Yogi Vidyattama

Indonesia’s Changing Economic Geography

Abstract Indonesias regional socio-economic data base extends over 30 years, so it is now possible to draw conclusions about regional development dynamics since the 1970s. We examine economic growth, inequality, convergence, structural change, demographic dynamics and social indicators over this period. There continues to be great diversity in economic and social outcomes, but growth and social progress have been remarkably even: the poorest regions, located mainly in Eastern Indonesia, have generally performed about as well as the national average. The better performing regions include those that are the most ‘connected’ to the global economy. In this respect, Jakarta stands out, growing richer than the rest of the country over time. As expected, conflict is harmful to economic development. There is no clear natural resource story: the performance of the resource-rich provinces has varied considerably.

Improving Work Incentives and Incomes for Parents: The National and Geographic Impact of Liberalising the Family Tax Benefit Income Test

The effective tax rates and possible work disincentives created by Australia’s tax and welfare systems have been receiving extensive policy attention in recent years. Family Tax Benefit-Part A (FTB-A) is one of the key causes of high effective marginal tax rates for many families. This study uses national and spatial microsimulation models to evaluate the national and local impacts of a possible FTB-A reform option, which involves reducing the income test withdrawal rate associated with the FTB-A income test. The modelling suggests that the option would be an effective way to reduce high effective marginal tax rates for around 415,000 parents of FTB-A children, would benefit around 850,000 families, and would deliver additional assistance to middle income families living on the outskirts of our cities.

The Effect of Transport Costs on Housing-related Financial Stress in Australia

Housing-related financial stress or housing stress is usually measured on the basis of income and direct housing costs such as mortgage repayments and rents. One cost that is not included in calculations of housing stress, but which may be important, is the difference made by transport costs. This paper shows how a measure of housing stress that incorporates transport costs can give a different picture of housing stress from a measure that ignores transport costs. The result shows that, in capital cities, bringing transport costs into a housing stress measure particularly affects households with children. It is also found that the impact of transport costs is even greater outside capital cities and that access to public transport may play a role in determining the spatial pattern of housing stress and hence the impact of transport cost on housing stress.

Regional convergence and the role of the neighbourhood effect in decentralised Indonesia

More than a decade since Indonesias radical decentralisation process commenced, this article examines whether the economic performance of neighbouring regions – the neighbourhood effect – can determine the speed of regional convergence. The results suggest that the inequality of gross regional domestic product per capita, as indicated by the Williamson index of regional inequality, may increase slightly in times of insignificant estimated speeds of convergence – especially because of the growth of Jakarta. In contrast, changes in the Human Development Index numbers for Indonesia indicate that regional convergence is taking place, although its speed is decreasing. The neighbourhood effect could be significant in both cases, but it has had little effect on the speed of convergence.

Children in Housing Disadvantage in Australia: Development of a Summary Small Area Index

The importance of suitable, affordable housing in promoting the well-being of children is widely acknowledged. However, despite growing interest in geographic differences in child well-being, little is known about the spatial distribution of characteristics associated with housing disadvantage for Australian children. This paper seeks to develop knowledge in this area by creating a headline indicator of child housing disadvantage. It uses spatially disaggregated Census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census of Population and Housing 2006 capturing overcrowding, public housing tenure and dwelling type, and creates synthetic estimates of housing stress using spatial microsimulation techniques. These variables are then combined into a single index of housing disadvantage. Next, the spatial microsimulation techniques and index creation methodology are described, and the results of the validation process, including sensitivity analysis of alternative index creation approaches, are presented.

