How Russia has become an industrial economy; Class bias in Russia's judicial system; Why Russia could benefit from zero import duties with the EU; Why Russian elites prefer foreign jurisdictions; What is fake economic growth; Why the reforms of the 2000s have failed; Whether currency depreciation must inevitably lead to inflation—these were the most interesting research papers in 2014 relevant to Russia, according to Opec.ru.

For the first time since the 2010 heat wave in Moscow, demographers have estimated the effects of abnormal heat, wildfires and air pollution on morbidity and mortality. Extreme heat in Moscow in the summer of 2010 caused nearly 11,000 additional deaths from diseases of the nervous and cardiovascular systems and respiratory and kidney conditions, according to a group of researchers including Tatyana Kharkova and Ekaterina Kvasha of the HSE Institute of Demography, members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, MosEconomMonitoring, and Swedish researchers.

Attitudes towards family and sexual norms vary widely across the former Soviet Union republics. At the country level, economic development and the level of religiosity both help to determine attitudes, while age plays an important role at the individual level. Middle-aged people tend to be more liberal than those who are older or younger, according to a study conducted by Sofia Lopatina, Veronica Kostenko, and Eduard Ponarin of the HSE's Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSR) in St. Petersburg.

People who work in the tourism industry recognize values that matter to companies, but do not always share them. In fact, in recent years, the tourism business is in a complex condition, and a values-based approach could benefit companies working in this sector, research carried out by Kira Reshetnikova and Marina Predvoditeleva, of the HSE Faculty of Management, indicates

Low prices, cheap delivery and positive purchaser reviews are all factors that make e-shops attractive to Russian shoppers. In order to compete more effectively for customers with offline stores, online retailers need to decrease their margins say Associate Professor at the Faculty of Management Elena Panteleeva and researcher with the Client Satisfaction and Loyalty Research and Study Group at HSE, Flora Shamiryan, in their report ‘The influence of consumer experience among online shop clients on their satisfaction and loyalty.’

Russia’s urban residents can be split into four groups, depending on their relationship with the city, what they expect from it, values, and lifestyle. Three groups prefer to lead a settled or sedentary lifestyle, as they are either content with their place of residence, or passive. The fourth category is mobile, and always ready to move. By taking each group’s values into account, cities can be made more comfortable for all residents, research by a study group at the HSE’s Graduate School of Urban Studies and Planning says

The Russian labour market is very mobile. People change jobs often, exiting the labour market only to enter it again. Those who are temporarily out of work do not manage to become officially unemployed since such a move would make no economic sense. Around a third of all unemployed Russians are outside of the governmental and statistical realm, according to the Director of HSE’s Centre for Labour Market Studies, Vladimir Gimpelson, and a Junior Research Fellow in the Centre, Anna Sharunina

Employee engagement is essential to company performance. Mid-level managers tend to be the most engaged type of employees, according to a study by Veronica Kabalina and Ludmila Cheglakova of the HSE's Faculty of Management.

Fifteen Russian cities, including major university cities, capitals of Russia's constituent national republics, and regional centres, rival Moscow and St. Petersburg in terms of human development. In fact, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Chelyabinsk, Kazan, and Novosibirsk are actually ahead of Russia's two capitals in terms of this parameter, according to a study conducted by the HSE's Graduate School of Urban Studies and Planning. The study was led by the late Dean of the School Alexander Vysokovsky. The study’s findings were presented at the Fourth Moscow Urban Forum.

Mortality among people aged over 60 due to injuries, poisonings, road accidents, murders, falls, and other external causes remains high in Russia. At the same time, the elderly commit less suicides and less frequently die in road accidents, concluded Inna Danilova, postgraduate student at the HSE Institute of Demography, in her article ‘Old-age mortality from external causes of death in Russia’

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

Students who choose to pursue a master's or postgraduate degree are at a distinct advantage over those who stop after receiving a bachelor's degree, and can expect higher starting salaries and a wider career choice. Some students, particularly those studying the humanities, medicine, and natural sciences, are more likely to pursue further studies beyond the undergraduate programme, observes Yana Roschina, senior research fellow at the HSE's Laboratory of Economics and Social Research, in her report 'Factors Influencing Russian Students' Educational and Employment Plans'