KAJIAN PENGARUH KEBIJAKAN DESENTRALISASI PADA PENINGKATAN KESEJAHTERAAN MASYARAKAT (Studi Kasus: Kabupaten/Kota di Provinsi Jawa Barat)

After more than 10 years of the implementation of decentralization policy in Indonesia, it is considered essential to evaluate this policy in terms of improving public welfare. Decentralization in this study is measured by three dimensions: fiscal, functional and personnel. These three variables are not made in a single composite index, but in a separate index which include variables of economics, infrastructure, education, and health. Using panel data of 25 districts/cities in West Java Province in 2004-2010, the findings stated that: In the economic field, the effect of decentralization variables has not been demonstrated directly. However, there is indirect effect through the channel of investments variable, where the high level of investment in the region is justified as a form of improved local government performance in attracting investment. In infrastructure, personnel decentralization is the only variable that has an influence on the change of variable road infrastructure. Meanwhile, in the field of education, there are two variables of decentralization which have significant influence on the accessibility of the public to secondary education. Those two variables are functional and personnel decentralization. In the health sector, it was found that the decentralization variable has no significant effect on changes in the ratio of the number of physicians per 1000 population, but it has an influence on increasing the ratio of hospital beds to population. This shows that the channel of the decentralization variables that can have an impact on improving the public welfare is functional decentralization and personnel decentralization. However, the performance of both channels remains to be improved for the future.