This book contains a collection of papers on various aspects of Indonesia's economic and its industrial development. It discusses the early independence period in the 1950s; the Soeharto era (1966-1998); and the ensuing two economic crises, namely the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997/98 and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.

Indonesia is now the fourth largest country in the world, but many aspects of its economic history remain poorly understood. This book is the first comprehensive survey of Indonesian economic history in the 19th and 20th centuries, examining both the Dutch colonial era, and the post-independence period. Extensive use is made of recent work by Dutch, Indonesian and Australian scholars to develop a number of key themes relating to economic growth and structural transformation of the Indonesian economy from the early 19th century to the present.

Based on new datasets, this book presents an economic history of Indonesia. It analyses the causes of stagnation of growth during the colonial and independence period, making use of new theoretical insights from institutional economics and new growth theory. The book looks at the major themes of Indonesian history: colonial exploitation and the successes and limitations of the post 1900 welfare policies, the price of instability after 1945, and the economic miracle after 1967. The book not only discusses economic change and development – or the lack thereof – but also the institutional and socio-political structures that were behind these changes. It also presents a lot of new data on the changing welfare of the Indonesian population, on income distribution, and on the functioning of markets for rice, credit and labour. Concluding with a discussion on whether the poor profited from the economic changes, this book is a useful contribution to Southeast Asian Studies and International Economics.

MING QING YANJIU, founded in 1992, is a peer reviewed journal dedicated primarily to advanced studies of pre-modern China. This journal provides a forum for scholars from a variety of fields related to late imperial and early republican period that aim to have a cross-disciplinary discourse. Contributions in sociology, literature, psychology, anthropology, history, geography, linguistics, semiotics, political science, and philosophy, as well as book reviews are welcome.

"Indonesia is one of the few countries that came through the global economic crisis in 2008-09 with positive economic growth. Despite some recorded positive domestic economic performances, Indonesia faces new challenges as its economy keeps growing and the global economy remains uncertain. A new economic development paradigm is needed to overcome old problems (poverty and unemployment, inadequate infrastructure, corruption, a complex regulatory environment, and unequal resource distribution among regions) with global market opportunities. This book provides a new perspective on how Indonesian’s economic policies should be developed by considering its past and future challenges." - Firmanzah, Professor of Economics and Dean of Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia "Aris Ananta, Muljana Soekarni and Sjamsul Arifin gather excellent researchers and practitioners to discuss important economic policy issues for Indonesia today. They discuss monetary and fiscal policies and real economic sector issues based not only on theoretical analysis but also on their day-to-day experience in economic management. By reviewing Indonesia's economic policy reform and subsequent Asian financial crisis and sub-prime loan crisis, the authors present a new economic development paradigm and explore economic strategy and policies for the new era. The book offers many timely lessons from history, as well as the real policy experiences of the authors, and guides readers in exploring economic policies under the globalized world economy. This book is very useful for both practitioners and researchers." - Masaaki Komatsu, Professor of Economics, Hiroshima University

In Authoritarian Modernization in Indonesia’s Early Independence Period, Farabi Fakih offers a historical analysis of the foundational years leading to Indonesia’s New Order state (1966-1998) during the early independence period. The study looks into the structural and ideological state formation during the so-called Liberal Democracy (1950-1957) and Sukarno’s Guided Democracy (1957-1965). In particular, it analyses how the international technical aid network and the dominant managerialist ideology of the period legitimized a new managerial elite. The book discusses the development of managerial education in the civil and military sectors in Indonesia. The study gives a strongly backed argument that Sukarno’s constitutional reform during the Guided Democracy period inadvertently provided a strong managerial blueprint for the New Order developmentalist state.

History matters. At the beginning of a new century and amidst the turmoil of a new democracy, a historical perspective on modern Indonesia is needed more than ever. This innovative economic history connects back to the colonial era and helps to explain why the transition from colonialism to Independence and from the New Order to democracy has been so difficult and sometimes traumatic. The Emergence of a National Economy identitifies three grand themes in this transformation: globalisation, state formation and economic integration. Globalisation affected the Indonesian archipelago even before the arrival of the Dutch—the New Order experience was only the most recent wave. Modern state formation began in Java under Governor-General Daendels (1808-11) and culminated in the centralised, military-bureaucratic state of Soeharto's New Order (1966-98). A national economy emerged gradually from the 1930s as the Outer Islands were reoriented towards an industrialising Java. These three themes link chronological chapters from the pre 1800 period through the modern colonial era to the breakdown of the colonial system after 1930, the birth of modern Indonesia, the remarkable economic transformation under the New Order, and the 'meltdown' during the Asian crisis of 1997/98. This overarching story gives a unity and rythm to Indonesia's modern history, while helping to explain why the future is likely to be different. The four authors—senior scholars from Australia (Howard Dick), Germany (Vincent Houben), the Netherlands (Thomas Lindblad) and Indonesia (Thee Kian Wie)—draw on a very wide range of sources to combine the insights of history, economic history and economics.