>Brad, you have written about this statistic several times. I like
>to know more
>about the statistic. Does it take into account the fact that when a
>self-sufficient farmer comes to town, he/she needs to purchase
>commodities that
>he/she may have produced by himself/herself? Does the statistic take into
>account this monetization of the standard of living? How is the statistic
>calculated? Is it affected greatly by the exchange rate of the Indonesian
>currency?
Jeff Winters of Northwestern's poli sci department, who is certainly no friend of Suharto (he famously blew the whistle on the regime's poverty numbers, which the World Bank uncritically swallowed), says the improvement in material living standards over the last few decades has been substantial and real. You can do lots of funny things with numbers, but he says the upward mobility is visible to anyone who visits regularly.
Doug