Research Digest, 2021

D. Didenko. (12/2021). Digest #5 Long-Term Trends in Income Inequality in Russia: What Do Long-Term Series of Statistical Dynamics Tell Us? (RU). Research Project Studying Formation and Development of Human Capital in Russia in the Global Context: Long-term Tendencies, Factors, Structural Dynamics (from the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century). Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA).

The digest focuses on long-term historical trends in income inequality in Russia from the 19th century to the present, primarily on wage differentials. Researchers have characterized the sources of information on inequality, adjusted and supplemented the data series constructed in previous works. They also demonstrated cyclical dynamics of income inequality with alternating periods of systemic transformation and evolutionary development during periods of market economy and centralized management in the economy.

A. Donina, D. Kolesnik, A. Pestova. (11/2021). Digest #4 What to do with the employment of women with children in Russia? The Role of Pre-school Educational Facilities (RU). Research project Evaluating the Impact of Social Policy for Families with Children on Women's Labor Supply and their Human Capital. Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University).

Researchers from MGIMO Center for International Economics Research found out how to increase the employment rate of women with children in Russia and what prevents this from happening. Researchers stressed that women in Russia with young children under the age of three have little involvement in economic activity. One of the reasons is the low level of availability of pre-school education and childcare facilities for young children. The low employment rate is also caused by the spread of traditional gender norms. 

Researchers noted that in many countries support for pre-school education and child care facilities in the form of direct provision of these services at government expense or government subsidies for these services is an effective policy measure. The authors concluded that public investments in improving access to pre-school education have a return in two years.

T. Paschenko, N. Avdeenko, M. Gasinets. (10/2021). Digest #3 Can Schools Teach Thinking?. Research project Mechanisms and Factors of Key Skills and Competencies Development. Higher School of Economics (HSE University)

Researchers from HSE Educational Content Design Laboratory told what is known about the formation of creative and critical thinking in education. These skills, according to surveys, are considered by employers to be the most important ones for their employees. Formation of thinking begins at school, it is closely connected with learning activities. 

Memory, attention and background knowledge are essential to the development of critical and creative thinking. However, acquiring new knowledge and memorizing facts must be combined with solving tasks that require high-order thinking skills.

Researchers emphasized that creativity is formed in a learning environment where there is mutual respect, teachers can engage in open dialogue with students and share ideas, and learning is collaborative. Researchers consider a hybrid learning format to be the most advantageous strategy for developing creative and critical thinking. In this format, students are simultaneously introduced to common ways of developing critical and creative thinking and shown how these ways can be applied to the subject material.

B. Sokolov, M.Zavadskaya, N. Soboleva, M. Ukhvatov, A. Shirokanova, A. Scherbak. (09/2021). Digest #2 Values in Crisis: the Sociology of the Coronavirus (RU). Research project Values and Attitudes Trends during the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Comparative Perspective. Higher School of Economics (HSE University)

HSE Laboratory for Comparative Social Research analyzed key social and political consequences of coronavirus pandemic first wave in Russia and compared the most interesting findings with the situation in other countries 

Scientists found that there are a lot of COVID-skeptics in Russia (38%). Such people doubt the seriousness of this disease or the need for government measures to fight it. In Russia and in many other countries, individual trust in the national health system is reduced by COVID-skepticism and the belief that social media provides more reliable information than traditional media.

It turned out that more religious Russians generally tend to favor the Russian authorities, including the disease-control measures they were taking, despite the fact that certain groups of believers had a conflict with the government in the spring of 2020. 

People who lost their jobs during the first phase of the pandemic were less satisfied with their lives, but having adult children reverses this effect. However, kids were a distraction for people who worked remotely — this manifested itself in a lower level of subjective well-being compared to remoters who did not have children. 

S. Beredikhin, V. Vlasov, N. Gavrilova, M. Gerchman, L. Gokhberg, A. Demianova, I. Ivanova, Y. Popova. (08/2021). Digest #1 Development of Creative Industries in Russia: Key Indicators. Research project Methodological Foundations for Measuring the Socio-economic Characteristics of Creative Industries and the Creative Class. Higher School of Economics (HSE University)

In recent years creative industries as a promising segment of economy have attracted the attention of politicians, experts and scientists. The development of creative industries has many positive effects on the economy and society, including the growth of small and medium-sized business, job creation and so on. The authors of the digest tried to answer the question: why is russian creative economy not developing fast enough?

According to researchers, the low growth rate of russian creative industry is mainly due to the general stagnation and slowdown in economic growth after the 2014 crisis. The decline in activity in the real sector caused a decline in demand for goods and services that are classified as creative. Between 2015 and 2019, there was a gradual rise in these markets, including the growth of its individual segments, such as online advertising. However, starting from early 2020, the pandemic has had a negative impact on creative industries around the world.