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News, ideas, and analysis from J-PAL staff and affiliated professors. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive monthly email updates.

Indonesian woman sits at a table scrolling through a tablet

Indonesians are turning to digital financial services during the COVID-19 pandemic

Social distancing guidelines in Indonesia and around the world have profoundly impacted many aspects of people’s lives, from the way we communicate to the ways we work, shop, and transact. These shifts have brought the potential of digital financial services as a means of easing some of the economic...
A man stands behind a counter that displays phone cards in a small shop. A woman sits in front of the counter typing on a laptop.

Dapatkah layanan keuangan digital dan e-commerce membantu mengurangi dampak krisis COVID-19 pada kehidupan masyarakat?

Di bulan April, pemerintah mengumumkan pemberlakuan Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar (PSBB) dan melarang perjalanan mudik Idul Fitri, dimana puluhan juta orang Indonesia biasanya kembali ke kota/desa asal mereka untuk merayakan bersama keluarga. Pembatasan-pembatasan lainnya juga berupa instruksi...
A man stands behind a counter that displays phone cards in a small shop. A woman sits in front of the counter typing on a laptop.

How digital financial services and e-commerce can help curb the impact of COVID-19 on people's livelihoods

For those in Indonesia with access to mobile phones and digital literacy, e-commerce and digital financial services may help people to maintain their livelihoods. Not only do digital financial services offer a fast and contactless means of payment and transfer, but evidence from around the world has...
Two hands old a card between them.

Moving towards targeted anti-poverty programs: lessons from Indonesia

For the past decade in Indonesia, J-PAL affiliated researchers, together with government agencies and J-PAL Southeast Asia, have been working to generate policy-relevant evidence using randomized evaluations to understand the causal impact of anti-poverty programs. This blog summarizes what we have...
A poster in Indonesia with health recommendations

Cushioning the poor from the COVID-19 shock

In an op-ed for Project Syndicate, Rema Hanna and Ben Olken explain that expanding social protection to reach the most vulnerable people must be a pillar of every country’s COVID-19 strategy.
School children in Indonesia

Informing shifts in policy: Reflections on a long-run impact evaluation of a community block grant program in Indonesia

Creating good policies is a complex and dynamic process. A program can be evaluated, found to improve people’s lives, and be scaled up. However, in the longer run, these programs interact with other policies, contexts change, and policymakers are in constant need of new information and evidence to...
digital finance

J-PAL Meluncurkan Inisiatif Inovasi Keuangan Inklusif di Asia Tenggara

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Nilai ekonomi digital Indonesia tercatat mencapai USD 40 miliar pada tahun 2019 – empat kali lipat jika dibandingkan dengan tahun 2015. Pertumbuhan yang pesat ini sebagian besar didorong oleh sektor niaga-el (e-commerce) yang tumbuh sebesar 88 persen, dari USD 1.7 miliar pada tahun 2015 menjadi USD...
digital finance

J-PAL launches new Inclusive Financial Innovation Initiative in Southeast Asia

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The digital financial services (DFS) sector is among the fastest-growing: the number of financial technology (“fintech”) companies in Indonesia more than doubled from 130 in 2017 to more than 320 in 2019. In addition to this rapid growth in the private sector, the Indonesian government is...