Gerald Pascua is an economics lecturer and researcher at the Ateneo de Manila University Department of Economics. With over a decade of combined experience spanning economic research and consultancy, project monitoring and implementation, and policy evaluation and analysis, he has undertaken consultancy work for a range of institutions, including the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry, Asian Development Bank, Asian Productivity Organization, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, and the ASEAN Secretariat. His trade-related research interests include the empirical analysis of trade agreements, frontier issues in trade policy—particularly those related to the digital economy—and the dynamics of regional economic integration in Developing Asia. He holds a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of the Philippines School of Economics.