Poverty and Inequality Analysis
Using cross-section data from household surveys, we estimate several categories of household poverty and vulnerability in Indonesia by combining the available information on current consumption levels, estimates of vulnerability to poverty, and estimates of expected consumption levels.
During the economic crisis, the headcount poverty rate in Indonesia changed relatively quickly in short periods of time, implying that there were a large number of households which moved in and out of poverty relatively frequently and experienced relatively short periods of poverty. This study finds that changes that took place at the household level were greater than what were indicated by the aggregate figures.
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.
This study provides an overview of inequality in Indonesia for the period of 1984 to 2002 using several widely used measurements of inequality. Firstly, unlike previous studies, our paper uses real consumption expenditure that takes into account the high regional price disparity across regions in Indonesia.
Although in general less prevalent than other developing countries at similar stage of development, the problem of child labor in Indonesia is significant. Like in other countries, this study finds that there is a strong link between the child labor phenomenon and poverty. The profile of child labor largely mirrors the profile of poverty. Furthermore, poverty is found as an important determinant of working for children.
