Mr Masyhur Hilmy

Masyhur Hilmy is a PhD student in Economics at Boston University. His research interests include the economics of education, social protection, and migration. Prior to graduate school, Masyhur was involved in large-scale policy evaluations using randomized control trials in Indonesia's welfare eligibility census, a community block grant program (Generasi), and the expansion of the national health insurance program to the informal sector.

Islam and the State: Religious Education in the Age of Mass Schooling (with Samuel Bazzi and Benjamin Marx)

This paper examines how Indonesia’s Islamic school system responded to the construction of 61,000 public elementary schools in the mid-1970s. The policy was designed in part to foster nation building and to curb religious influence in society. Using data on Islamic school construction and curriculum, we identify both short-run effects on exposed cohorts as well as long-run effects on education markets. While primary enrolment shifted towards state schools, religious education increased on net as Islamic secondary schools absorbed the increased demand for continued education. The Islamic sector not only entered new markets to compete with the state but also increased religious curriculum at newly created schools. Our results suggest that the Islamic sector response increased religiosity at the expense of a secular national identity.