Influence of fiscal decentralization on the economic growth of public welfare and poverty between regions of Province of Papua

Abstract This research aims to understand the impact of fiscal decentralization on improving the economy, public welfare, and poverty in the province of Papua. The population and sample of this research were 20 districts/cities in the Papua province. The data analysis used a multivariate model analysis based on the structural equation Modeling WarpPLS variant. The results showed that fiscal decentralization positively influenced the economic growth and the improvement in public welfare, but negatively influenced poverty. Meanwhile, economic growth negatively influenced public welfare. On the other hand, the growth positively influenced poverty reduction, and public welfare influenced poverty. In addition, the results of the mediation test showed that economic growth was able to fully mediate between fiscal decentralization and poverty reduction, yet the economic growth became the partial mediation between fiscal decentralization and public welfare.