Search results

This study aims to explore the diverse sources of electricity generation (coal, natural gas, oil and hydroelectricity) and their respective associations with economic growth and environmental quality.

This study uses static panel data analysis with a random effects model for six selected ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Filipina, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar) from 1994 to 2014.

This study reveals that economic growth in six selected ASEAN countries is enhanced by electricity generation from all sources, while the contribution of electricity production from hydroelectricity remains the largest and strongest. There is no environmental impact of electricity production from hydroelectric, whereas fossil fuel-based electricity production emits carbon dioxide, with coal sources being the largest contributor, followed by natural gas and oil.

Based on the results, these six ASEAN countries should invest more in hydropower projects, reduce the coal mix in power generation and promote clean coal technology to improve economic efficiency and environmental sustainability.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no research has examined the relationship between electricity production, environmental quality and economic growth in Southeast Asian nations. Therefore, the outcome of this study is expected to provide insightful results to supplement the framing and implementation of national and collective regional strategies for sustainable electricity generation in ASEAN countries.

The paper aims to examine whether conditional cash transfer (CCT) program has effect on educational aspirations of poor parents for their children. Specifically, it investigates the effect of Indonesian CCT program, Family Hope Program, on the number of schooling years parents aspire their children to attain.

This paper uses data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) 2007 and 2014 to capture periods before and after the implementation of the Family Hope Program. Propensity score matching and difference-in-differences are employed to estimate the impact of the CCT program on parental education aspirations.

This research finds that CCT program increases parents' aspiration of their children's education up to one schooling year. This impact is robust across all matching specifications.

There is a limited sample size of the program participants as identified in the data set which would likely reduce statistical power of the estimator. The result is also potentially sensitive to hidden bias; hence it should be cautiously interpreted.

From a policy viewpoint, the program is able to change parents' desire for their children to acquire more education. Given the program's concern on human capital of the children, this is a good sign that if the transfers were ceased the education of subsequent children would be less likely to return to pre-program levels.

Since the existing literature focuses on Latin America, no empirical evidence is found in other developing countries with different institutional setting. This paper makes important contributions by examining whether CCT program increases parents' educational aspirations in Indonesia, a lower middle-income country in Southeast Asia with salient sociodemographic status as the largest Muslim population and fourth most populous country in the world.