It is becoming more and more common for employers to hire workers under fixed-term contracts. This allows companies to save money and more easily adapt to the changing conditions of the market. Flexible employment regulations do not, however, foster growth in productivity or an adequate reallocation of resources on the labour market, the Deputy Head of HSE’s Laboratory for Labour Market Studies, Larisa Smirrnykh, posits

Generally, Russian businesses are fairly resistant to external shocks. Many enterprises have not only survived the 2008 crisis, but have increased their market share since then. Major companies with foreign owners and those investing in restructuring and modernisation have a better chance of success, according to Boris Kuznetsov, Professor at the Department of Economic Analysis of Organizations and Markets and co-author of the study 'The impact of industrial strategies on resilience to external shocks and on the post-crisis development trends'

Most Russian company owners invest in the continuing education of their employees, but not all of them. The lucky ones are 10-20% of all staff. Such spending looks risky even though the return on it is high. Continuing education increases salary by 8% on average, which is an indirect sign of the same improvement in the labour productivity of the educated staff, Pavel Travkin, Junior Research Fellow at the HSE Laboratory for Labour Market Studies, found

Middle-aged Russians whose younger years fell in the era of change fear for their future and tend to save more money than they spend. In contrast, Russia's elderly and young adults are avid consumers: the former have survived hardship and scarcity – potential loss does not scare them, while the latter share the inherent optimism of youth, according to the paper 'Consumer Expectations of the Russian Public (1996-2009): Interconnections across Cohorts, Generations, and Ages' by Dilyara Ibragimova, Senior Researcher at the HSE's Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology

The widespread belief that wage increases in Russia outstrip growth in productivity is no more than a myth, Deputy Director of the HSE Centre for Labour Market Studies, Rostislav Kapelyushnikov claims in an article ‘Productivity and wages: a little simple arithmetic’. Besides, in recent years we have seen a fall in the cost of labour, particularly in industry

Contemporary Russia’s political system is becoming more and more similar to the Chinese one, while the Chinese economy is demonstrating stable growth and the Russian one is stagnating. Andrey Yakovlev, Professor at the HSE Department of Theory and Practice of Public Administration, believes that the Chinese were able to effectively use the methods of governance they adopted from the USSR. His paper ‘Incentives in the System of Public Administration and the Economic Growth’ was presented at the conference ‘Challenges for Economic Policy in the New Environment’

Poverty in Russia is not limited to marginalized, unemployed people with little or no income; poverty is widespread when defined as deprivation due to illness, homelessness, and other similar factors. Single pensioners and families with many children living in rural areas are particularly at risk of poverty, notes Ekaterina Slobodenyuk, lecturer at the Subdepartment of Socio-Economic Systems and Social Policy of the HSE's Department of Applied Economics, in her paper 'Social Dynamics in the Group of the Russian Poor'

A drop in the public’s wages in September was accompanied by a growth in demand for durable goods. People tried to use this method to protect their savings from inflation. In addition, hopes for economic growth are becoming more and more illusory, as the main macroeconomic indicators are currently on the decline, experts from HSE's Centre of Development Institute said in the latest edition of New Comments on the State and Business

Sanctions and the decline of the ruble have caused inflation rates in Russia to exceed the Ministry of Economic Development's official projection and to hit a three-year maximum. Furter weakening of the ruble will lead to the continued growth of annual inflation, according to the HSE's New Comments on the State and Business

Russia will face a budget deficit in 2015-2017; the country’s expenditure on defense and public administration will grow, while the spending on education, health care, and social services will be cut, according to expert analysis published in the recent issue of the HSE’s New Comments on the State and Business

Implementing a sales tax will not help the regional budgets. The excessive tax burden will drive business into the ‘shadows’ and raise the price of goods and services. In addition, retailers will see turnover fall, reducing profits and investment activity. This forecast was included in ‘Macroeconomic Analysis of the Impact of Changes in the Tax Rate on the State Budget and Market Participants’ by the Director of HSE’s Centre of Development Institute Natalia Akindinova

In August 2014, Russia faced an accelerated growth in prices of foods banned for import. In September, this trend is expected to increase, while the prices of other imported goods will rise due to the ruble's decline over the past two months, and year-end inflation may reach 8%, according to the HSE's New Comments on the State and Business