Politician and business

Politician's business is one of the hot issue in this election (nope, I havent get around to write about neo-liberalism...maybe not enough market incentive)

Does politics and business mix well together? They could, but the possible downside is also quite severe.

To forbid businessman to go into politics is as mistaken as to allow politician take advantage of state apparatus for their own private benefit. Some middle path is required.

I took cue to practice in some developed country and proposed a blind trust where a politician's money is invest without him knowing where it is put to avoid conflict of interest.

More on this link

Election conduct and election system

So many interesting things happened during this election, sometime hard to choose which one to focus on.

Should it be the meteoric rise of Democrat Party? or the plot within plot of coalition? or the disenfrachised voter by KPU incompetence?

But they all have been covered rather extensively. and so little coverage has been given to systemic analysis of election system. District system has many advantages that is sorely needed in a large and plural country like Indonesia. Thus I argued (click here)

Stimulus and election

Never let a crisis goes to waste. Thus said Obama's chief of staff.

As election looming, this is a chance to propose something grand and visionary in stimulus without worry (too much) about inflation and international credit rating.

Must admit quite dispapponted with both the detail of stimulus (click here) and the way election candidates present themselves (click here).

Looking for silver lining and rainbow after the rain.

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).

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?

Radical time call for radical solution?

I am pulling out some not-so-mainstrem ideas in article (click here) at Jakarta Post for global economic crisis. Most part are taken from a paper I wrote and selected to be presented in a conference at Bordeaux Uni - France, just added some update of the moments.

I do neglect the prudent behaviour of preferrential treatment of FDI and limitation of secondary capital outflow for stock/bonds. I expect monetary authority to be aware of that already, maybe I'll mention on my next article entitle "Its time to get moderate"

Do what you told to us, you lucky b*$&d

Well, that's pretty much what the essence of my article about US and financial crisis in today's Jakarta Post

Its kind of annoying but relieving to be told of being wrong but to watch the doctor have to swallow their own medicine that they gave to us.

Click here to read in full.