The global clean water crisis is an urgent challenge. Althought the water stress level in most provinces in Indonesia remains low, the water quality index does not reach good status. Water quality index calculated through pollution index of surface water. This study examines how environmental protection spending by local governments defined as the combined spending of provincial and regency/municipality governments within each province affects the water quality index in Indonesian provinces, and compare it with central government spending and non-government spending. Government spending has three effects on water pollution: scale, composition, and technique effects. These three effects are expected to follow a quadratic pattern. Using provincial panel data from 2017 – 2022, this study estimates these with fixed effect model. Initially, the estimation uses quadratic specification on local government spending, but likelihood ratio test shows that the quadratic term does not improve model fit, so the analysis proceeds with the linear specification. The results show that local government spending and non-government spending increase the water quality index, but central government spending is not significant due to its long-term effects. Non-government spending is more effective than government spending. Therefore, the local government should enforce regulations on businesses/ local-owned enterprises that use surface water to make efforts to maintain water sources. In addition, the local government needs to consider the development of a localized wastewater management system but still considering the necessary technical matters.

Numerous studies have shown that urban agriculture makes substantial contributions to poverty reduction, reduces unemployment, and improves food security. Unfortunately, research on the profitability and economic viability of urban agriculture remains limited. This research aims to explore the economic viability of community gardens as a form of urban agriculture in Semarang City, Indonesia. Semarang city was chosen due to its active implementation of urban farming programs initiated by the municipal government. The research employed a qualitative approach involving 24 participants spread across all sub-districts in Semarang. Data were collected through questionnaires, in-depth interviews, observations, and documentation. Thematic was applied to explore the research findings with the help of NVivo 12 Pro software. The findings indicate that most community gardens operate at a financial loss, showing weak economic viability. Even so, they continue to function sustainably, driven not by profit but by government programs, social cohesion, and environmental concern. This reveals a paradox: community gardens may not generate a profit, yet they remain socially sustainable – sustained more by policy than by market forces. These findings suggest that their sustainability relies more on institutional and communal support than on profit generation. Strengthening government facilitation and community empowerment is essential to ensure their long-term continuity.

This research aims to develop an integrative conceptual model that connects the circular economy, waste bank optimization, community empowerment, and sustainable economy. The novelty of this study lies in integrating digital incentive systems and participatory approaches in community-based waste management. The method employed was a mixed-methods approach, incorporating a quantitative component that utilized SEM-PLS on 200 respondents, complemented by qualitative data from in-depth interviews. The results indicate that community empowerment and the digitalization of waste bank systems have a significant impact on the sustainability of the local economy. Theoretically, this research strengthens the capabilities (Sen) and environmental economics (Pearce & Turner) approaches and practically offers a data-driven local policy framework for waste management optimization. The resulting model can serve as a reference for informed decision-making at the regional level, integrating environmental, social, and economic aspects sustainably.

This study aims to analyze how institutional quality and financial stability influence foreign direct investment (FDI) in Asian countries, examining differences across country income groups. This study utilizes data from 39 Asian countries spanning the years 2013 to 2021. The analytical tool used is the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), consisting of first-difference GMM and system GMM. Furthermore, this study uses principal component analysis (PCA) to calculate composite variables related to the institutional quality index. The results show that institutional quality and financial stability have a positive overall impact on FDI in Asian countries. However, the impact varies depending on the country's level of income. Institutional quality has a more significant impact in high-income countries, while in lower-middle-income countries, economic growth is the primary determinant of FDI. These findings emphasize the importance of improving governance and financial stability in attracting foreign investment. Governments, particularly in lower-middle-income countries, need to strengthen law enforcement, reduce corruption, maintain political stability, and create regulations that support an investment climate to make it more attractive to foreign investors

Most studies have examined the effects of overeducation and undereducation on individual wages; however, only a few scholars have investigated the impact of this vertical educational mismatch on economic growth. Therefore, this study attempts to enter this area of analysis. The effect of overeducation and undereducation on economic growth was examined using panel data from 33 provinces in Indonesia between 2012 and 2022. Using the System Generalized Method of Moments (Sys-GMM) estimator, this study found empirical evidence that overeducation reduces economic growth. This implies that even if overeducation yields a positive return on individual wages, it remains detrimental at an aggregate level. The negative effect of overeducation on economic growth suggests that overeducation is a form of human capital and external education inefficiency. Thus, it needs to be addressed seriously by the Indonesian government. On the other hand, this study found no evidence that undereducation has an impact on Indonesia's economic growth.

