Problems of the Indonesian Inflation

These essays have developed out of a number of ideas which I began to sort out during a semester at Cornell in 1963-64, but which were not finally reduced to their present form until early in 1966. During that time, the inflation had accelerated to such an extent that it was becoming impossible to treat the later stages as fully as I would have liked. Consequently my emphasis may seem a little lopsidedly concentrated on the earlier years rather than on more recent developments. However, I do not think the main outlines of my argument are seriously weakened for that reason, since the lessons of 1957-63 are still painfully relevant to the present situation.

I must stress the very tentative character of many of the hypotheses I am putting forward here. Much more research needs to be done on all these issues before they can be analysed with any accuracy. My hope is that these essays will stimulate others to pursue some of these lines of enquiry more intensively. I have not been able to examine many of the published materials in Indonesian which would throw light on the questions I raise here. A great deal of information could be gleaned from a thorough investigation of them, provided that the researcher is prepared to sift them patiently and knows what to look for. But my aim here is simply to look into certain questions which are not usually answered by economists or political scientists operating within the confines of their self-contained theoretical models. The answers I have offered are by no means conclusive. This is very definitely an interim report. - JAC Mackie