The Role of Information Accesibility on Welfare Achievement: Evidence of Internet Using in Indonesia

Abstract : More than 3 decades information variable has been known as total factor productivity (TFP) which accompanied by labor and physical capital is very significant in enhancing productivity . The contribution of internet usage to reduce the level of disparity among regions in Indonesia has not been evaluated in improving welfare through laveraging productivity, especially those related to the role of the age group of its users. This study aims to elucidate the influence of geographic zones and age groups on welfare achievements in the following year (HDIt+1). The OLS model was applied at a confidence level of >95%. The predictor variables are; (1) Geographical zones use dummy variables in 3 categories based on the Wallacea and Weber Lines, namely the East zone [D_EAST] and the West zone (D_WEST] with the Central zone as the reference; (2) Age group variables use the proportion of adulthood [ADUL], adolescence [ADOLC], and teenager [TEEN]. In addition, to control residual errors, the achievement of the current HDI [HDIt] is also accounted in the model. Data from 35 provinces in 2021 and 2022 were acquired from the official website of the National Statistic Agency (www.bps.go.id). Model parameter optimization uses Minitab16. This result suggests that [HDI]t+1: is not significantly influenced by the regional division zone, and is very significantly influenced by the user’s age group with parameter sensitivities of 4.488 (p = 0.046), 4.479 (p = 0.047), and 4.485 (p = 0.046) respectively. Development planners do not need to make policy discrimination based on differences zones and age groups of users in efforts to increase HDI.