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on Transition Economics |
| By: | Mikula, Stepan (Masaryk University); Pytlikova, Mariola (CERGE-EI) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the causal effects of air pollution on migration by exploiting a natural experiment in which desulfurization technologies were rapidly implemented in coal-burning power plants in the Czech Republic in the 1990s. These technologies substantially decreased air pollution levels without per se affecting economic activity. The results based on a difference-in-differences estimator imply that improvements in air quality reduced emigration from previously heavily polluted municipalities by 24%. We find that the effect of air pollution on emigration tended to be larger in municipalities with weaker social capital and fewer man-made amenities. Thus, our results imply that strengthening social capital and investing in better facilities and public services could partially mitigate depopulation responses to air pollution. Finally, we look at heterogeneous migratory responses to air pollution by education and age and find some evidence that the more educated tend to be more sensitive to air pollution in their settlement behavior. |
| Keywords: | natural experiment, migration, air pollution |
| JEL: | Q53 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14863&r= |
| By: | Yana Roshchina (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Sergey Roshchin (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Ksenia Rozhkova (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Vaccination is the main tool available to handle the COVID-19 pandemic globally. Though no vaccine is proven to be 100% effective, vaccination secures against getting seriously ill and dying from the disease. Russia announced the development of its first domestic vaccine back in August 2020 and launched the nationwide immunization campaign at the beginning of 2021. Despite these achievements, as for mid-October 2021, only 36% of the population got at least one shot of the vaccine. Massive vaccination hesitancy and refusal pose a great threat to public health and postpone social and economic recovery. Using nationally representative data from the general adult population of Russia, this study explores the scope of vaccination hesitancy and refusal as well as the determinants of vaccination attitudes. The results suggest that only 45% of Russian population demonstrated positive attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination prior the launch of nationwide vaccination. We analyze a wide array of demographic, socio-economic, and health-related factors in relation to vaccination intentions. We also explore the deep-rooted causes of vaccination reluctance by looking at personality traits, religiosity, and trust. The obtained results are vital for designing policy measures to promote vaccination as a “fourth wave” of COVID-19 in Russia is currently progressing. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19; coronavirus; vaccination attitudes; vaccination hesitancy; vaccination resistance; risk attitudes; personality traits; Russia |
| JEL: | I11 I12 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:99/soc/2021&r= |
| By: | Muhammad Nadeem Mirza (School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid-i Azam University); Shaukat Ayub |
| Abstract: | With the signing of several lucrative deals on oil, gas, currency, and other bilateral and multilateral arrangements, Sino-Russian relations over the last three decades have reached unprecedented levels. However, as China begins to translate its economic influence in Central Asia into political one, Russia started feeling uneasy about losing its traditional sphere of influence in its 'Near-Abroad.' After the unveiling of 'One Belt One Road' (OBOR) initiative in 2013, President Putin, a year later, announced the 'Eurasian Economic Union' (EAEU). This was a calculated geopolitical decision on the part of Russia to rescue Central Asia from falling entirely in the Chinese sphere of influence. Against this backdrop, the regional order invites a deep sense of mistrust because there is a lack of realization on the part of both states as to where one's limits end and the other's begin. In the light of these developments, this study endeavors to address the question that why is Russia allowing China to expand its influence in Central Asia despite the growing economic asymmetry between them and what are the areas of convergence and divergence between them? The study hypothesizes that China and Russia have adopted the policy of competitive collaboration-cooperation where there exists convergence and competition when it comes to divergence of interests-in Central Asia. |
| Abstract: | Avec la signature de plusieurs accords lucratifs sur le pétrole, le gaz, la monnaie et d'autres accords bilatéraux et multilatéraux, les relations sino-russes au cours des trois dernières décennies ont atteint des niveaux sans précédent. Cependant, alors que la Chine commence à traduire son influence économique en Asie centrale en une influence politique, la Russie a commencé à se sentir mal à l'aise de perdre sa sphère d'influence traditionnelle dans son « Near-Abroad ». Après le dévoilement de l'initiative « One Belt One Road » (OBOR) en 2013, le président Poutine, un an plus tard, a annoncé l'« Union économique eurasienne » (EAEU). Il s'agissait d'une décision géopolitique calculée de la part de la Russie pour éviter que l'Asie centrale ne tombe entièrement dans la sphère d'influence chinoise. Dans ce contexte, l'ordre régional invite à un profond sentiment de méfiance parce qu'il y a un manque de prise de conscience de la part des deux États quant à l'endroit où s'arrêtent les limites de l'un et où commencent celles de l'autre. A la lumière de ces évolutions, cette étude s'attache à répondre à la question : pourquoi la Russie permet-elle à la Chine d'étendre son influence en Asie centrale malgré l'asymétrie économique croissante entre elles et quelles sont les zones de convergence et de divergence entre elles ? L'étude fait l'hypothèse que la Chine et la Russie ont adopté la politique de collaboration concurrentielle-coopération là où il existe une convergence et une concurrence lorsqu'il s'agit de divergence d'intérêts-en Asie centrale. |
| Keywords: | near-abroad,New Great Game,geopolitics,pipeline politics,International Relations,Russia,Great Power Politics,China |
| Date: | 2021–11–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03452696&r= |
| By: | Petranov, Stefan |
| Abstract: | The article discusses the regional aspects of the shadow economy in Bulgaria. The main factors that generate motivation for shadow practices are considered and it is concluded that they operate mainly at the national level. It follows that measures to limit and prevent this phenomenon should be primarily national. However, the article argues that regional policies can also be used in this regard. A moderate fiscal decentralization can help to increase the tax morality which is one of the most slowly changing and most intractable factors generating motivation for the implementation of shadow practices. It is also argued that fiscal decentralization in Bulgaria has the potential to improve other aspects of the economic system. |
