Dr. Elan Satriawan, a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Economics, UGM Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB UGM), has successfully conducted collaborative research projects with prominent national and international researchers. Many of his research outputs have been published in top-tier international journals.
In 2023, Dr. Satriawan published an article through an international collaboration with the 2019 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, Abhijit Banerjee, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Other collaborators included Rema Hanna (Harvard University), Ben Olken (MIT), and Sudarno Sumarto (TNP2K).
This research evaluated Indonesia’s Non-Cash Food Assistance program and its impact on the welfare of poor and vulnerable families. The study was published in the prestigious American Economic Review (Banerjee et al., 2023). The evaluation results indicated that the program significantly improved the welfare of the beneficiary families.
Besides collaborating with international researchers, Dr. Satriawan has also worked with Indonesia’s Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, and Abdurohman, Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency’s Macroeconomic Policy Center at the Ministry of Finance, and an alumnus of FEB UGM.
Their latest publication, in the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, examined Indonesia’s fiscal policy post-COVID-19. The research provided updated insights into Indonesia’s economic development, covering fiscal and monetary policies after the pandemic (Indrawati et al., 2024).
Dr. Satriawan explained that the publication discussed Indonesia’s fiscal policies post-COVID-19, particularly regarding budget utilization and resource mobilization efforts, as well as the challenges in advancing the economy and improving public welfare.
Fiscal policies during the pandemic had positive aspects, including achieving a primary balance surplus, last seen in 2012.
The publication also highlighted challenges in achieving the “Golden Indonesia 2045” vision, such as improving tax administration, reforming inefficient budget allocations, particularly energy subsidies, and exploring alternative infrastructure financing.
Dr. Satriawan is an economist actively involved in national and global collaborative research on development economics, poverty alleviation, social protection, education, and health policies in Indonesia.
In addition to his academic role at UGM, Dr. Satriawan serves as an Expert Advisor to the Finance Minister and Chair of the Policy Working Group at the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K), a think tank providing policy recommendations on poverty alleviation to the Vice President and Ministers/Heads of Agencies in TNP2K.
As an academic, Dr. Satriawan revealed that publishing scientific articles, especially in high-impact journals, presents unique challenges. It is not easy to publish research in high-caliber academic journals that significantly impact research and policy in Indonesia.
“The challenge lies more in time management, especially for me, who must allocate time to fulfill roles as both an academic and a researcher in a government think tank,” he said on Wednesday (Apr. 24).
Despite these challenges, Dr. Satriawan shared tips for staying productive in research. One strategy is focusing on research within his area of expertise, which leads to high-quality research and publications with significant academic and policy contributions.
Another key to his success is the importance of collaboration. Working with national and international partners enhances the scientific value of the research.
“Collaboration synergizes the expertise of each researcher, increasing the study’s scientific merit. Additionally, working together lightens the research burden as it is shared among collaborators,” he explained.
Professor Didi Achjari, Dean of FEB UGM, stated that FEB UGM continuously encourages faculty and students to contribute their best intellectual work through high-quality and impactful scientific publications to build thought leadership.
FEB UGM develops various schemes to support enhancing research quality and publications, including research grants, support for international seminars, and global research and publication collaborations.
“Faculty members who successfully publish their work in national and international journals are given publication incentives. FEB UGM also updates the publication incentive scheme to align with the new mission and vision, using the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) Journal Quality List and the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) Academic Journal Guide as the primary ranking systems,” he explained.
Author: FEB UGM/Kurnia Ekaptiningrum