Public Spending and Poverty Reduction in Indonesia: The Effects of Economic Growth and Public Spending on Poverty Reduction in Indonesia 2009-2018

Poverty is a complex and multidimensional issue. Over the past four decades, the number of poor in Indonesia has experienced a significant decline, from 40.10 percent in 1976 to 9.82 percent in March 2018. Nevertheless, the disparity of poverty rates between provinces is still quite high. The poverty rate in several provinces in Java Island, for example, is already at the single-digit level, while in Eastern Indonesia, is still more than double-digit level. As it is known, public spending and economic growth are two crucial instruments on poverty reduction programs. This study aims to investigate the role of economic growth and public spending, particularly education, health, and social protection on poverty reduction in Indonesia. By using panel data from 31 provinces during 2009-2018 period, this study used two regression models to analyze the effects of these two variables on poverty reduction, both in urban and rural areas. This study shows that public spending on health and education sectors has a slightly different effect on poverty reduction between urban and rural areas. Convincingly, spending allocation on health and education has had a significant effect to reduce poverty rate in rural areas, while the decline of poverty rates in urban is likely more influenced by spending on health. This study also shows that over the past ten years, economic growth and social protection spending did not have a significant effect on reducing poverty rates. Therefore, in order to reduce poverty more effectively, it would be better for the government to focus its poverty reduction programs on investment in health and education sectors

FIGURE-BASED POLITICS IN LABORER VOTING BEHAVIORS: A Study of Semarang Industrial Laborers In the 2004-2014 Elections

This study is aimed to explore further how the laborers in Semarang determined their political preferences in the 2004-2014 presidential and legislative elections. As we know, many studies have been conducted to discuss laborers and politics. But few of them discussed laborer voting behaviors in the election. This study uses a quantitative approach and survey method. The survey was conducted to 394 industrial laborers in Semarang city. By using psychological and rational choice models, this study resulted in two major findings. First, the emergence of political consciousness among industrial laborers in the electoral politics. Second, the dominant influence of psychological factors on laborer voting behaviors. From these findings, I argue that the quality of democracy among laborers is relatively good and that figure-based politics, even among laborers, tends to be found wider and seems to be the “new style” of democracy in Indonesia

EVALUASI KEBIJAKAN PENGELOLAAN PARKIR Studi Kasus: Kota Semarang

This research aimed to discuss the parking policy in Semarang which has not been managed properly. In general, the condition of parking management in Semarang is still quite bad. This is indicated by the poor parking service provided and the low amount of parking retribution every year. During 2011 - 2012 for example, the revenue realization of parking retribution was only about 1.3 billion rupiah from the target of about 4.8 billion rupiah, or only about 25 percent of the target set. This condition was worsened by parking services that were very uncomfortable and unsatisfactory. This research used a descriptive method with a qualitative approach. The author used secondary data which was obtained from PATTIRO Kota Semarang. This study focuses on parking policy in Semarang by describing the condition of parking management which already exists and discussing revenue gap between target and realization from parking retribution. By analizing data, the authors argued that the main problem of parking management in Semarang is the weak implementation of the Regional Regulation on parking retribution. In addition, the parking policy managed by local Government tends to be unsatisfactory, potentially leaky, and the realization is far from the target set. Therefore, in order to solve the parking problems, the local Government must seriously implement the local regulation of parking retribution and rearrange the parking management which already exists

EVALUASI KEBIJAKAN PENGELOLAAN PARKIR Studi Kasus: Kota Semarang

This research aimed to discuss the parking policy in Semarang which has not been managed properly. In general, the condition of parking management in Semarang is still quite bad. This is indicated by the poor parking service provided and the low amount of parking retribution every year. During 2011 - 2012 for example, the revenue realization of parking retribution was only about 1.3 billion rupiah from the target of about 4.8 billion rupiah, or only about 25 percent of the target set. This condition was worsened by parking services that were very uncomfortable and unsatisfactory. This research used a descriptive method with a qualitative approach. The author used secondary data which was obtained from PATTIRO Kota Semarang. This study focuses on parking policy in Semarang by describing the condition of parking management which already exists and discussing revenue gap between target and realization from parking retribution. By analizing data, the authors argued that the main problem of parking management in Semarang is the weak implementation of the Regional Regulation on parking retribution. In addition, the parking policy managed by local Government tends to be unsatisfactory, potentially leaky, and the realization is far from the target set. Therefore, in order to solve the parking problems, the local Government must seriously implement the local regulation of parking retribution and rearrange the parking management which already exists