Did colonial rule in Indonesia have a de-industrialising impact? Using the case of the cotton textile industry, this paper finds little evidence. Value added in the industry increased in Java during 1820-71, increased more than three-fold during 1874-1914 and doubled during 1934-41. Most...

This paper examines the recent political economy of trade policy in Indonesia against the backdrop of two key events: the deep economic crisis of 1997-98, and the transition from three decades of rapid growth under an authoritarian regime to a weaker but democratic state. We investigate both...

On 9 September 2007, Australian Ministers and the Indonesian President announced a $100 million Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership (KFCP). This would involve protecting 70,000 hectares of peat forests, re-flooding 200,000 hectares of dried peatland, and planting 100 million trees in...

This paper studies the variation in village head selection rules across Indonesia using panel data over 1997–2007. The selection of village heads is often thought of as being determined by national level legislation, with elections in villages located in kabupaten and directly appointed...

Spikes in international food prices in 2007-2008 worsened poverty incidence in Indonesia, both rural and urban, but only by small amounts. The paper reaches this conclusion using a multi-sectoral and multi-household general equilibrium model of the Indonesian economy. The negative effect on poor...

Over recent years, systems of civil or private regulation have emerged across several commodity sectors in developing countries. This paper compares two regulatory systems applied to parallel food and forestry problems: the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm...

This paper presents long-term estimates of gross fixed capital formation for 1951-2007 that are disaggregated by categories of productive assets. These data, combined with approximations of probable average asset lives and a feasible asset retirement method are used in a Perpetual Inventory...

This paper approaches the subject of labour standards from the standpoint of domestic labour market circumstances rather than international norms. The paper assesses government approaches to improving standards in the context of Indonesia's daunting 'employment challenge', and the capacity of...

The paper develops a simple model of the Soeharto 'franchise', in which the coercive power of government was deployed in the interests of the president, his family, his business cronies and key officials within the franchise. The franchise prospered by generating rents that could be harvested...

Growth of industrial output for domestic consumption during 1930-75 was significant, but not continuous; growth (1932-41) was followed by decline (1942-46), recovery (1947-57), stagnation (1958-65) and acceleration (1966-75). Protective trade policies triggered growth in the 1930s, when industry...