A Book Review Of Central Bank Policy Theory And Practice By Perry Warjiyo And Solikin M. Juhro

The volume under review is a most welcome addition to the still relatively slim collection of economics volumes written in English by Indonesian scholars. There is an established tradition of senior Indonesian policy makers writing major scholarly volumes in their fields of expertise before or after holding high office. One thinks for example of Widjojo Nitisastro’s Population Trends in Indonesia (1970), Radius Prawiro’s Indonesia’s Struggle for Economic Development: Pragmatism in Action (1998), and Soedradjad Djiwandono’s Bank Indonesia and the Crisis: An Insider’s View (2005), among several others. (It is noteworthy that two of these authors were also Bank Indonesia governors.) In an earlier era, Professor Sumitro Djojohadikusumo was the trailblazer, combining serious scholarship along with high policy responsibilities. It is testimony to Indonesia’s political leaders and governance tradition over several decades that policy leadership and serious scholarship have been able to comfortably and productively co-exist.