Thomas Soseco

We are thrilled to announce that our paper titled "Household and Agricultural Expenditure Inequality among Orange/Tangerine Farmers in Punten Village, Batu City" has been published in the Journal of Authentic Research, authored by Maharani Putri Syalwani and me.  This study analyses household consumption and agricultural production expenditures among orange/tangerine farmers in Punten Village, Batu City, and identifies the expenditure categories in which inequality is most pronounced.  This paper uses a cross-sectional survey that was conducted from February to April 2024 using a census of all 43 eligible farmers who had converted from apple to orange/tangerine cultivation. Expenditures for food, non-food items, annual lump-sum household needs, and agricultural production were recorded for the preceding 12 months. Then, distributional inequality was assessed using descriptive statistics, Lorenz curves, Gini coefficients, and Palma ratios.  Our findings show that ineq...

Kejadian keracunan Makan Bergizi Gratis (MBG) terjadi lagi beberapa hari terakhir. Ratusan santri Pondok Pesantren Mamba’ul Hikam di Kabupaten Sidoarjo, mengalami keracunan diduga akibat menu MBG pada Selasa, 1 September. Kejadian ini menyebabkan 664 orang menjadi korban keracunan. Kemudian di Kabupaten Nganjuk, kasus keracunan diduga akibat menu MBG menimpa pelajar dan guru SMA Negeri 3 Nganjuk pada hari Rabu, 2 September.  Hasil monitoring Jaringan Pemantau Pendidikan Indonesia (JPPI) sejak 2025 hingga awal Agustus 2026 mencatat secara nasional, 40.759 orang menjadi korban keracunan MBG. Para korban meliputi pelajar, guru, hingga ibu dan anak balita yang mengikuti program posyandu sebagai penerima manfaat MBG Namun yang menjadi pertanyaan penting, jika Satuan Pelayanan Pemenuhan Gizi (SPPG) memasak untuk banyak sekolah setiap hari, tapi kenapa keracunan makanan biasanya terjadi di satu atau beberapa sekolah saja? Terlokalisir Terdapat pola yang terlokalisir yang dapat member...

We are pleased to announce that our paper titled "From Information Portals to Intelligent Governance: Public Value Creation through Generative AI Chatbots in Rural Indonesia" has been published in the Journal of Regional Economics Indonesia.  The paper is authored by researchers from Universitas Negeri Malang that consist of Thomas Soseco, Agus Sumanto, Inayati Nuraini Dwiputri, and Lustina Fajar Prastiwi with collaboration with Lutfi Asnan Qodri (Universitas Merdeka Malang) and Adamu Ahmed Wudil (Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa, Nigeria). This study investigates the condition of digital transformation of rural governance which remains constrained by limited access to public information and the predominance of passive digital platforms. While village websites have improved information dissemination, their capacity to support interactive and citizen-centred service delivery remains limited.  This study develops and implements a generative AI-powered chatbot...

Rencana pemerintah melarang pembelian bahan bakar Pertalite bagi masyarakat yang berada di Desil 9 dan 10 memunculkan kontroversi di tengah masyarakat mengenai status desil mereka. Masyarakat yang mengecek status desilnya secara mandiri justru memunculkan keluhan baru mengenai hasil desil. Ada warga yang mengaku tinggal di rumah kontrakan, memiliki kendaraan bekas, bahkan tidak mempunyai penghasilan sendiri, tetapi tercatat dalam Desil 9 atau Desil 10. Sementara warga lain yang masih mengontrak dengan penghasilan pasangan sekitar Rp3 juta per bulan, tetapi tercatat dalam Desil 10. Kondisi tersebut membuat sebagian masyarakat mempertanyakan apakah Desil 9 dan Desil 10 memang menunjukkan bahwa seseorang tergolong kaya sehingga harus dibatasi konsumsinya. Desil dalam Data Tunggal Sosial Ekonomi Nasional (DTSEN) Berdasarkan informasi dari https://cekbansos.kemensos.go.id/ yang bersumber dari Data Tunggal Sosial dan Ekonomi Nasional (DTSEN), desil adalah kelompok kesejahteraan kelu...

Source: sproutsschools.com Pekan penerimaan mahasiswa baru perguruan tinggi sudah dimulai, sebagai pertanda akan dimulainya pekan perkuliahan di jenjang perguruan tinggi. Setiap tahunnya ada sekitar 1,8 juta siswa baru yang memulai langkah ke jenjang perguruan tinggi.  Jenjang perguruan tinggi memberi peluang lebih besar untuk berkompetisi di dunia kerja dan mendapat upah lebih tinggi dibanding mereka yang tidak pernah mengenyam bangku kuliah. Dengan besarnya harapan siswa dan orang tua tersebut, pertanyaan penting berikutnya adalah bagaimana kampus menjadi tempat yang layak bagi mereka untuk bersiap masuk ke pasar tenaga kerja 3-4 tahun lagi?  Proses perkuliahan juga akan membentuk lulusannya menjadi tipe manusia yang seperti apa.  Orang pintar Pada tahun 1976, seorang ekonom Italia Carlo Cipolla menulis sebuah esai berjudul "The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" (Hukum Dasar Kebodohan Manusia) yang menyajikan kerangka untuk menilai kecerdasan seseorang yang sesungguhnya. C...

