ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a study to find Java's context among the literature on other Southeast Asian countries where, regardless of policy mix and growth rates, the general picture is one of worsening distribution. The only source of Java-wide comparable time-series data on income distribution is found in the four rounds of the National Social and Economic Survey on consumption expenditures, carried out in the 1960s by the Central Bureau of Statistics with United Nations guidance and support, except for the brief period when Indonesia withdrew its membership. In rural areas from 1963 to 1970, there apparently was very little change in the distribution of income and there were no clear trends in the proportion' of total income accruing to equal population quintiles. The poorest quintile's share of income in all urban areas declined from 9.5 percent in 1963-1964 to 7.8 percent in 1969-1970.
