Public Lecture by Prof. Rick Barichello in the Graduate Study Program of Economics, IPB
Prof. Rick Barichello from the University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada gave a public lecture to the graduate students of Economics, Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Wednesday (16/10). This activity was held in the Meeting Room of the Center for Coastal and Marine Resource Studies (PKSPL), Research and Community Service Institution (LPPM), Campus Baranangsiang of IPB, Bogor.
Head of the Graduate Study Program of Economics IPB, Dr. Nunung Nuryartono directly guided the lecture, which takes the theme "Determinant of Rural Wage Rates in Java: How to Reduce Rural Poverty?" At the beginning of his paper, Prof Rick said that the agricultural labor in general have the lowest incomes and are categorized as poor households. Therefore, according to him, attention to agricultural labor becomes important to provide policy recommendations related to poverty alleviation.
Some studies have been made using secondary data from three provinces, namely West Java, Central Java, and East Java during 1983 – 2009, involving 108 people as the respondents. The data used include labor wages, rice price, and Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP). The econometric analysis shows that the urban labor wage greatly affects the agricultural labor wage. The rice prices and economic growth have a smaller effect on the wages of agricultural labor.
"The linkage of urban-rural labor markets affects agricultural labor wages. The trade policy (tariffs on rice imports) has little impact on the wages of agricultural labor. Rural poverty alleviation policies should focus on the economic growth," said Prof. Rick.
The lecture, held in cooperation of the Graduate Study Program of Economics, Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management IPB, IPB Inter – CAFÉ LPPM IPB, and The University of British of Columbia Canada, was attended by researchers, lecturers, students, government representatives and other related parties. (Mtd)
