Global Seminars 2026
3 June. Nusantara: public support, economic growth and the making of Indonesia's new capital city
Indonesia’s new capital city: public funding and public support
Aichiro Suryo Prabowo (Monash University, Indonesia) and Thomas B. Pepinsky (Cornell University)
Indonesia’s new planned capital city of Nusantara is the most significant public works project in modern Indonesian history. We study the economics and politics of Nusantara from the perspectives of public budgeting and political economy. Combining data from official planning documents and media accounts with a large body of original public opinion data, we find that (1) the only feasible source of funding that can be mobilized for Nusantara is the state budget, and (2) while Indonesians across age cohorts support the idea of relocating the capital, they do not support using public funding for this purpose. Given that the state budget is constrained for a project the size of Nusantara, our analysis highlights the trade-offs for the public between raising taxes, borrowing with future repayment obligations, or reallocating funds from other government programs.
A capital idea? The welfare effects of relocating Indonesia’s government to a new city
Alexander D. Rothenberg (Syracuse University, Radine Rafols (The World Bank), Yao Wang (The Ohio State University) and Yi Jiang (Asian Development Bank)
Many developing countries are planning to create new capital cities, a place-making policy designed to alleviate congestion and respond to climate change. To evaluate growth and welfare effects, we specify a dynamic quantitative spatial model with public employment, informality, fiscal transfers, and frictions in trade and migration. We calibrate the model with data from Indonesia and conduct policy experiments studying the creation of Nusantara in East Kalimantan. Despite increasing employment in the new capital region, we find that building Nusantara reduces national growth and welfare. Climate change attenuates its negative welfare effects, but only slightly.
24 April. Prabowonomics: Can Indonesia Really Grow at 8%
President Prabowo Subianto’s administration has several strategies to achieve its goal of 8% growth: increasing the role of state-led capitalism, expansive fiscal measures and unconventional monetary interventions. However, despite the administration’s well-meaning intention to boost aggregate demand, we show how the design and implementation of its policies may backfire, creating distortions that will prevent optimal growth. We argue that the administration’s narrow focus, coupled with its lack of attention to what many see as the real problems limiting productivity, will inhibit its 8% growth ambition.
30 March. From Law to Lived Realities: Child Marriage in Indonesia
To commemorate International Women’s Day, this Global Seminar brings together researchers to examine how legal reform can address child marriage, advance gender equality, and confront the persistent challenges of implementation in Indonesia.
Adrianna Bella (Curtin University) will open the seminar by revisiting the landmark 1974 Marriage Law reform, examining its role as a policy instrument to curb child marriage and what the evidence reveals about its impact on girls’ educational attainment and broader life outcomes.
The discussion will then turn to Dr Ni Luh Putu Maitra Agastya, Andrea Adhi, and Shaila Tieken (PUSKAPA), who will share findings from two PUSKAPA studies: an analysis of marriage dispensation cases (2022) and a qualitative research exploring the sociocultural dimensions of child marriage, marriage dispensations, and marriage registration in general (2025). The presentation will highlight drivers of child marriage, persistent barriers faced by those married as children, and policy takeaways to inform continued advocacy