Buyers Distrusting of the Price Game
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’.
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.
Marriage Stimulates Higher Earnings
Married men and women, on average, earn more than single individuals. But while for men getting divorced means a drop in earnings, the opposite is true for women – they achieve higher earnings after divorce and remarriage, according to a study by Lilia Rodionova, presented at the Tenth International Conference on Applying Multivariate Statistical Analysis to Economics and Quality Assessment hosted by the HSE.
The Regions Need More Money
Even considering an 8.5% increase in wages, regional budgets will not be able to avoid a deficit for 2014. The federal centre will have to find additional funds to pay for Russian federal subjects’ spending or else the subjects will be forced to increase debt, experts from the HSE Centre of Development Institute said in the latest issue of New Comments on the State and Business.
Russian Statistics Unhelpful in Predicting Future
Russian statistics are scarce, inaccurate, ormissing – and therefore misleading, rather than helpful. Their limited temporal depth makes any reliable long-term projections of the country's socio-economic development impossible, according to the report 'Russian Statistics: What Do They Preserve for History?' by Vladimir Bessonov, Head of the HSE’s Laboratory for Research in Inflation and Growth.
The New Harvest Slows Down Inflation
A drop in food prices, particularly fruit and vegetable prices, usually observed in summer, and an improved situation in the commodity markets have helped slow down the rate of inflation, according to expert analysis in Comments on State and Business published by the HSE's Centre for Development.
Government Finances Innovative Research
The government in Russia has been the main customer for research and development (R&D) since 2009, while the real sector of the economy finances only a third of the total R&D costs of innovation-focused research companies, according to findings from a monitoring of innovation activity carried out by the HSE's ISSEK.
High Taxes, Low Demand Dampen Growth
Experts from the HSE Center for Business Tendency Studies at the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge have found that limited demand, high taxes, lack of financial means and a high level of uncertainty in the onward course of economic development all reduce the length of time for which businesspeople can plan, in turn obstructing investment and innovative initiatives.
Financial Crisis Affects Gender Attitudes
The economic crisis in European countries did not pass by unnoticed as concerns the public’s set of values. In some groups, there was a shift from emancipative values to more traditional ones. Above all, this involves the socially vulnerable strata that the crisis hit hardest of all, Natalia Soboleva, a researcher with HSE’s Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSS), concluded in a study.
Non-commodity Exports Can Boost Russia’s GDP Growth
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.