The relation between internet use and societal development in Indonesia

Abstract

We seek to explore the plausible relation between internet use on one hand, and human development index (HDI) and crime incidence on the other in Indonesia. By using numbers reported in Statistical Yearbook Indonesia 2018 by BPS, the regression model reveals that internet is positively related to the increment of HDI level. However, internet use is also positively related to the number of crime incidence; meaning more crimes with internet use. The year 2017 seems to be an interesting year to investigate more deeply, as it is negatively related to both HDI level and number of crime incidence. These results are robust to unemployment rate and labor participation conditions during 2015 thru 2017. These findings reveal differentiated relations between internet use and current societal development in Indonesia.