The Challenges of Combining Two Databases in Small-Area Estimation: An Example Using Spatial Microsimulation of Child Poverty

Spatial microsimulation techniques have become an increasingly popular way of fulfilling the need for generating small-area data estimates. However, the technique also poses numerous methodological challenges, including the utilisation of two different databases simultaneously to produce estimates of population characteristics at the local level. An important but neglected question is whether different distributions of key variables within these two databases may affect the validity of the spatial estimation results. This study uses the significant policy issue of small-area estimates of child poverty rates in Australia to examine this question. The different income distributions for families with children in the two databases and the consequent effect on child-poverty estimates are assessed, while the apparent validity of these synthetic small-area poverty rates is gauged.

Trapped in jobless household areas: The spatio-temporal dynamics of children in jobless households in metropolitan Australia

Abstract Child disadvantage is an important issue in Australia today and is one of the key policy target areas of the Federal government. Child disadvantage not only affects child wellbeing in the present time but can also inhibit their future achievements. As well as individual- and family-level effects, there is growing evidence that child wellbeing and achievement is highly affected by the environment in which children grow up, and what resources and role models are available to them in their surrounding areas. In this paper, we examine the spatial clustering of children in jobless households through the computation of the Global and Local Morans statistics, for the Sydney and Melbourne metropolitan regions, and observe how these clusters have changed between the 2001 and 2006 census years. We find that there are significant spatial clusters of children in jobless households in both periods, suggesting that ‘place’ is a driver of this particular phenomenon. Further, we observe an expansion of ‘hot spots’, in both Sydney and Melbourne, suggesting that areas with high proportions of children in jobless households have both persisted and increased despite the sizeable economic growth in Australia over the same period.

Regional Development Dynamics In Indonesia Before And After The ‘Big Bang’ Decentralization

Decentralization is in vogue. However, the relationship between decentralization and local-level development dynamics remains unclear. Does decentralization lead to a ‘reform dividend’ of more rapid development in better-governed regions, with attendant national benefits? What is the impact on spatial inequality? In particular, do poorer regions lag further behind as equalizing fiscal policies at the national level weaken? We address these issues with reference to Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic nation, which implemented a ‘big bang’ decentralization program in 2001. Our main conclusion, perhaps counterintuitive, is that decentralization had a minimal impact on regional development dynamics, although its political impacts have been far-reaching.

The Role of Health Insurance Membership in Health Service Utilisation in Indonesia

In 2014, Indonesia implemented a new, nationwide, subsidised universal-coverage health insurance program, under which poor Indonesians do not pay to become members and others pay a relatively low fee. This program has created a national debate about the effectiveness of the ownership of health insurance in increasing the use of health services—particularly among the poor—given the limitations in their quantity and quality. Using membership data on different health insurance programs from the 2007 rounds of Susenas and Riskesdas, this article researches the impact of having health insurance on health service utilisation, by controlling the levels of quality and quantity of health services in the area. We argue that having health insurance increases health service utilisation by approximately eight percentage points when people feel sick (or by approximately five percentage points if we include those who do not feel sick).

Disadvantage in the australian capital territory

At a state and territory level, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has the highest average income and the lowest levels of disadvantage compared to all other states and territories in Australia. However, a state- and territory-based measure hides disadvantage at the local level by averaging out any disadvantaged areas with the less-disadvantaged areas. A spatial analysis of disadvantage can highlight where people are experiencing disadvantage, and can help inform the governments response to disadvantaged and marginalised people. This article shows that there is suburb-level disadvantage in the ACT, primarily due to housing costs. However, we also find that using the Socio-economic Index for Individuals (SEIFI), there are even disadvantaged households in less-disadvantaged ACT suburbs, and these disadvantaged households do not show up in the suburb-level data due to the averaging of advantaged with disadvantaged households within a suburb. This is particularly so in the ACT due to a policy of peppering public housing (where many disadvantaged people live) within less-disadvantaged neighbourhoods (commonly called mixed tenure). We argue that this mixed tenure policy means that area-based service provision may not be as efficient in the ACT, and that the ACT Government policy of providing services from town centres is an appropriate response. We also argue that due to the higher cost of living in the ACT, the onset of financial stress can be very fast if the main income earner loses a job.