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Trade, Employment and Horizontal Inequalities in New Order Indonesia

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Abstract

This article explores the extent to which trade might impact horizontal inequalities in Indonesia by focusing on a district-level cross-sectional analysis of the relationship between different export sectors and the extent of horizontal inequalities across three dimensions. Although the causal directionality is unclear, there is significant evidence of correlations between particular industries and particular dimensions of horizontal inequality. There is no single industry that is consistently correlated with horizontal inequalities across all dimensions, however; neither are the results consistent across urban and rural districts. The conclusion that we can draw from this is that although the export structure of the Indonesian economy does appear to have influenced horizontal inequalities this has largely been located within a very particular and localized political economy of migration and ethno-religious identities. It is not so much that trade has favoured particular groups bestowed with higher endowments of education or other resources.

Cet article examine dans quelle mesure le commerce peut influencer les inégalités horizontales en Indonésie, en s’appuyant sur une analyse sur trois dimensions, au niveau des districts, de la relation entre différents secteurs d’exportation et l’ampleur des inégalités horizontales. Si le sens de la causalité n’est pas clair, il est largement démontré qu’il existe des corrélations entre chaque secteur particulier et certaines dimensions de l’inégalité horizontale. Il n’existe cependant aucune industrie qui soit corrélée de façon constante aux inégalités horizontales dans toutes leurs dimensions. De même, les résultats varient entre districts urbains et ruraux. En conclusion: si la structure des exportations indonésiennes semble avoir conditionné les inégalités horizontales, ceci est largement lié à une économie politique très particulière et très localisée de migration et d’identité ethno-religieuse plutôt qu’au fait que le commerce ait favorisé des groupes particuliers dotés de niveaux plus élevés d’éducation ou autres ressources.

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Notes

  1. Bahasa Indonesia is a standardization of the Malay dialects that have served as a lingua franca and trading language across the region since pre-colonial times. While belonging to the same broad Malayo-Polynesian language group, Javanese not mutually intelligible with Malay and is also grammatically complex and hierarchical (the different registers – equivalent to the use of vous and tu in French – constitute, in Javanese, completely distinct vocabularies).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Graham K Brown

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  1. Graham K Brown
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Brown, G. Trade, Employment and Horizontal Inequalities in New Order Indonesia. Eur J Dev Res 24, 735–752 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2012.29

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