The Development of Inequality and Poverty in Indonesia, 1932–2008

We estimate inequality in Indonesia between 1932 and 2008. Inequality increased at the start of this period but declined sharply from the 1960s onwards. The increase was due to a shift from domestic to export agriculture over the period up to the Great Depression. During the 1930s, as the price of export crops declined, the income of rich farmers suffered a blow. Yet this was counterbalanced by an increasing gap between expenditures in the urban and rural sectors, causing an overall rise in inequality. As for the second half of the century, we find that the employment shift towards manufacturing and services—combined with an increase in labour productivity in agriculture—accounts for inequality’s decline, which was halted in the 1990s. These inequality trends affected poverty as well, but prior to the 1940s the negative impact of the rise in inequality was offset by an increase in per capita GDP. Between 1950 and 1980 a decline in inequality, combined with increased per capita GDP, rapidly raised a large portion of the population above the poverty line.     

Tourism mobilities from emerging world regions: a response to commentaries

This paper examines the operation and function of resort enclaves in the context of Third World tourism. The emergent linkages and inevitable tensions which develop between external capital and local entrepreneurship are examined through case studies of Indonesian resort enclaves on the islands of Bali, Lombok and Pulau Bintan in the Riau archipelago. The authors argue that the whole notion of enclavity is inherently unsustainable, marginalising local entrepreneurs and widening the economic, cultural and social gaps which already exist between hosts and guests.     

100 Jahre Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve System (Fed) was created in December 1913 when the Federal Reserve Act was signed. Since then, the Fed has become the most influential central bank in the world. This article gives an overview of the Fed’s history and its structure before evaluating the Fed’s monetary policy over the last 100 years. The main findings are that the last 100 years have shown that a central bank is useful for solving economic problems but that sometimes the central bank has created its own problems.     

The influence of ownership structure on internationalization

Common reasons mentioned for a firm's internationalization are related to advantages for the firm. However, if firms are conceptualized as political coalitions, this view does not seem to be sufficient to explain why and to what extent firms internationalize. A principal-agent theoretical approach focusing the ownership-stake-related motivations and bargaining power of owners plus the range of actions managers can employ in different ownership situations offers an alternative explanation. We consequently studied the influences of ownership structure – defined as the concentration of ownership – on a firm's degree of internationalization and the main regions of international diversification. Overall, we conclude that the relationship is non-linear. To test our hypotheses, we utilize panel data for the 102 largest German manufacturing firms from 1990 to 2006. The analysis confirms our assumptions.     

Die Rolle der Individual- und Massenmedien im Integrationsprozess von Jugendlichen mit Migrationshintergrund

Migrant’s media use is a growing research field in communication. This article offers an integrated view on the relationship of media use, adolescents’ identity development and social integration. Based on Hurrelmann’s conceptualization of (media) socialization, Esser’s integration theory and Keupp’s concept of identity development, this study deduces a theoretical framework for analyzing the importance of individual and mass media in the process of adolescent immigrant’s social integration. Empirically, an exploratory-qualitative survey consisting of eight group discussions and ten face-to-face interviews highlights the importance of the hybrid character of socialisatio in multi-cultural entities (community of origin and admission). The media’s role in this process is limited.