Price Calculation in The Russian Darknet: the Case of Illegal Psychoactive Substances Market

Student: Nedikov Danila

Educational Programme: Applied Methods of Social Analysis of Markets (Master)

Final Grade: 8

Year of Graduation: 2021

The work is an attempt to comprehend the market of various illicit psychoactive substances on the Russian darknet from the point of view of various factors influence on the average price of the goods. These factors include geography of sale, product rating, seller assortment, as well as marketization of goods, the volume of negative reviews and customer trust. As a result, geography turns out to be the dominant factor influencing the price. At the same time, despite the theoretical premises and assumptions, social factors turn out to be insignificant at the macro level of the market. Conjectured that this market is largely a market access to goods, where the seller has a dominant position on the establishment of commodity prices.

Full text (added May 20, 2021)

Student Theses at HSE must be completed in accordance with the University Rules and regulations specified by each educational programme.

Summaries of all theses must be published and made freely available on the HSE website.

The full text of a thesis can be published in open access on the HSE website only if the authoring student (copyright holder) agrees, or, if the thesis was written by a team of students, if all the co-authors (copyright holders) agree. After a thesis is published on the HSE website, it obtains the status of an online publication.

Student theses are objects of copyright and their use is subject to limitations in accordance with the Russian Federation’s law on intellectual property.

In the event that a thesis is quoted or otherwise used, reference to the author’s name and the source of quotation is required.

Search all student theses