nep-cis New Economics Papers
on Confederation of Independent States
Issue of 2018‒02‒26
seven papers chosen by



  1. Self-employment, financial development and well-being: Evidence from China, Russia and Ukraine By Tho Pham; Oleksandr Talavera; Mao Zhang
  2. The Emerging Civil Society-State Nexus in Putin’S Russia: A Case Study in Public Health By Vladislav A. Plotnikov
  3. Mental Healthcare Delivery in Contemporary Russia: Past and Present. A Qualitative Analysis of Policy Documents and Professional Journals By Kolpakova S.V
  4. Visualizing Attractive Spots for Visitors and the Making of the Tourist Places at the Black Sea Coast of Russia (the End of the 19th and the Beginning of the 20-Th Centuries) By Aleksandra Babikova; Alexandra Bekasova
  5. The Economic and Social Determinants of Migrants' Well-Being during the Global Financial Crisis By Danzer, Alexander M.; Dietz, Barbara
  6. Shock propaganda, asset quality and lending behaviour By Tho Pham; Oleksandr Talavera; Andriy Tsapin
  7. Multimarket Competition and Profitability: Evidence from Ukrainian banking By Tho Pham; Oleksandr Talavera; Junhong Yang

  1. By: Tho Pham (School of Management, Swansea University); Oleksandr Talavera (School of Management, Swansea University); Mao Zhang
    Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of financial development on entrepreneurs' well-being. Using longitudinal data from China, Russia and Ukraine, we find that Chinese and Russian entrepreneurs experience a higher level of well-being while the Ukrainian self-employed are prone to dissatisfaction. We also observe that the extent to which financial development can improve entrepreneurs' utility differs across countries. First, the development of formal financial sector does not affect Chinese entrepreneurs’ happiness. Second, greater financial development increases life satisfaction of Ukrainian self-employed but decreases Russian entrepreneurs' job satisfaction. The results suggest that financial development could affect well-being through both monetary and nonmonetary channels.
    Keywords: Entrepreneurship, self-employment, satisfaction, financial development.
    JEL: J24 O16
    Date: 2018–01–25
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swn:wpaper:2018-03&r=cis
  2. By: Vladislav A. Plotnikov (National Research University Higher School of Economics)
    Abstract: As of 2017, the main principles, values and goals of the Russian health care system are still under discussion, but the role of non-profit organisations in this sphere remains poorly defined and little understood, following the introduction of a controversial 2012 law restricting the role of foreign funding of Russian NGOs. We find that the evolution of civil society in Russia has given rise to a unique model of civil-state interaction, characterised as an uneasy union, in pursuit of scarce financial resources, between the most influential NGOs in the health sphere and the public authorities
    Keywords: Russian NGOs, Russian health policy, civil society – state relations.
    JEL: L31 L38
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:15/psp/2018&r=cis
  3. By: Kolpakova S.V (National Research University Higher School of Economics)
    Abstract: This paper examines the effects of reforms in Russian mental health care (MHC) delivery since 1991, namely how it has developed; how priorities, targets and means of delivery have changed; which problems were considered the main ones; and how ongoing changes have affected the system of delivery. An analysis of policy documents and of psychiatric journals was used in conducting this research and also in understanding any changes that had occurred. The results indicate that some transformations in MHC organization took place, while others, mainly regarding patient related issues, were still being neglected by policy makers
    Keywords: MHC policy, psychiatric journals, Soviet times, Russia
    JEL: I1 I18 I19
    Date: 2017
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:14/psp/2017&r=cis
  4. By: Aleksandra Babikova (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Alexandra Bekasova (National Research University Higher School of Economics)
    Abstract: The article deals with the process of emergence of tourism in Russia and focused on a visual pattern in the making of tourist places. Being an essential part of mass printed culture, travel guidebooks, along with travel literature and postcards, were in demand during the late imperial period. They were produced and replicated intensively and circulated widely. At the turn of the 19 – 20th centuries the Black Sea coast of Russia was evolving into a popular place for travel and a recreational destination. A set of images of attractive spots of this region, which were reproduced in Nikolai Lender’s guidebooks, as well as on postcards in 1880s - 1910s formed the empirical basis of this research
    Keywords: travel guidebooks; images of attractive spots, tourist spaces, tourism history, the Black Sea coast, late Imperial Russia
    JEL: Z
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:164/hum/2018&r=cis
  5. By: Danzer, Alexander M. (Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt); Dietz, Barbara (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg)
    Abstract: This paper investigates the economic and social determinants affecting the well-being of temporary migrants before, during and after the financial crisis. Exploiting unique panel data which cover migration spells from Tajikistan between 2001 and 2011, we find that migrants earn less but stay longer in the destination during the crisis; at the same time, they become more exposed to illegal work relations, harassment and deportation through the Russian authorities. Especially illegal employment has negative second order effects on wages. Despite the similarities in the demographics and jobs of migrant workers, we find substantial heterogeneity in how the financial crisis affects their well-being. Migrants who experience wage losses during the crisis rationally stop migrating.
    Keywords: migration, informal employment, deportation, harassment, financial crisis, well-being, Russia
    JEL: J15 I31
    Date: 2018–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11272&r=cis
  6. By: Tho Pham (School of Management, Swansea University); Oleksandr Talavera (School of Management, Swansea University); Andriy Tsapin
    Abstract: In this paper, we employ the 2014 geopolitical conflict in Eastern Ukraine as a negative shock to banks' assets and examine its impacts on banking sector. We find that banks are hit by the conflict more severely if they granted more loans in the conflict areas as of 2014 Q1. Consequently, in the onset of the unrest, more exposed banks experience a sharper increase in troubled assets and a deeper reduction in credit supply compared to less affected counterparts. Additionally, the shock in the East can be transmitted to other markets through the interconnectedness among banks and branches but the spillover is mitigated by the market - conflict distance. Further analysis provides evidence for the "flight to headquarters" effect in credit allocation whereby more affected banks tend to cut lending more in the markets which are farther away from the headquarters.
    Keywords: Geopolitical shock, credit allocation, asset quality, flight to headquarters, difference-in-differences.
    JEL: G01 G21
    Date: 2018–01–25
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swn:wpaper:2018-04&r=cis
  7. By: Tho Pham (School of Management, Swansea University); Oleksandr Talavera (School of Management, Swansea University); Junhong Yang
    Abstract: This paper examines the impact of non-price competition, indicated by multimarket contacts, on bank performance. Using a unique data set of Ukrainian banks’ branch locations, we construct three measures of multimarket linkages. We find that banks with a higher level of multimarket contacts are more likely to have higher financial performance. The findings support the mutual forbearance hypothesis: when banks compete in multiple markets, they have incentives to cooperate instead of competing aggressively. This cooperative incentive is induced by the familiarity and the similarity among multimarket competitors. The positive effect of multimarket competition on bank profitability is stronger when banks interact in more competitive markets. However, the anti-competitive effect of multimarket contacts is lessened following an exogenous shock to banks' branch networks. Banks that were more exposed to the shock experience worsened competitive positions and no longer benefited from multimarket contacts.
    Keywords: Banking, Multimarket competition, Multimarket contact, Mutual forbearance hypothesis, Profitability, Difference-in-differences, Political conflict.
    JEL: G21 L11 L25 L40
    Date: 2018–01–25
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swn:wpaper:2018-02&r=cis

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