摘要：Regional autonomy is designed to increase the welfare of the community with the idea that regional
government best understands what must be done in order to increase and improve human resources.
The quality of human resources in a community can be a determining factor for the success of
development initiatives in a region. Regional governments must be able to properly plan, to implement,
and to evaluate regional budget allocations as they have direct impacts on regional gross
regional domestic product (GRDP) as well as on measurable community welfare as measured by
the Human Development Index (HDI). This study examines the relationship between government
spending and human development in regional governments of Papua Province, Indonesia as measured
by the HDI. A secondary analysis of government data and Human Development Index (HDI)
data was conducted using structural equation modelling. The secondary analysis of regional government
budget allocations and HDI data suggests that spending with the goal of improving the
lives of community members seems to lead to an improvement of HDI. This study is focused on
regional governments in one province of Indonesia. While its findings suggest that governments
should make supporting human resources a priority if they hope to see improvement in HDI, similar
studies should be conducted in other communities in order to see how different cultural or political
settings affect the relationship between spending and HDI. This study adds to our understanding
of development with its focus on Papua Province, an under-studied area in development research.
关键词：Regional expenditure allocation;Gross Regional Domestic Product;Human Development Index;Papua
