Indonesia Narrowing Path to Prosperity: Jalan yang Sempit dan Berliku Menuju Kemakmuran

The Rajawali Foundation, in collaboration with the Center for Public Policy Transformation (Transformasi), amid the Covid-19 pandemic, had commissioned research and writing of a new publication entitled Indonesia’s Narrowing Path to Prosperity: Tough Economic Choices for Hard Times. The main argument of the research is that Indonesia needs tough and radical policy reforms to achieve economic growth, poverty reduction and greater equality – particularly in the post pandemic era toward 2045. The focus must be on creating tens of millions of good jobs in the formal sector. Only two sectors, manufacturing and tourism, have the capacity to create goods jobs on this scale. This does not imply that agriculture and services should be neglected, but that obstacles to the rapid development of manufacturing and tourism must be removed in order to secure prosperity and equity. The excerpt of the research was presented in KataData Indonesia Data dan Economic (IDE) Online Conference in March 2021.

The lead author, Professor Gustav Papanek, is Emeritus Professor of Economics at Boston University. Professor Papanek has studied the Indonesian economy for sixty years. Professor M. Chatib Basri is Professor of Economics at the University of Indonesia and former Minister of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia. Raden Pardede, one of Indonesia’s most respected economists, has held various senior positions in government, academia and business. Jonathan Pincus, President of the Rajawali Foundation, a development economist specializing in Southeast Asia, has taught economics in the US, Europe and Asia and held senior roles in several multilateral and philanthropic organizations.