HIGASHIKATA Takayuki

Previous research

Focusing on Indonesia, I have conducted quantitative analyses of people’s livelihoods and behaviors, motivated by my interest in topics such as poverty reduction and voting behavior. Recently, I have investigated the impacts of urbanization in Indonesia with my research collaborator. We have constructed a dataset of urban areas (urban agglomeration) based on population and geographic information obtained at the community (desa/kelurahan) level. Using the dataset, we are exploring the effects of increased immigration to urban areas on the employment of natives, urban agglomeration on the productivity of manufacturing firms, urbanization on the income of residents in surrounding rural areas, and so on.

Current research projects

I am working mainly on two research projects in addition to my ongoing analysis of urbanization in Indonesia. One project concerns the minimum wage policy. With the introduction of decentralization in Indonesia, each local government has set its own minimum wage. Taking advantage of this institutional change, I am analyzing the effects of the minimum wage hike on manufacturing firms and workers. The other project concerns the effects of natural disasters. Indonesia frequently experiences large-scale earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. I have just begun to explore how such natural disasters have affected people’s behavior and the economy as a whole in Indonesia.