This study aims to provide empirical evidence on whether non-toll road construction, as a government investment (National Strategic Project) in the transport infrastructure sector, impacts local economic activity at the village level. It fills a gap in the literature by adopting a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) approach and analyzing at the village level using PODES data, comparing villages affected by the policy (treatment group) with those that were not (control group). Key outcome variables derived from PODES data include travel time and cost to sub-district and district centers. To ensure robustness, the analysis includes fixed effects for time and location, and placebo tests are conducted to validate the assumption of parallel trends. The results show that non-toll road construction leads to a statistically significant reduction in travel time by 21% and travel costs by 30.9%, associated with improved access to government services and modest growth in local economic indicators such as market activity, employment, or business formation.

The Village Fund program has enabled the widespread implementation of village development initiatives that involve local communities as the subjects of development (i.e., Community Driven Development) across various countries, including Indonesia. Despite receiving substantial village funds, West Java, one of Indonesia's provinces, exhibits slow growth in the Village Development Index (IDM). This study examines the effect and impact of Village Funds on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as measured by the IDM in West Java Province. The methodology employs a panel data regression with fixed effects and a Difference-in-Difference (DiD) analysis on 5,312 villages that received Village Funds between 2018 and 2023. Findings indicate that Village Funds significantly impact the IDM, primarily through infrastructure projects within the village development sector. Furthermore, the regression analysis revealed that all sectors positively and significantly influence the IDM, particularly the village development implementation sector. Conversely, the DiD analysis suggests that the alignment of Village Fund activities with the SDGs has not significantly affected IDM growth in West Java. Thus, to accelerate village development, the government must balance the prioritization of Village Funds. This balance should move beyond solely focusing on infrastructure development to encompass activities in other fields, such as village community empowerment

Poverty in Indonesia has decreased but still presents many challenges in achieving significant reduction targets. The main objective of this study is to estimate the effect of financial sector development on poverty in Indonesia. The dependent variable was household final consumption expenditure as a proxy for poverty, while the independent variables were broad money and gross savings. The study used time series data and applied the ARDL-ECM (Autoregressive Distributed Lag–Error Correction Model) method for 1981–2022. The main finding was that broad money did not significantly affect poverty reduction. Gross savings were significant with a negative coefficient; higher savings were associated with higher poverty rates due to decreased consumption. Furthermore, the stability of the research model was tested using normality, serial correlation, heteroscedasticity, cumulative sum (CUSUM), and cumulative sum of squares (CUSUMQ) tests. The financial sector can reduce poverty through efficient financial services for the poor, microeconomic empowerment, and increased financial inclusion. In the future, the government must promote a conducive and competitive financial sector to support poverty alleviation programs

This research investigates the impact of digital transformation on inclusive economic growth in Indonesia, in light of significant social and economic inequality. While previous studies, particularly in South Africa, have highlighted opportunities for market access, this study focuses on identifying the factors that influence the contribution of digital transformation within the Indonesian context, using Prakash’s theory. A quantitative descriptive approach was employed, utilizing secondary data from the Central Statistics Agency across ten provinces in Sumatra. The analysis applied the Panel Vector Autoregressive (PVAR) method to examine the relationships among variables, including the Human Development Index (HDI), consumption, and social inequality. The findings indicate that, in the long term, both consumption and HDI have a negative impact on inclusive economic growth, with t-statistics of -2.452 and -5.093, respectively. Inequality, however, did not show a significant influence, with a t-statistic of 1.148. Similar trends were observed in the short term. The study concludes that a nuanced understanding of the equitable implementation of digital technology is essential for achieving inclusive economic growth. Notably, the negative influence of HDI on economic inclusion suggests that improvements in quality of life do not always correlate directly with economic growth, offering new insights into the discourse on digital transformation and economic inclusion in Indonesia.