Judul: Analisis ekonomi politik swasembada gula Indonesia: kombinasi model oligopolistik dinamik dan fungsi preferensi politik
Abstrak: Sugar industry is among the most developed agricultural industry in Indonesia but it is highly regulated by the government. As regulations create economic rents, many interested parties compete for the rents and involve in rent seeking activities. This paper aims at estimating the economic rents in Indonesia sugar industry and measuring the potential social costs of rent seeking since rents are dissipated through rent seeking activities. In addition, it also tests the relationship between producers’ political lobby on self sufficiency rate and the size of rent obtained. Results show that during 2003-2009 protection on sugar industry has created Dead Weight Loss and the economic rent consecutively as large as Rp. 129 billion and Rp. 6.9 trillion annually. Moreover most of the rent went to the government/state (32.7%) and the rest were collected by importers (20.5%), private sugar mills (16.1%), and local traders (15.3%). Ironically sugar cane farmers only receive 15.4 % of the rents. Since rents were dissipated through rent seeking activities, the social cost of sugar protection would be Rp. 7.1 trillion per annum or approximately 34.41 percent of the value of sugar consumption that achieved Rp. 20.8 trillion. Furthermore, the results indicate that these welfare losses are positively associated with producers’ political lobby/pressure and negatively related to self sufficiency rate. Consequently, in order to minimize rent seeking activities the government should not concentrate on pursuing self sufficiency but rather on removing inefficiencies in sugar industry especially those operating in Java. Without that self sufficiency is simply becoming an arena for rent seeking activities.
Keyword: rent seeking, self sufficiency, lobby, swasembada gula, Model Oligopolistik Dinamik, Fungsi Preferensi Politik

Judul: The impact of economic policies in sugar commodity to sugar’s producers and consumers welfare in indonesia
Abstrak: Gula merupakan salah satu kebutuhan pokok masyarakat. Permintaan gula di Indonesia cenderung lebih tinggi dibandingkan dengan produksi gula. Guna mencukupi permintaan gula maka pemerintah melakukan impor. Saat ini, impor gula Indonesia dibatasi melalui kebijakan tarif. Pada tahun 2015, tarif impor gula Indonesia harus dihapuskan kerena adanya kesepakatan regional ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Penghapusan tarif impor gula ini akan menyebabkan pasokan gula impor yang besar dan menyebabkan harga gula menjadi rendah. Rendahnya harga gula menyebabkan petani tebu tidak memiliki insentif untuk meningkatkan produksi gula domestik. Oleh karena itu diperlukan suatu kebijakan yang dapat meningkatkan kesejahteraan konsumen maupun produsen gula. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah : (1) menganalisis faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi penawaran, permintaan, dan harga gula ; (2) menganalisis dampak kebijakan ekonomi komoditas gula dalam terhadap penawaran, permintaan, dan harga gula ; (3) menganalisis dampak kebijakan ekonomi komoditas gula terhadap kesejahteraan produsen dan konsumen gula di Indonesia. Penelitian ini dianalisis menggunakan model ekonometrika dalam bentuk sistem persamaan simultan. Spesifikasi model Perdagangan Gula Indonesia terdiri dari 20 persamaan (13 persamaan struktural dan tujuh persamaan identitas). Penghapusan tarif impor gula akan menurunkan kesejahteraan produsen gula, sehingga kebijakan ini perlu dikombinasikan dengan peningkatan harga gula di tingkat petani agar kesejahteraan produsen dan konsumen meningkat., Sugar is one of the basic necessities for peoples. Demand of sugar in Indonesia tend to be higher than the production of sugar. In order to fulfill the highly demand of sugar, Indonesian government conduct to import the sugar. Indonesia’s sugar import are limited by tariff policy. In 2015, Indonesian sugar import tariff should be eliminated due to the regional agreement of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The removal of sugar import tariff will cause large supply of imported sugar and causes sugar prices to be low. The low price of sugar causes sugarcane farmers doesn’t have incentive to increase domestic sugar productions. Therefore, it is a requirement to create a policy in order to improve sugar's producers and consumers welfare. The purpose of this research is: (1) to analyze the factors that affect the supply, demand, and price of sugar; (2) to analyze the impact of economic policies in sugar commodity on supply, demand, and price of sugar; (3) to analyze the impact of economic policies in sugar commodity to sugar's producers and consumers welfare in Indonesia. This research is analyzed using econometric model in the form of simultanous equations system. Specification of Indonesian sugar trade model consists of 20 equations (13 structural equations and 7 identity equations). The removal of sugar import tariff will decrease the welfare of sugar producers. The removal of sugar import tariff needs to be combined with increasing sugar prices at the farm level so producers and consumers welfare will be improved.
Keyword: AEC, gula, harga, kesejahteraan produsen dan konsumen, tarif impor

Judul: Hydroxyapatite-Chitosan Composite Coating on Stainless Steel 316 to Improve Corrosion Resistance
Abstrak: Metals that were used in bone implantation should have good corrosion resistance that were not easily corroded when implanted into the body. Metal corrosion resistance of stainless steel 316 can be enhanced through the metal coating by hydroxyapatite-chitosan composite with composition ratio of hydroxyapatite (gram) and chitosan 3% (mL) 0.2:0, 0.2:0.1, 0.2:0.5, 0.2:1.0, and 0.2:1.5. Besides improving the corrosion resistance of metal, the presence of chitosan also maintain the position of hydroxyapatite on metal surfaces. Corrosion resistance increases with increasing amount of chitosan added and the best composition of hydroxyapatite-chitosan composite was 0.2:1.0.
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