For Young People, Winter Olympics 2014 Became a Family Event
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.
Budget Spending to Exceed Revenues in 2015
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.
Russian Political Economy Discussed in U.S.
At Columbia University in New York, a seminar on ‘The Political Economy of Russia’ was held jointly by the International Centre for the Study of Institutions and Development at the Higher School of Economics and the Harriman Institute at Columbia University.
Sales Tax to Speed up Inflation and Slow Down Economy
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.
Maternal Capital Leads to Births of 'Postponed' Babies
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 bySergey 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.
Special Schools Better than Tutors at Preparing Students for USE
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’.
300 million tonnes
of concentrated agricultural and forest waste are produced by Russian industry each year. Refining and using this waste as energy would allow Russia to hold a respectable place in the emerging markets of biotechnology products and bioenergy.
60%
of Russian company heads believe that the ability to solve work-related problems without help is acquired by employees only with experience in working independently. Various training courses are ineffective in this area.
Best Russian Journals to Go on Web of Science
On September 25 a presentation of the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI), of which HSE is a partner, took place. The purpose of the project is to integrate Russian academic journals into the international exchange network of scientific information. RSCI has listed 1000 journals, based on bibliometric indicators and expert reviews, to go on the Web of Science platform.
Political Science is Learning More, but Studying Less
Andrei Melville, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, reflects on the direction of political science today.