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This paper aims to explore the relationship between growth in economic sectors, especially manufacturing, service, and agriculture, towards income inequality. Furthermore, it utilizes panel data for low-middle income ASEAN countries. The result shows that the share of agricultural sector in GDP has a significant and negative relationship with income inequality. In fact, the effect is robust for the incorporation of control variables. Therefore, it underlines the importance of agricultural sector development for reducing inequality and also for fostering ASEAN economic integration.

Digitalization has become relevant nowadays, not only because of the exposure of new technologies but also the consideration of its impact on the economy. In that regard, this study aims to analyze the effect of digitalization on economic growth. This study uses a descriptive analysis of the eight ASEAN middle-income countries from 1999 to 2014 as well as panel regression analysis with the dependent variable of GDP per capita growth and independent variables of physical capital, human capital, and ICT indicators. As a result, ICT indicators have a significant positive impact on economic growth, along with physical and human capital. The usage and intensity of ICT have a higher impact than access to ICT. Furthermore, human capital contributes the most among the other variables. We recommend the countries invest more in human capital to utilize ICT because it is the quality of human capital that matters to navigate the era of the digital economy.

This research explores the role of the tourism sector in Indonesia, including its backward and forward linkages with other economic sectors. The tourism sector is represented by the hotel and restaurant (hospitality) industry. The study uses the input-output method and traces the econometric backward and forward shocks of the tourism sector with the Error Correction Model (ECM), using database from Statistics Indonesia from 2010 to 2019. The paper contributes to the existing literature by using multi-stage quantitative processes to observe backward and forward economic linkages. The result shows that manufacturing output contributes a significant and positive effect to the hotel and restaurant industry. At the same time, the tourism sector provides a significant and positive contribution to government retribution. Nonetheless, there is a negative relationship between the growth of the agriculture and tourism sector, which is assumed due to the tradeoff in the factor of production between the agricultural and tourism sector development. Consequently, backward and forward relationships suggest more holistic and prudent economic policies for observing interdependent tourism development in Indonesia's other economic sectors. ABSTRAKTujuan penelitian ini adalah menginvestigasi keterkaitan ke belakang dan ke depan antara sektor pariwisata dan sektor ekonomi lain di Indonesia. Pariwisata di sini di wakili sektor perhotelan dan restoran. Studi ini menggunakan metode input-output dengan data berasal dari database input output Bank Pembangunan Asia (ADB). Kedua, studi menelusuri  keterkaitan ekonometrik ke depan dan ke belakang pariwisata dengan model koreksi kesalahan (ECM), menggunakan data triwulan dari PDB riil di database BPS dari tahun 2010 hingga 2019. Kontribusi makalah ini adalah proses multi-asesment untuk mengamati keterkaitan ekonomi ke belakang dan ke depan antara pariwisata dengan sektor ekonomi lainnya. Dari ekonometri tersebut, diketahui bahwa kontribusi output industry manufaktur berpengaruh signifikan dan positif terhadap industri hotel dan restoran. Selain itu, pariwisata memberikan kontribusi yang signifikan dan positif untuk retribusi pemerintah. Meskipun demikian, peningkatan output pariwisata datang dengan pengorbanan pengurangan output sektor pertanian. Hal ini dipengaruhi oleh kompetisi akses faktor produksi di antara kedua sektor tersebut. Hasil ini  menekankan perlunya kebijakan ekonomi yang lebih holistik dan hati-hati terhadap saling ketergantungan antara pembangunan pariwisata dengan sektor ekonomi lain di Indonesia.

Economic zones can be powerful drivers of economic growth in developing countries. However, less is known about their distributional impact on the local society. This paper provides empirical evidence from Indonesian provinces on the relationship between economic zones and within-province income inequality. We apply fixed-effects panel estimation to province-level data for the whole of Indonesia, which we then complement with separate studies on the opening of three economic zones in three provinces using the synthetic control method. The results suggest that the above relationship is positive overall. The estimated rise in income inequality after a zone opens is, however, relatively small on average and may be short-lived. Moreover, the average estimate masks large regional differences, which suggests that the inequality implications of economic zone policies depend on local conditions. One possible explanation for the rise in inequality is that the unskilled population benefits disproportionately less from the policy.