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’.
The Brain Values Individuals' Own Information
When people have a choice, they can either rely on their own information or on that received from those around them. The more emotional an individual's relationship with their own data, the higher the likelihood that, when making a decision, they will be led by that rather than by other people's opinions. This also applies to investors' activity on the financial markets – as research by HSE Psychology Faculty Dean Vasily Klyucharev, and researchers from the University of Basel Rafael Huber and Jörg Rieskamp.
Nonresident Graduates More Likely to Move
One third of all graduates from regional colleges and universities plan to move elsewhere. Most would like to relocate to another Russian city, while some 7% of graduates are planning to leave the country, according to the study 'Migration Intentions of Graduates of Russia’s Regional Higher Educational Institutions' by Elena Varshavskaya, Professor at the HSE's Department of Human Resources Management, and Olga Choudinovskikh, Director of the Centre for Migration Policy.
Childlessness Increasingly Determined by Attitudes
Generally in Russia, being childless is an involuntary situation associated with infertility, age, and being single. However, being childless in Moscow is often a deliberate decision. Aside from a biological inability to bear children, childlessness in Moscow is likely to be associated with higher levels of education, income security, the structure of the family of origin, and certain attitudes, i.e. that having children is not necessary for happiness, according to Svetlana Biryukova, Research Fellow of the HSE's Centre for Studies of Income and Living Standards.
Migrants' Children Need Help Adapting
Children attending Moscow schools who are born to migrants from CIS countries often encounter difficulties adapting to their new environment. In research published in the HSE's online journal Demoscope Weekly, Zhanna Zayonchkovskaya, Yulia Florinskaya, Dmitry Poletaev, and Ksenia Doronina argue that educational institutions must help them master the Russian language and to overcome issues arising during the teaching process.
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.
The Ideal Woman Differs from the Ideal Wife
Fewer Russians associate relationships between men and women with marriage, and gender roles are moving away from those of husband and wife. Russians still perceive 'the ideal man' and 'the ideal husband' as similar types – the common denominator being the roles of breadwinner and protector. In contrast, ‘the ideal woman' and 'the ideal wife' are two entirely different types. The former must be good-looking above all, while the latter is expected to be loyal, loving, and a good homemaker, according to Yulia Lezhnina, Associate Professor at the HSE's Subdepartment of Socio-Economic Systems and Social Policy.