The Economics of Money Politics

Money is the root of all evil. But money also make the world goes round. So I guess the trick is not to let evil bloom but keep it to stirs the world.

That is the same tricky balancing act to be done in campaign financing. The political party needs money but country as a whole loose when the party need more money than the money need the party.

A regulation is especially needed in Indonesia where income inequality is very wide. f allowed, some rich people could capture government policy and use it to their advantage with little regard for the rest of population.

My to cents worth (not sure can buy how many politician) in this article at Jakarta Post (click here).

Of Dinosaur and Mammal

An economy deserve a second and third chance. Usually done by discarding old business and business model replace with new ones.

That is where entrepreneurship comes in.

An ossfied economy where the big dinosour continue to rule is not in interest of anyone, except maybe those dinosaur. That is why Indonesia need to use this crisis to ease entry barrier and improve climate for entrepeneurs.

After all, mammal was only come late in earth history. And now we are the most successful start up on this planet.

More on my Jakarta Post article (click here).

The long smoke of MUI 'fatwa'

I penned an op-ed in Jakarta Post (click here) on MUI fatwa.

The go-to model to analysed addictive behavior is the one developed (click here; JSTOR subcribtion required) by Gary S Becker, a Nobel Prize winner and briallant economist. A more recent model by O'Donogue and Rabin is worth a look (click here)

Interesting how religion could play part (or could they?) in policy debate. Even more so since there is no punishment (or excommunication) for disobeying the fatwa in the way MUI structured in Indonesia. It is more of moral suasion than a directive. Would be interesting to analyzed the impact on cigarette sales figure

The responds to more article on the comment section of Jakarta Post website are quite lengthy and passionate. Still thinking whether to respond and in what tone. Any suggestions?