Monday, July 18, 2005
NTT SANDALWOOD: ROOTS OF DISASTER
Journal paper by Stephen V. Marks*
Published on: Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Vol. 38, No. 2, 2002: 223–40
Abstracts.
For decades the government of Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) province has exploited
the sandalwood sector, to the detriment of the growers of the trees. Severe depletion
of the stock of sandalwood in the province has been the result. This paper documents
NTT policies toward the sector, which it argues have been both inefficient
and inequitable, and offers a detailed approach for reform. It also examines the political
economy of these policies, and argues that the case of sandalwood provides
an example of the dangers of decentralisation of economic authority in the absence
of local democracy.
*The field research for this paper was conducted while the author was an economist in USAID-sponsored trade policy analysis projects in the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Indonesia
Interest with the paper? Please contact me at: forumacademiantt@yahoo.com
