Twenty-five
million Russians would be prepared to move from cities to the countryside if
offered the same living standards in terms of income and available
infrastructure. While these conditions cannot be met in Russia at the moment,
it is still possible for the government to take steps to encourage urban
dwellers to move to rural communities, according to the study Motives, Conditions and Consequences of
Migration from the Cities to the Countryside in Russia by Maria
Neuvazhaeva, Masters' graduate of the HSE's Faculty of Sociology
October 16, 2014
Migrant
workers in the CIS are vulnerable in terms of pension rights. The recipient country
does not expect to care for them in old age, while the country of origin does
not count the years worked abroad towards their retirement plan. Portable pensions
may offer a solution, according to researchers of the HSE's Laboratory for
Comparative Social Research (St. Petersburg) involved in the study Pension Mobility within the Eurasian
Economic Union and the CIS
October 09, 2014
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
October 08, 2014
Most Russians are confident that they only consume legally-produced
spirits. The proportion of Russians who consciously purchase counterfeit or
bootleg liquor remains relatively small. However, the percentage of those who
are either unsure that their drink is the genuine article, or who don't care
whether it's fake or genuine, is relatively high. This is what Senior Research
Fellow at the HSE's Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology Zoya
Kotelnikova found
October 02, 2014
Russian
society has a generally low level of trust. Colleagues and neighbours are the
only exception – Russians regard them as trustworthy. A trusting attitude towards
one's inner circle of acquaintances has a greater effect on life satisfaction
than trust in public institutions and people in general, according to Anna
Mironova, Research Intern of the HSE’s International Laboratory of
Socio-Cultural Research
October 01, 2014
Not all consumers want to buy things
at a discount. Many people prefer expensive stores to discounters since the
purchase price of a good can demonstrate that the buyer belongs to a particular
social group or to a particular community of buyers, Elena Berdysheva, a Senior
Research Fellow in HSE’s Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology, said in
the paper ‘What Do We Know about Consumers’ Price Perception? Research Findings
of Studies in Sociology and Marketing Science’
September 29, 2014
Young
Russians took the Sochi Olympics as a family holiday rather than a state one.
Their parents’ nostalgic memories about the 1980 Olympic Games played their
role, which were a personal and at the same time a national event for many
Russians. Sochi 2014’s promotion as a national holiday worked worse, though.
For young people, the excitement in official media was drowned by criticism of
the Olympics on the internet, Anna Sanina, Associate Professor at the HSE St.
Petersburg Department of State and Municipal Administration, and research
assistants Anastasia Kozlova and Olesya Trigolos, found out
September 26, 2014
Federal
and regional maternity benefits such as 'maternal capital', larger child allowances,
and other measures introduced since 2007 to improve the country's demography
have led to more births, but have not yet contributed to effective fertility
rates in Russia. A paper by Sergey Zakharov and Thomas Freyka in the HSE's new Demographic Review journal examines
Russia's reproductive trends over the past half-century in an attempt to make
projections concerning the future effects of the country's demographic
policies
September 25, 2014
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
September 24, 2014
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
September 18, 2014
After the Russian Unified State Exam (USE) was introduced, additional exam preparation did not lose its popularity. While there was previously a preference for tutors from the university a student had selected, now students are finding instructors ‘off the street’ to prepare them for the USE, Ilya Prakhov, Research Fellow in HSE’s International Laboratory for Institutional Analysis of Economic Reforms (LIA), uncovered in his study, ‘The Dynamics of Investment and the Return on Additional Pre-entry Coaching’
September 16, 2014
When people have a choice, they can either rely on their own information or on that received from those around them. The more emotional an individual's relationship with their own data, the higher the likelihood that, when making a decision, they will be led by that rather than by other people's opinions. This also applies to investors' activity on the financial markets – as research by HSE Psychology Faculty Dean Vasily Klyucharev, and researchers from the University of Basel Rafael Huber and Jörg Rieskamp
September 15, 2014