Publikasi detikfinance (06/08) menunjukkan publikasi Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) yang mencatat pengangguran per Mei 2026 mencapai 7,22 juta orang. Jumlah tersebut turun 24 ribu orang dibanding posisi Februari 2026. Lebih lanjut, pada Mei 2026 terdapat sebanyak 220,23 juta penduduk usia kerja. Jumlah tersebut meningkat sebanyak 689.000 orang jika dibandingkan dengan Februari 2026. Dari jumlah tersebut, angkatan kerja mencapai 155,41 juta orang, bertambah 497.000 orang, sedangkan bukan angkatan kerja sebanyak 64,82 juta orang, naik 191.000 orang. Dari sejumlah angkatan kerja tersebut sebanyak 148,19 juta orang diantaranya bekerja. Jumlah penduduk yang bekerja ini bertambah sebanyak 522.000 orang dibandingkan kondisi di bulan Februari 20026. Dalam laporan BPS, Tingkat Pengangguran Terbuka (TPT) turun pada Mei 2026 sebesar 4,65%. Angka ini mengalami penurunan 0,03% poin jika dibandingkan dengan Februari 2026. TPT adalah persentase jumlah penduduk yang menganggur dibandingkan dengan total j...

We are thrilled to announce that our paper, "Land Ownership and Rural Household Welfare: Evidence from Indonesia," has been published in the Jurnal Sosial Humaniora. The paper is the result of a collaboration between Nila Cahayati (Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember), Fajar Try Leksono (ROTASI Institute), Isnawati Hidayah (the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, and the Center of Economic and Law Studies/CELIOS), and me. This paper studies how land ownership is gendered within rural Indonesian households and whether women’s land ownership is associated with household welfare, female labor participation, and food security.  Using nationally representative SUSENAS 2018 household and individual modules, construct land ownership typologies that distinguish ownership by the male household head, the spouse, children, other members, and multiple‑owner arrangements. Weighted OLS models with province fixed effects and district‑clustered standard errors show that households where the ...

As part of the Hiliriset Platform under the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek) through the Ajakan Industri (Industry Invitation) scheme, our research team is implementing the project "Tokenized Smart Ecotourism Model in Fruit Orchards: Blockchain Prepayment, Traceability, and Benefit-Sharing Scheme for Improving Household Food Resilience and Net Wealth". This project is a collaboration between Universitas Negeri Malang and PT Kerabatani Indonesia, a leading agritech company connecting farmers, technology, and investors to promote digital innovation that strengthens agricultural sustainability and rural livelihoods In 22-25 July 2026, we conducted a roadshow across Madiun, Malang, and Kediri, bringing together farmers, agro-industry practitioners, traders, technology enthusiasts, and academics. The programme introduced practical digital solutions for agriculture, including the Smart Revolve Platform for agricultural finance and crowdfunding and th...

Pada Rabu, 29 Juli 2026, tim peneliti kami berkesempatan mempresentasikan proposal penelitian pada The 5th Open Call for Research Proposal (OCRP) 2026 yang diselenggarakan oleh BPJS Kesehatan. Proposal ini berhasil masuk 15 besar dan dipresentasikan di hadapan panel penilai. Tim penelitian dipimpin oleh Fajar Try Leksono (ROTASI Institute) dengan kolaborasi peneliti dari Universitas Negeri Malang, Universitas Brawijaya, dan Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS). Penelitian ini berfokus pada strategi peningkatan tingkat keaktifan peserta Program JKN, dengan menitikberatkan pada identifikasi peserta yang berisiko menjadi tidak aktif serta pengembangan strategi untuk mempercepat proses pengaktifan kembali keanggotaan. Hasil penelitian diharapkan dapat menjadi masukan berbasis bukti bagi penguatan keberlanjutan Program JKN. Sesi presentasi berlangsung interaktif dengan berbagai pertanyaan dan masukan konstruktif dari para panelis yang akan menjadi bekal berharga untuk menyempurnakan de...

