The informal nature of employment does not affect an employee's social status, because the differences between formal and informal employment are insignificant in Russia, says Anna Zudina, Junior Researcher at the HSE's Centre for Labour Market Studies

Family and school are losing their influence over children’s upbringing, and the gap is being filled by mass media. Bedtime stories are being replaced by cartoon series, the best of which are facilitating the development of children’s emotions. And, fantasy novels are satisfying teenagers’ cravings for action. Researchers Katerina Polivanova, Elena Sazonova, and Marta Shakarova have examined how contemporary culture is influencing children

The government-set objectives for the health care system for the next three to five years barely conform tothe fiscal policy set for that period. In his report, ‘The Russian Health Care System: Problems and Prospects for Development’, Sergey Shishkin, Academic Supervisor of the HSE Institute for Health Economics, analysed the opportunities to meet these objectives in the context of the institutional changes taking place in that industry

The parts of Russia which migrant workers from the CIS find most attractive are changing. The ‘map’ of migration flows depends on which way the investments are going. But at the same time, the general picture is unchanged: we don’t yet have an efficient system for gathering the foreign labour force we need. In an article in the HSE journal ‘Demoscope Weekly’, Olga Chudinovskikh, Mikhail Denisenko and Nikita Mkrtchyan explained their research findings

How to reform the labour market is one of the most discussed issues in Russian society. Germany introduced major labour market reforms in the 2000s and is one of the few countries that has achieved significant results in doing so. The German experience is worth looking at, even though it may not be directly applicable to other countries. Here are some findings made by researcher Nina Vishnevskaya of the HSE Centre for Labour Studies

Most law students develop a negative perception of their own profession while at law school. Taking advantage of loopholes in the law, cheating on clients, and being mistrusted are just a few negative aspects of the legal profession which law students should be prepared to face. A study by Anton Kazun, researcher at the HSE International Centre for the Study of Institutions and Development

Socializing with A-grade classmates can improve students’ academic performance. However, students tend to socialise with A-graders only to get help, while they prefer to make friends with those whose academic performance is similar to their own. C-graders are often the most popular among students themselves. This article by Diliara Valeeva, Oleg Poldin, and Maria Yudkevich was first published in the HSE's Journal of Educational Studies

Many Russians volunteering to observe the elections are middle-class professionals. They volunteer because they want elections to be fair and doubt the validity of previous voting results, finds a study by Yulia Skokova, Junior Researcher at the HSE Centre for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector

Elite motorists pose a mortal threat to the public; Russians are blowing their chances of building good public institutions; social media can bury politicians; reasons why our society is morally unstable and why expensive medical equipment is available but unused – these were the HSE's 13 most interesting and relevant research projects in 2013, according to Opec.ru.

Russia’s regional centres are growing and improving their demographics by attracting active young people from the provinces – which, in contrast, are ageing and experiencing depopulation. This subject is the focus of an article by Nikita Mkrtchyan and Lilia Karachurina, first published in the HSE's Demoscope Weekly

The ability to stay in control and make decisions in predictable situations is not enough for business leaders. They have to be able to act inambiguous conditions,and this forces modern business leaders to master new leadership strategies. Andrey Rossokhin spoke on leadership and the modern role of psychoanalysis in business at a conference ‘Psychoanalysis and Business’, organized by the HSE Faculty of Psychology Department of Psychoanalysis and Business Consulting

Concerned about discipline and uniformity, teachers at Russian universities tend to squeeze out students perceived as not fitting in with the academic culture, suggests a study by Ivan Gruzdev, Elena Gorbunova, and Isak Frumin