Authority Consultant on
Agrarian Reform
1981-1984Development Academy of the Philippines,
Vice-President/Research for Development
UNICEF Consultant on Social Indicators
1977-78 Government of Malaysia
1981 Government of Indonesia
University of the Philippines at Diliman
1962-81 School of Economics faculty member; final post, San
Miguel Corporation Professor of Economics.
Awards
2011The University of Chicago Alumni Award for Public Service,
for being “a powerful influence in helping to define a nation’s
identity and to restore democracy by demonstrating the public will
through numbers. … [His] work—much of which was done under
difficult political circumstances—has led to important public
dialogue and policy changes for his nation.”
2001 The Helen Dinerman Award, the highest award of the World
Association for Public Opinion Research, for championing rights and
freedoms of survey researchers in the Philippines (Rome)
1993The Elizabeth H. Nelson Priz, World Association for Public
Opinion Research, for Best Conference Paper from the Third World
(Copenhagen).
1986The Development Academy of the Philippines Concept Award for
Development and Implementation of Social Indicators
1984-85 The Rockefeller Foundation’s Reflections in Development
Research Award
1975-79The Philippine Social Science Council’s Award for Best
Philippine Social Science Journal for 1975-79, to the Philippine
Economic Journal, under his editorship
Books
The Code of Muslim Personal Laws in Practice: What Influential
Muslms and Shari’a Lawyers Think (with Linda Luz Guerrero, Hamid
Barra, and Vladymir Joseph Licudine), Social Weather Stations,
2007.
SWS Surveys and the 1998 National Elections, Social Weather
Stations, 1998.
Monitoring the State of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession
(with A. La Viña, S. Rood, A. Casambre, and D. Arroyo), Social
Weather Stations, 1996.
The Philippine Social Climate: From the SWS Surveys, Anvil
Publishing, 1994.
Measuring Philippine Development: Report of the Social
Indicators Project (Ed.). Development Academy of the Philippines,
1976.
Tenants, Owners, Lessees: Welfare Implications of Tenure Change
(with V. Miralao and R.P. de los Reyes), Ateneo de Manila
University Press, 1976
Selected Papers
The Challenge of Election Surveys: SWS Experience in the
Philippines. Paper for the Second International Conference on
Public Opinion Polls, Public Opinion Polls in a Changing Society.
Cairo, Egypt, 8-10 November 2009, available on www.sws.org.ph.
SWS Monitoring of Self-Rated Deprivation. PIDS-NEDA-UNDP
project, Comprehensive Documentation and Analysis of Issues on the
Official Poverty Estimation Methodology of the Philippines. 24 July
2008, available on www.sws.org.ph.
Two decades of social weather reporting in the Philippines.
(with Linda Luz B. Guerrero), In Møller, V., Huschka, D., and
Michalos, A. C. (Eds.). Barometers of Quality of Life Around the
Globe: How Are We Doing? Social Indicators Research Series, X,
Springer, 2008 forthcoming.
Election survey freedom in the Philippines. International
Journal of Market Research, 48, Quarter 1, 2004.
Self-sustained quality of life monitoring: The Philippine Social
Weather Reports” (with Linda Luz B. Guerrero) (2002). In Zumbo, B.
D. (Ed.). Advances in Quality of Life Research, Special Issue of
Social Indicators Research, 60 (1-3).
Subjective poverty and affluence in the Philippines. (2002). In
Glatzer, W. (Ed.). Rich and Poor: Disparities, Perceptions,
Concomitants, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Self-rated poverty in the Philippines, 1981-1992. International
Journal of Public Opinion Research, 1995 [winner of WAPOR’s Nelson
Prize].
Monitoring the economic and social weather in the Philippines.
(1991). In K. J. Arrow, K. J. (Ed.). Issues in Contemporary
Economics, Volume 1: Markets and Welfare, London: International
Economic Association.
Study on the Development of Quality of Life Indicators in Asia
and the Pacific, United Nations, New York, 1990 (ST/ESCAP/868).
Distributive justice in the Philippines: Ideology, policy and
surveillance. In Lim Teck Ghee, L. T. (Ed.). Reflections in
Development in Southeast Asia, ISEAS, Singapore, 1988 [cf. the
Rockefeller Foundation’s Reflections in Development Award].
Membership in Professional, Civic, and Academic
Organizations
1995-2011World Association for Public Opinion Research: National
Representative, Philippines
2006Member, WAPOR Exit Poll Committee
1997-present Member, International Society for Quality-of-Life
Studies
2001-02, 05-13 Board Member, International Society for
Quality-of-Life Studies
2005-2007 Member, Editorial Review Board, Applied Research in
Quality of Life, 2005-07.
1993-presentMember, American Association for Public Opinion
Research
1992 President, Marketing and Opinion Research Society of the
Philippines
1999-2006 Executive Committee, Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference
for Human Development
1996 Co-founder, Foundation for Economic Freedom
1993 Co-founder, Philippine Agrarian Reform Foundation
1985-present Honors and Awards Committee Member, Ateneo de
Manila University
1980 President, Philippine Economic Society
1975-85 Editor, Philippine Economic Journal
1980-81 Vice-Chairman, Philippine Social Science Council
2002-present Member, Philippine Eagle Foundation
