Krisztina Kis-Katos

Civil Conflict and Displacement: Village-Level Determinants of Forced Migration in Aceh

The purpose of this article is to identify the determinants of displacement behavior based on various push and pull factors at the village level. The study concentrates on changes in village population during three years of civil conflict (1999—2002) in Aceh, Indonesia. The empirical analysis is based on a unique dataset from two census rounds of the Indonesian Village Potential Census (PODES). It uses data on around 5,200 Acehnese villages and relates village-level population change to conflict variables, geographic patterns, and traditional socio-economic determinants of migration. By applying quantile regressions, the push (outflow) factors and the pull (inflow) determinants of migration can also be distinguished. The authors identify the following factors as the main determinants of the Aceh migration pattern in this period. First, conflict clashes induced large rearrangements of the population between villages in highly affected districts, as well as strong village emigration from the geographically remote regions in Central Aceh towards the less conflict-affected coastal industrial areas. Besides conflict factors, an (ongoing) rural—urban migration process, driven by socio-economic factors, has taken place during the conflict period. Second, there is also evidence that security considerations, such as the presence of police in a village or neighborhood, were either emigration-reducing or immigration-inducing. Third, although the presence of ethnic Javanese has not been a primary cause of conflict incidence, their intimidation by the rebel movement has led to a significant outflow, primarily from conflict-affected villages in Central Aceh. These results reveal that, beside a conflict-induced fear of violence, population movements in Aceh have also been an outcome of traditional migration determinants.

Child Labor and Trade Liberalization in Indonesia

We examine the effects of trade liberalization on child work in Indonesia, identifying geographical differences in the effects of trade policy through district level exposure to reduction in import tariff barriers, from 1993 to 2002. The results suggest that increased exposure to trade liberalization is associated with a decrease in child work among the 10-15 year olds. The effects of tariff reductions are strongest for children from low-skill backgrounds, older siblings, and in rural areas. Favorable income effects for the poor, induced by trade liberalization, are likely to be the dominating effects underlying these results.

Post-Crackdown Effectiveness of Field-Based Forest Law Enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon

Regulatory enforcement of forest conservation laws is often dismissed as an ineffective approach to reducing tropical forest loss. Yet, effective enforcement is often a precondition for alternative conservation measures, such as payments for environmental services, to achieve desired outcomes. Fair and efficient policies to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) will thus crucially depend on understanding the determinants and requirements of enforcement effectiveness. Among potential REDD candidate countries, Brazil is considered to possess the most advanced deforestation monitoring and enforcement infrastructure. This study explores a unique dataset of over 15 thousand point coordinates of enforcement missions in the Brazilian Amazon during 2009 and 2010, after major reductions of deforestation in the region. We study whether local deforestation patterns have been affected by field-based enforcement and to what extent these effects vary across administrative boundaries. Spatial matching and regression techniques are applied at different spatial resolutions. We find that field-based enforcement operations have not been universally effective in deterring deforestation during our observation period. Inspections have been most effective in reducing large-scale deforestation in the states of Mato Grosso and Pará, where average conservation effects were 4.0 and 9.9 hectares per inspection, respectively. Despite regional and actor-specific heterogeneity in inspection effectiveness, field-based law enforcement is highly cost-effective on average and might be enhanced by closer collaboration between national and state-level authorities.

Corruption in Southeast Asia: a survey of recent research

This paper surveys the empirical literature on corruption in Southeast Asia with a focus on the methodological approach that the contributions take to identify the extent, determinants, and consequences of corruption and the remedies against it. We present the major topics that empirical corruption research has focused on and point out the methodological challenges that this line of research has to address. We discuss the empirical corruption studies on Southeast Asia and describe the empirical approach that they have taken.

Does Globalization Reduce Child Labor

Abstract This paper considers the effects of trade liberalization on child labor that arises out of subsistence needs. It argues that favorable income effects are most likely to reduce the need for child labor in the South, even when export goods have a necessity character. However, in very poor economies, aggregate hours of child labor can also increase as a result of more open trade. Although the poorest families are the ones who benefit the most from trade in a Heckscher – Ohlin setting, their income gains might not be high enough to make them withdraw their children from work, while adverse income effects can raise the incidence of child labor among the less poor. The paper provides empirical support for the argument by finding that in a country panel, increases in trade openness are associated with significantly smaller reductions in child labor among the poorest food exporters than among food exporters on average.

Child Labour in Indonesian Small Industries

Abstract We analyse the geographic incidence of child labour in small manufacturing firms in Indonesia at the village level. Our unique data set covers virtually all Indonesian villages and urban neighbourhoods; it allows us to distinguish between demand and supply side determinants of child labour. We show by correcting for sample selection that a number of counterintuitive results – child labour being unaffected by credit access and school proximity – are the result of an interplay between supply and demand side determinants. Credit access and school proximity reduce child labour supply, but simultaneously constitute positive location factors for firms thereby increasing the demand for child labourers. To effectively reduce child labour, growth oriented policies, such as enhancing school and credit facilities, should be complemented by policies specifically geared towards increasing school attendance.

Context Specificity of Economic Research: The Example of Corruption Research in Southeast Asia

Area studies have focused their epistemological interest on one particular geographical area, however defined, and have often approached their objects of interest from various disciplinary or even interdisciplinary angles. Economics has contributed to area studies for a long time by providing area-specific analyses that combined sound economic reasoning with in-depth knowledge of the region. Area studies find their common ground in the area they study, not primarily in the issues studied within these areas or in the methodological approach they take. As a consequence, there is no Southeast Asia-specific economic methodology—the analytical tools in economics, whether theoretical or empirical, are not restricted to a particular geographic (or cultural, political, economic, social) area; they are applicable to the object of study regardless where it is placed.