| Keywords: | shadow economy, regional development, regional policies, fiscal decentralization, Bulgaria |
| JEL: | E26 H7 H71 R1 |
| Date: | 2021–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:111264&r= |
| By: | Elena V. Sautkina (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Fatikha B. Agissova (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Alexandra A. Ivanova (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Kingsley S. Ivande (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Veronika S. Kabanova (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Natalia A. Patrakova (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In the context of global environmental and climate change caused by human impact, the study of pro-environmental behaviour and its determinants is important. At present, research on determinants of pro-environmental behaviour in Russia is sparse. Our study addresses this evidence gap and looks at the political, environmental and social determinants of pro-environmental behaviour. Adult participants (N=462, mean age = 36.73 years, SD = 11.77, 56.7% females) took part in an online survey measuring personal values, environmental motivation, environmental concern, connectedness to nature, institutional trust, political values, populism, patriotism and pro-environmental behaviour. The results show that different types of pro-environmental behaviour are predicted by different variables. Despite this, some common patterns emerge. The strongest predictor of all behaviour types was integrated regulation, the most autonomous form of environmental motivation. Hedonic values negatively predicted all pro-environmental behaviour, except resource conservation. For waste management and social behaviour, some environmental predictors had very high explanatory power, while for resource conservation, sustainable purchasing and climate relevant actions, a greater number of predictors with low explanatory power was observed |
| Keywords: | pro-environmental behaviour, values, attitudes, knowledge, motivation, patriotism, trust, Russia. |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:130psy2021&r= |
| By: | Max Deter; Martin Lange |
| Abstract: | The empirical literature is inconclusive about whether a country’s democratization goes hand in hand with a reallocation of economic resources. With newly available individual-level data of former residents of the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR), we analyse how supporters and opponents of the socialist system performed within the market-based democracy of West Germany after reunification. Protesters, those who helped to overthrow the socialist regime in the Peaceful Revolution show higher life satisfaction and better labor market outcomes in the new economic system. Former members of the ruling socialist party and employees in state-supervised sectors become substantially less satisfied. These results do not seem to be driven by individual reactions to the transition, but rather by the removal of discriminatory practices in the GDR. Additional results indicate that conformism in the GDR also explains political preferences over the almost three decades after the reunification of Germany. |
| Keywords: | East Germany, state socialism, transition, labor market, life satisfaction |
| JEL: | H10 N44 P20 D31 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9492&r= |
| By: | Oleg Rusakovskiy (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Modern historians have widely acknowledged that the traditional Eastern Orthodoxy was less inclined to proclaim the Holy War against the enemies of faith and, thus, to dehumanize the non-Christian adversaries of the Russian tsardom than the confessions of the Western Christendom were by similar circumstances. The presented paper aims to challenge this view. The Russian political and religious propaganda of the late 17th century rarely appealed to the idea of the Holy War and called for extermination or enslavement of the infidels directly. Instead, the complex of Biblical metaphors was used. Whereas the Russian tsardom had been traditionally seen as the ‘New Israel’, the preachers of the 1680s and 1690s recalled the deeds of Moses, Joshua and Gedeon and compared the Muslim enemies of the realm – Tatars and Turks – with the cursed people of Canaan such as Midianites and Amalekites. Parallelly, the images of the violence Israelites committed against these people by divine sanction became popular in the religious wall painting, in part, due to some influences from the Western book illustration brought to Russia in the second half of the 17th century. Some religiously zealous contemporaries, from the advisors of the young Tsar Peter I to ordinary gentry, applied these negative Biblical images of religiously and ethnically suspected others not only to the Muslims but even to the Protestant population of the Baltic provinces of Sweden attacked during the Great Northern war adding a confessional dimension to the predominantly secular rhetoric of the government |
| Keywords: | Old Testament, Book of Joshua, Religious Violence, Peter the Great, Russo-Turkish Wars, Great Northern War |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:206/hum/2021&r= |
| By: | Nikolova, Elena; Polansky, Jakub |
| Abstract: | Although a large body of literature has argued that motherhood has a profound and long-lasting negative effect on the employment and earnings of women, there is little evidence focusing on the post-communist region. This paper exploits the latest round of the EBRD-World Bank Life in Transition Survey (LiTS) and of the Mongolian National Statistics Office Household Socio- Economic Survey (HSES) to examine the correlation between the presence of children of different age categories in a family and female employment in Mongolia in 2016. We examine the availability of childcare, social norms and attitudes towards women, as well as household decision-making as potential explanations. We find that small children decrease the probability of female employment relative to women with no small children. In particular, women with two children aged one to six years are 21.5 percentage points less likely to be employed. Our results also suggest that cultural biases against women may be - at least partially - responsible for the low female employment levels which we uncovered. These results are unlikely to be driven by omitted variable bias. |
| Keywords: | children,female employment,Mongolia,women |
| JEL: | J16 J13 J20 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1015&r= |