Poverty and Inequality Analysis
This paper assesses the relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction in Indonesia before and after the Asian financial crisis (AFC). Indonesia has a significantly slower poverty reduction post-AFC compared to the pre-AFC era. The trend in the growth elasticity of poverty indicates that the power of each% of economic growth to reduce poverty did not change greatly between the pre and post-AFC time periods.
This paper analyzes the impact of violent conflict on economic activity using micro level data sources from Indonesia. The study compiled a panel dataset at the kabupaten level for the period 2002-2008, and attempted to disentangle the overall negative effect of violent conflict on economic growth into its sectoral components.
We assess the financial risk of ill health for households in Indonesia, the role of informal coping strategies, and the effectiveness of these strategies in smoothing consumption. Based on household panel data, we find evidence of financial risk from illness through medical expenses, while income from informal wage labor is exposed to risk for the poor and income from self-employed business activities for the non-poor.
Indonesia has achieved well-documented and drastic improvements in average incomes and in the reduction of poverty. Much research has discussed this progress. This paper adds to the literature with a new perspective. We discuss poverty in Indonesia using the international poverty lines ($1.25, $2 and we add $10 per day).
One of the key challenges on delivering benefits of poverty programs to the poor is to ensure that the beneficiaries of the programs are indeed the targeted population. This paper aims at assessing the implications of poverty dynamics on the accuracy of targeting, using a three-year panel data from Indonesia.
