The dataset in this datapackage was constructed for the 'Indonesian Economic History' project, which has been a concerted effort of several researchers at different universities and research institutions. The aim of the project was to reconstruct the national accounts of Java (1815-1939) and of Indonesia (1900-2000) and to analyze the long-term evolution of the economy of Indonesia in this period. The reconstructed national accounts form the prime source of information about the economy's development over time. The national accounts provide an analytical framework for a more thorough understanding of changes and discontinuities in the economic performance of Indonesia.
This dataset presents the first set of estimates with regard to the historical national accounts for Java between 1815 and 1939. The richness of the available sources is rather unique; it will be difficult to find a non-OECD country for which comparable sources exist for the 19th century. This creates the unique opportunity to study the long term development of the economy of a ‘developing’ country in the one-and-a-half century before independence in some detail.
The system of national accounts focuses attention on those data that are necessary for reconstructing the level of income and production in an economy, gives all relevant information its weight (i.e. salt production has a different weight than rice output), and integrates the information into a single concept (GDP) that has a clear economic meaning.
