Data from Rosstat and the Federal Customs Service suggest that import substitution – not limited to substituted Ukrainian imports – has played a major role in keeping the Russian economy from recession in the first half of 2014. However, Russia cannot expect to achieve a sustained and dynamic GDP growth without boosting exports, in particular its non-commodity exports, according to expert analysis in Comments on State and Business published by the HSE's Centre for Development.
A satisfactory health condition and a low pension could theoretically be what make pensioners continue working in the first years after beginning their well-deserved relaxation. The main medical factors that keep older individuals from working are disability, the aftermath of strokes and frequent hospital treatment, Ekaterina Maltseva, a Research Assistant at HSE’s Laboratory of Economic Research of the Public Sector, said in the study, 'The Impact of Health on the Labour Supply of Pensioners'.
In recent years, all advertising of contraceptives has disappeared from Russian television, replaced by messages denying that sex can be made safer. While television in Russia supports the state's attempts to regulate people's private lives, condom commercials have migrated to the internet, a place that still remains relatively free of government control, according to the report '(Un)safe Sex Ads as a Mirror of Political Change in Russia' by Associate Professor of the Department of Integrated Communications Lyubov Borusiak.
Despite its thriving banking sector, Russia's industrial production remains stagnant, as financial institutions are failing to support development in the real sector. Vassilisa Makarova, Associate Professor at the HSE's Department of Financial Markets and Financial Management (Faculty of Economics, St. Petersburg), and Andrei Krylov, postgraduate student at St. Petersburg State University of Economics, examined the controversial relationship between Russian banks and industry.
Dr. Stefan Toepler of George Mason University (U.S.) is a recognized expert in research on the non-profit sector and the author of more than 70 publications in international journals. He will present a paper at the upcoming seminar of HSE’s Centre for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector (CSCSNS), which will take place on June 26 and focus on the topic, ‘New Forms of Public-Private Partnership in the Field of Philanthropy in the U.S.’. Dr. Toepler gave a special interview to the HSE news service.
On June 20, the HSE’s Centre for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector held a seminar led by Lester Salamon, Director of the Center for Civil Society Studies at The Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies and now Academic Advisor of the HSE’s International Laboratory for Nonprofit Sector Studies that was established earlier this year.
A seasonal revival in consumer demand stimulated an increase inretail trade in Q2 2014. Food retail showed the best results, but intensified moods to save household earnings, a slowdown in income growth, high inflation, and difficulties in obtaining consumer credit might soon change the situation, according to experts from the Centre for Business Tendency Studies at the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge at the Higher School of Economics in their latest monitoring of the retail business climate.
The markets for healing and witch doctors are often developed in smaller cities and also serve nearby rural areas as well. Such centres of 'informal healthcare' most commonly thrive among individuals who have become disappointed with traditional medicine or among those who do not have access to traditional medicine, Yulia Krasheninnikova, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Management’s Department of State and Municipal Management at HSE Perm campus, said in the study 'Beyond the Healthcare System: The Development of Alternative Health Services in Urban and Rural Areas.'
Alfred J. Rieber, University Research Professor at Central European University (Budapest, Hungary), recently presented at the international conference ‘Russia in the First World War’, which was organized by the HSE’s International Centre for the History and Sociology of World War II and its Consequences and took place on June 3-5, 2014.
The family meal, a tradition which has for centuries helped strengthen family ties, is becoming a rare phenomenon, increasingly replaced by a fast food culture and various individual dietary strategies, according to Irina Sokhan, Associate Professor at the HSE's Department of Applied Political Science (St. Petersburg).
