Kesenjangan Keuntungan Privat dan Biaya Sosial Pencemaran: Tinjauan Kritis atas Internalisasi Eksternalitas di Indonesia

Abstract

Environmental pollution becomes an economic problem when the profits earned by business actors do not reflect the social costs borne by communities and the environment. This gap arises from negative externalities that have not been adequately internalized. This study analyzes the gap between private profits and the social costs of pollution and examines externality internalization mechanisms in Indonesia. It employs a qualitative critical literature review with thematic-comparative analysis of twenty scholarly articles retrieved from Google Scholar, GARUDA, and publishers' websites, appraised through a framework of measurement, attribution, cost allocation, and accountability. The findings show that estimated external costs can reduce reported profits, yet the reductions are small relative to profits (below 1.5 percent in the studies compared), indicating that monetary valuation captures only part of a burden that also includes health problems, lost income, and ecological damage. This burden falls mainly on surrounding communities and affected economic actors, while measurement, causal attribution, and the enforcement of polluter responsibility remain weakly connected. No single instrument is sufficient. Compensation, environmental restoration, polluter liability, carbon pricing, and environmental cost disclosure must operate as a complementary package supported by reliable data and consistent supervision. This review offers an analytical basis for assessing how economic activity, environmental loss, and internalization policy interact in Indonesia, and cautions against merging monetary estimates from different studies into one national figure.