Poverty and Inequality Analysis
This study provides evidence about changes in the distribution of living standards among Indonesian households during the economic crisis. It uses consumption expenditure data from a panel of households that were surveyed in May 1997, just before the onset of the crisis, and then again in August 1998, about a year after the crisis began.
This study is the first attempt to systematically examine the impact of bad governance practices in Indonesia on poverty reduction. Indonesia is a country that has endured bad governance for a long period, but has also sustained significant poverty reduction.
The problem of child labour in Indonesia, although generally less prevalent than in other developing countries at a similar stage of development, is significant. As in other countries, this study finds a strong link between the child labour phenomenon and poverty, with the profile of child labour largely mirroring the profile of poverty.
In early 1998 the government of Indonesia established several social safety net programmes to help the poor and the newly poor cope with the impact of the impending economic crisis, covering food security, employment creation, education, health, and community empowerment.
Household consumption expenditure data is crucial for calculating important welfare measures such as poverty headcount rate. However, collecting such data is difficult and cumbersome.
