Global Seminars 2023
Original version
Translator’s version
27 July. Samuel Nursamsu, Sudarno Sumarto & Ahmad Avenzora. The poverty line revisited
Amid Indonesia’s remarkable progress in poverty eradication, there has been recommendation that the country re-evaluate its poverty measures. Having reduced extreme poverty to below 2%, Indonesia can now turn to widen its focus especially to the poorest third of Indonesians, who remain economically insecure. This seminar explores Indonesia’s approach to poverty measurement, and the implications an improvement would have on the country’s poverty reduction policies and strategies.
Samuel Nursamsu is an Economist at the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Global Practice in Jakarta, Indonesia
Sudarno Sumarto is a Senior Research Fellow at SMERU Research Institute
Ahmad Avenzora is the Director of Social Welfare Statistics at Statistics Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik)
Chair: Nesita Anggraini, ANU.
15 February. Putu Sanjiwacika Wibisana (World Bank), Maria Monica Wihardja (ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute) & Santitarn Sathirathai (Sea). Unlocking the Full Potential of Digital Merchants: Lessons from the second round of the COVID-19 Digital Merchants Survey
When workers’ livelihoods were affected by the pandemic, many sought income in e-commerce.
However, not all of them are thriving. Digital merchants face three main challenges. First and foremost, they are constrained by time, often because of other responsibilities such as childcare. The other two major obstacles are access to capital and a lack of business skills.
This event will explore what is needed to unlock the potential of digital merchants, from childcare to digital literacy.
Putu Sanjiwacika Wibisana (speaker) works as a Consultant in the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity team, country office Indonesia. He works on various projects, mainly on the Indonesian digital economy, poverty, and COVID-19 monitoring works.
Dr. Maria Monica Wihardja (panelist) is a visiting fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, and a former World Bank Economist in the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Global Practice.
Dr. Santitarn Sathirathai (panelist) is Group Chief Economist and a member of senior management at Sea, a leading global consumer internet company. Sea’s businesses include Shopee, the largest pan-regional e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia.
22 March. Dr Kyunghoon Kim. Linking economic nationalism with global value chain: Indonesia's nickel sector industrial policies
Investment is rapidly flowing into Indonesia’s nickel sector. This trend follows a series of industrial policies that the Indonesian government has adopted since the mid-2010s.
This presentation takes a close look at these policies and their consequences. It also reviews the historical background and political economic rationale behind these policies in order to understand whether the strengthening of resource nationalism is expected to be a lasting feature in Indonesia.
The presentation finishes off by discussing policy implications, focusing on the applicability of similar strategies in other mineral sectors; effects of advanced countries’ local content rules; Indonesia’s position amid U.S.-China tensions; and global manufacturers’ value chain strategies.
Kyunghoon Kim is an Associate Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) where he is analysing the political economy and industrial policies of Asia’s developing countries. He holds a PhD in Development Studies – Political Economy from King’s College London and his thesis focused on the role of state-owned entities in economic development. Prior to his PhD, he received a Master’s degree from LSE and worked at the Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI) covering ASEAN and EU for six years. His recent publications include journal articles in Structural Change & Economic Dynamics, Competition & Change, Journal of Contemporary Asia, and The Pacific Review.