Berdasarkan Surat Edaran Kepala UPT Publikasi Ilmiah Universitas Negeri Malang Nomor 23.7.3/UN32.39/TU/2026 tentang Larangan Publikasi pada Jurnal Tidak Bereputasi, Diskontinu, dan Terindikasi Predatory, beberapa jurnal yang telah diskontinu dari Scopus, memiliki status coverage Scopus yang tidak diperpanjang, terindikasi sebagai predatory journal atau publisher, serta termasuk dalam kategori jurnal bajakan (hijacked journal) adalah sebagai berikut: 1. Retos  —  Diskontinu dari Scopus 2. Veredas do Direito  —  Coverage Scopus belum diperpanjang, potensi diskontinu, dan terbatas pada bidang hukum dan kebijakan 3. Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology  —  Coverage Scopus belum diperpanjang, potensi diskontinu 4. Journal of Management Practices, Humanities and Social Sciences (JMPHSS)  —  Jurnal bajakan / hijacked journal (https://sahss.com/index.php/jmphss) 5. International Journal of Instruction  —  Diskontinu dari Scopus 6. Internatio...

By: Leigh McKiernon  Responsibility inflation is quietly reshaping the workplace, asking employees to contribute at the next level while often being paid at the last one. Every economic cycle leaves behind its own fingerprint on the workplace.  The recession of the early 1990s gave us downsizing.  The early 2000s celebrated outsourcing.  The 2010s introduced us to hustle culture, a period in management history during which employees were encouraged to mistake chronic exhaustion for professional fulfilment.  Then came the pandemic, followed by inflation, hiring freezes, geopolitical uncertainty, AI, and an employer-led labour market that shifted the balance of power back towards organisations. Every era has its management innovation. Our era has discovered responsibility inflation . The quantity of work expands.  The complexity of the work expands.  The accountability expands.  The emotional labour expands.  Curiously, however, the compensatio...

Globalisation has made national economies increasingly interconnected, so economic crises, wars, commodity price shocks, and geopolitical conflicts occurring in one region can quickly affect inflation, employment, and household welfare in Indonesia.  Focusing on oil-price shocks and examining how global economic disturbances may alter the traditional relationship between inflation and unemployment, I summarised the results as follows: Globalisation increases economic transmission. Events such as wars, financial crises, pandemics, or supply disruptions can spread across countries through trade, energy markets, exchange rates, and financial flows. Indonesia is therefore highly exposed to external shocks.  Indonesia is vulnerable to oil-price shocks. Although Indonesia is a major energy producer, it remains a net importer of crude oil and petroleum products. Rising global oil prices therefore increase transportation and production costs domestically, creating inflationary press...

We are thrilled to announce that our paper titled "Social Capital and Food Security in the Face of Disasters: A New Insight from Rural Households in Indonesia" has been published in the Indonesian Journal of Development Studies.  This paper is a joint research conducted with Isnawati Hidayah (Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy & Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS)), Nila Cahayati (Departemen Studi Pembangunan Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember), Fajar Try Leksono (ROTASI Institute (Institute for Rural Development and Sustainability)), Yessi Rahmawati (Faculty of Economic and Business, Universitas Airlangga) and me. The paper raises the issue in Indonesia, which is prone to natural disasters, that households need the ability to maintain their resilience and living standards by enhancing social capital in the community. Hence, an examination of the impact of natural disasters on a household’s standard of living measured from food ex...

I had the opportunity to present our paper at The International Conference on Green Energy and Environmental Technology (ICGEET) 2026, hosted by Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) in Bandung on Wednesday, 24 June 2026. Our paper, "Childcare Burden and Women's Labour Force Participation: Evidence from Indonesia," is a collaborative effort with Fajar Try Leksono (ROTASI Institute – Institute for Rural Development & Sustainability), Isnawati Hidayah (Center of Economic and Law Studies/CELIOS), Media Wahyudi Askar (Universitas Gadjah Mada), and Nila Cahayati (Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember). In this paper, we investigates increasing women's participation in the labour market has become one of Indonesia's key development priorities. While educational attainment among women has continued to improve, labour force participation remains relatively low compared with many neighbouring countries. One of the frequently cited barriers is the responsibility of carin...

Indonesia, as an archipelago nation provide an ideal example of how inequality between regions matters. Islands that are separated by sea/water create natural barriers that limit interaction between islands, hence leading to unequal levels of development.  Java Island is the most developed region in the country. It is the place for Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta and the nation’s biggest city. Java Island is also the home of more than half of the 270 million of the Indonesian population but only consist of approximately 13% of the Indonesian land area.   The unequal development can also be shown from economic and social aspects, where provinces in Java Island consistently earn a higher level than the national average. This created regions that are lagged or depressed. For example, provinces in Papua Island, despite having higher per capita income, have lower average school years of the population aged 15 and above, lower life expectancy at birth, and a higher poverty rate....