International Trade and Inequality

The impact of globalization on equality has become a serious concern for many countries. More evidence that challenges the theoretical prediction of positive impact of international trade on income distribution has increasingly become available recently. This paper addresses this subject, surveying the empirical findings on the impact of international trade on inequalities from various perspectives. The survey reveals that an increase in trade openness by developing countries appears to have contributed to narrowing the development gap vis-à-vis developed countries, while its impacts on income gap between developing countries are not clear. The impacts of increased trade or trade liberalization on within-country inequalities are mixed. In some cases, trade liberalization improved wage-inequality, but in some other cases, the opposite pattern was observed. Similar mixed patterns are found for regional inequalities. These mixed findings are consistent with the fact that theoretical predictions are also mixed. One reason for the mixed findings is the impact of other factors affecting inequalities, including labor market conditions, inflow of capital, and policy reforms. Government needs to implement appropriate policies to deal with the inequalities. Two of the most important are policies to promote human resource development and policies on income redistribution. The former improves quality of labor, with the support from a well-functioning and flexible labor market. The latter covers policies on social safety net or on tax system. The safety net pays some portion of adjustment costs borne by workers who are adversely e tax system (e.g., progressive and inheritance tax) helps distribute income more equally between the rich and the poor

The Effects of Agricultural Trade Liberalisation under the Doha Development Agenda with Special Reference to the Asia Pacific Region: A Brief Survey

This study attempts to fill this gap and aims to draw some lessons from Indonesia’s experience, by examining the export-supply response of firms in Indonesian manufacturing. The study asks two questions. First, what is the picture of export-supply response of firms in Indonesian manufacturing during and after the 1997/98 economic crisis?, and second, which factors determine the firms’ export-supply response?Export, Indonesia, Indonesian Manufacturing

Economic Reforms in Indonesia After The 1997/98 Economic Crisis

This paper reviews the experience of undertaking reforms in Indonesia after the economic crisis 1997/98, focusing on the reforms made under the last two presidents - Megawati and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The review leads the paper to draw some lessons from the experience. Among other, the role of IMF in disciplining the policy direction, and hence the reforms, is quite evident. This is in the light of dramatic change in the political economy of decision-making process after the crisis, where the power was shifted from the president to the government. The paper also finds that one important constraint for delivering a successful reform is nationalistic ideology which strongly opposes the mechanism for moving towards more efficient market. Meanwhile, in practical terms, the change in political architecture seems to have contributed to the coordination problems across the governmental agencies and ministries, which leads to slow progress in the policy implementation.Indonesia, Organisation of government, IMF

Economic Reforms in Indonesia after the 1997/98 Economic Crisis

This paper reviews the experience of undertaking reforms in Indonesia after the economic crisis 1997/98, focusing on the reforms made under the last two presidents : Megawati and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The review leads the paper to draw some lessons from the experience. Among other, the role of IMF in disciplining the policy direction, and hence the reforms, is quite evident. This is in the light of dramatic change in the political economy of decision-making process after the crisis, where the power was shifted from the president to the government. The paper also finds that one important constraint for delivering a successful reform is nationalistic ideology which strongly opposes the mechanism for moving towards more efficient market. Meanwhile, in practical terms, the change in political architecture seems to have contributed to the coordination problems across the governmental agencies and ministries, which leads to slow progress in the policy implementation.Indonesia, Organisation of government, IMF

Impacts of tariff rates on input source choice: evidence from Indonesia

This study empirically examines how a reduction in input tariffs changes firms’ choices between domestic and foreign inputs. In order to do so, we employed Indonesian manufacturing surveys from 2002 to 2010, and from there, computed the share of imported inputs among total inputs at the firm-pr oduct level. With this dataset, we examined the effect of preferential tariffs for ASEAN countries, that is, ASEAN free trade area (AFTA) tariffs. Our findings can be summarized as follows: First, we found that a reduction in AFTA tariffs in Indonesia encouraged plants to raise their share of foreign inputs. Second , such an effect of AFTA tariffs was observed only for indigenous plants, or those whose primary sales m arket is the domestic market. Third, we found that the more productive plants experience a greate r impact of AFTA tariffs on foreign inputs. In short, the reduction in AFTA tariffs encouraged input realloca tion, at least in some specific firms in Indonesia

East Asia in World Trade: The Decoupling Fallacy, Crisis and Policy Challenges

This paper examines the export experience of China and other East Asian economies in the aftermaths of the global financial crisis against the backdrop of pre-crisis trade patterns. The analysis is motivated by the decoupling' thesis, which was a popular theme in the Asian policy circles in the lead-up to the onset of the recent financial crisis, and aims to probe three key issues: Was the East Asian trade integration story that underpinned the decoupling thesis simply a statistical artifact or the massive export contraction caused by an overreaction of traders to the global economic crisis and/or by the drying up of trade credit, which overpowered the cushion provided by intra-regional trade? What are the new policy challenges faced by the East Asian economies? Is there room for an integrated policy response that marks a clear departure from the pre-crisis policy stance favoring export-oriented growth? The findings caution against a possible policy backlash against openness to foreign trade arising from the new-found enthusiasm for rebalancing growth, and make a strong case for a long-term commitment to non-discriminatory multilateral and unilateral trade liberalization

Economic Reforms in Indonesia After The 1997/98 Economic Crisis

This paper reviews the experience of undertaking reforms in Indonesia after the economic crisis 1997/98, focusing on the reforms made under the last two presidents - Megawati and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The review leads the paper to draw some lessons from the experience. Among other, the role of IMF in disciplining the policy direction, and hence the reforms, is quite evident. This is in the light of dramatic change in the political economy of decision-making process after the crisis, where the power was shifted from the president to the government. The paper also finds that one important constraint for delivering a successful reform is nationalistic ideology which strongly opposes the mechanism for moving towards more efficient market. Meanwhile, in practical terms, the change in political architecture seems to have contributed to the coordination problems across the governmental agencies and ministries, which leads to slow progress in the policy implementation.Indonesia, Organisation of government, IMF

Indonesia and market access negotiations : Benefits & costs

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