This paper examines the effects of dynamic agglomeration economies on the productivity growth of the industries in Indonesia's regions. The study introduces employment market potential into the city-industry growth estimation for controlling local size and preventing overestimation of the agglomeration effects. The results suggest that both specialization and diversity are important for cityindustry growth and that some externalities are stronger in different time periods. The effects of specialization and diversity on medium-term growth (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010) are stronger than on long-term growth , in addition to new positive effects of competition. A detailed analysis across industries reveals a strong relationship between local industrial structure and performance-productivity and employment growth-which is associated with industry maturity within its lifecycle stages.

The Indonesian government launched various programs to handle stunting cases, including village funds. This paper examined the effects of village fund programs and village apparatuses’ capacities to combat stunting based on aggregate data at the district level in Indonesia. Using descriptive data analysis and fixed effect panel regression, we observed that village fund programs could significantly reduce Indonesia’s stunting prevalence, especially outside Java. It also revealed that the increasing education of regional leaders does not necessarily positively impact leaders’ skills in handling stunting. At the same time, the number of village officials has a statistically significant influence on reducing stunting prevalence. It advised that the village budget fund can support national priorities in tackling the prevalence of stunting. Furthermore, it is essential to build the capacity of the village head for increasing awareness of health activities, especially early prevention of stunting, in addition to an adequate number of officials.

In the implementation of decentralization, the Special Allocation Fund (DAK) for health is given to certain areas of Indonesia to support health financing. The performance of this financing, along with national health development priorities’ achievements, is illustrated through the indicators of coverage of deliveries in health care facilities (PF) and coverage of first neonatal visits (KN1). Yearly increases in the health DAK budget have not been accompanied by increases in these coverages, and there are still significant disparities between regions. Using secondary data at the district/city level for 2014–2017, this study aims to investigate the impact of health DAK on coverage of PF and KN1. The analytical method deployed is linear regression of panel data using a fixed-effects model. The results show that in the short term, health DAK has a positive but insignificant effect on PF and KN1 coverage. However, health DAK has a positive and significant impact on PF coverage in the second year. Impact on KN1 coverage is unfeasible, even over a period of two years. These results indicate that the processes of planning, budgeting, and administering of health DAK require improvement so that benefits can be felt in the short term through better innovations in health programs. Nevertheless, given that our findings are based on a short period of study, the results from such analyses should consequently be treated with the utmost caution Therefore, future research should target a longer period of data collection to detect more trusty lagged effects and structural breaks of a policy intervention.

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This study aims to investigate political budget cycles motivated by elections in Indonesia and the role of incumbent coalition parties in the degree of budget manipulation in election years. Employing a panel data regression model, we analyzed total revenue and total expenditures, together with their components, to identify budget patterns. The study employed data obtained from 499 districts/cities in Indonesia, covering the 2011-2017 period. With regard to revenue, budget cycles existed in all components of local own revenue. In contrast, they occurred in spending components favorable for community welfare in terms of the spending function. In relation to the type of spending, budget cycles were evident in spending components, goods and services spending, and capital spending. Stronger incumbent party alliances were observed to lead to a higher degree of budget manipulation in election years.