Spatial heterogeneity of economic resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: the case of Java, Indonesia

Relevance. Spatial heterogeneity in economic resilience is a critical but understudied issue in Indonesia, where persistent uneven development becomes especially evident in the context of major shocks like the COVID-19 pandemicResearch Objective. This study aims to examine whether the spatial heterogeneity of economic resilience in Java, Indonesia, during the recent pandemic may provide a basis for finding possible strategies to address uneven development across districts.Data and Methods. The analysis uses Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) data from Indonesia’s Central Statistics Agency and COVID-19 data on Java’s six provinces with a total of 119 districts. Resistance and recovery indexes are derived from GRDP data. Methods include the coefficient of variation (CV) and the Zipf equation.Results. The pandemic influenced economic dynamics in Java, revealing a complex relationship between resistance, recovery, and inequality. The impact on spatial inequality varied by region, underscoring the diverse nature of local economic resilience and confirming the spatiallyndifferentiated effects of the pandemic.Conclusions. The pandemic didn’t significantly reduce regional disparities in Java. To address uneven development, governments should design targeted policies that strengthen economic resilience by accounting for the interplay of structural factors, such as infrastructure, resource access, and local governance, to promote a more balanced spatial distribution of economic activity.