Will economy depend on next year’s election?
Economist Agustinus Prasetyantoko said that the impact of the global crisis on Indonesia’s economy next year will depend on election results. Smooth political transitions will give way to a quick recovery, he says.
Well, for a real economic impact of the election, how about this: I have an in-law who owns a printing shop that specializes in printing banners for political parties,… well actually only one particular party, because he’s an activist for that party (hint: it’s the one that reportedly has the most celebrities in its list of nominees for next year). I’ve never seen a business whose fortunes are directly tied to how many elections the party is contesting like this one. But just before the campaign season actually kicked off, this guy bought a shiny new car, remodeled his house and dispensed new glimmering mobile phones for his wife and kids.
I’d say that’s a real economic impact of the election right there. And I imagine that my in-law wouldn’t be the only one who can pull off something like this, especially with more parties and more areas to cover next year:
- 24 parties contested the 2004 election, now we have 44
- We had 32 provinces in 2004, now we have 33; West Sulawesi being the new one
- There were 417 municipalities/regencies in 2004, now there are 485
Democracy can actually be good for the economy after all.
Related posts
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply