Research & Expertise news at HSE University

On October 10, the HSE School of Public Administration hosted its monthly discussion series. This month’s event is entitled ‘Stress Test for Public Finances – Policy-Responses to the Financial and Economic Crisis in the OECD’ and was led by Prof. Dr. Uwe Wagschal of the University of Freiburg (Germany). Professor Wagschal's talk focused on the consequences of massive monetary and fiscal stimulus for the public purse and will compare the fiscal packages in 28 OECD-countries aimed at combating an economic downturn following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

The human factor, a reluctance to scare investors and the absence of tangible rewards for predicting recessions are some of the reasons why professional forecasters sometimes fail to signal economic downturns. In their study, Sergey Smirnov and Daria Avdeeva found evidence indicating that professional forecasters tend to hold on to optimistic scenarios for too long.

Mothers of three or more children are four times as likely to be unemployed compared to mothers of one or two children, according to Alina Pishnyak's study 'Employment opportunities and constraints for women in Moscow.'

According to participants in the recent BRICS Water Forum, out of all of the global challenges in regards to water resource management through the use of technological breakthroughs, only keeping water clean can be guaranteed at the moment.

At the most recent Andrey Poletayev Memorial Readings held by the Poletayev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities (IGITI), participants discussed the relationship between the natural sciences and the social sciences. HSE Professor Elena Vishlenkova tells us why scholars in the humanities are interested in the natural sciences and what contribution they can make to this field.

The decision to get a family pet tends to be associated with children’s growing-up crises. According to the researchers, many parents adopt a cat or a dog at a time when their son or daughter is going through a major change, such as starting school or entering puberty. At such times, the child's attitudes towards themselves and the outside world can change drastically, causing anxiety in the family. Research suggests that pets can help both parents and children cope with stress. The study's findings are published in the paper 'The likelihood of getting a family pet depending on the age of children.'

On September 16, the Centre for Cultural Sociology and Anthropology of Education (HSE Institute of Education) held a seminar entitled ‘Trajectories and Educational Choice’ that brought together experts to discuss a number of topics related to educational expansion and the relationship between schooling and economic development.

Younger and older employees are not competitors on the labour market. The possible increase in the retirement age and, accordingly, increased employment among the elderly won’t add to youth unemployment and won’t limit the opportunities for young people’s employment. These are the findings made by Sergey Roshchin and Victor Lyashok in their study ‘Younger and older employees on the Russian labour market: substitutes or not?’