Publications
Russia has a widespread injection drug use epidemic with high prevalence of HIV and HCV among people who inject drugs (PWID). We conducted a mixed methods study of young (age 18-26) hard drug users in St. Petersburg. Thirty-nine structured and 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted. No HIV cases and two HCV cases were detected among the PWID subsample (n=29). Amphetamine and other stimulants were common (70%), opioid use was rare and episodic. Consistent condom use was low. No PWID reported syringe-sharing, 51% reported other drug paraphernalia sharing. Contacts with older (30+) PWID were rare. A new cohort of drug users in St. Petersburg may have emerged, which is much safer in its injection practices compared to previous cohorts. However, risky sexual practices of this new cohort may expose them to the possibility of sexual transmission of HIV and widespread drug paraphernalia sharing to the HCV epidemic.
We document the geographic concentration patterns of Russian manufacturing using detailed microgeographic data. About 80% of three‐digit industries are significantly agglomerated, and a similar share of three‐digit industry pairs is significantly coagglomerated. Industry pairs with stronger buyer–supplier links—as measured using Russian input–output tables—tend to be slightly more coagglomerated. This result is robust to instrumental variable estimation using either Canadian or US instruments. Using Canadian ad valorem transport costs as a proxy for transport costs in Russia, we further find that industries with higher transport costs are more dispersed, and industry pairs with higher transport costs are less coagglomerated.
In the paper we use the RLMS-HSE 1994–2016 data to estimate changes in life satisfaction caused by cohabitation and marriage. We made empirical estimates by discontinuity design within the classical linear regression, ordered choice model, and model based on dichotomisation of dependent variable. The positive effects of changes in marital status on women’s life satisfaction are observed in all the cases but the marriage after living together. For men, the only effect of starting cohabitation is robust to the model choice and reduction of the width of observations window.
The effect of health on labor force participation is an established fact. This research hypothesizes the endogeneity of health stemming from the reverse effect, reporting bias and unobserved factors. The relationship between health and labor force participation of elderly Russians is modeled with simultaneous equations using data from World Health Organization Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health, Wave 1 (WHO SAGE, 2007–2010). A strong and non-linear effect of health on labor force participation is confirmed. Unlike for a complex health measure, endogeneity, confirmed by the correlation of unobserved shocks in the system of equations, is found for single-question health measures. The results show that the official retirement age has a moderate effect on labor force participation for women and a weaker or no effect for men. Nevertheless, the health of elderly Russians does not impose strong limitations on the increase of the retirement age.
Background: Previous research shows that incorrect teacher expectations about students can affect students’ academic success. Moreover, students’ ethnicity was found to be one of the most influential characteristics affecting teacher expectations, which can be based on ethnic stereotypes. Most studies test this relationship by comparing teacher expectations of multiple ethnic groups; however, we propose here another perspective, assuming that the connection between ethnic stereotypes and expectations may be determined by the content of the stereotypes.
Objective: This study examines the influence of students’ ethnicity on teacher expectations and stereotypes, as well as the relationship of teacher expectations and stereotypes toward ethnic minority students, by including the stereotype content model in the analysis.
Design: Thirty-four primary school teachers participated in the experiment in which they analyzed six fictional profiles of students, two of which were experimental. The experimental profiles contained identical information (annual school grade, a teacher testimonial, gender), but differed in names of the students and their parents, and in their migration background. Thus, we manipulated only the information related to ethnicity and migration history of two students.
Results: Teacher expectations about the performance of minority students were always unfavorable compared with expectations about the performance of the majority students, but their expectations about the abilities of minority and majority students, which include teachers’ beliefs about students’ educational skills, attitudes and motivation, and capacity for school work, were mixed. We also discovered that the teacher expectations were positively related to perceptions of competence and not to perceptions of warmth. However, the minority student was evaluated by teachers as just as warm and competent as the majority.
Conclusion: This study shows the relevance of the problem of correct expectations of teachers toward students with different ethnic backgrounds. In contrast to the teachers’ perceptions of the warmth and competence of students, information about the ethnicity of the child influences their expectations. Meanwhile the teachers’ expectations are differently related to the various components of their stereotypes. The results raise a question about the definition and operationalization of teachers’ expectations.
There is a paradox characterising the Russian health workforce. By international standards, Russia has a very high number of physicians per capita but at the same time is confronted by chronic real shortages of qualified physicians. This paper explores the reasons for this paradox by examining the structural characteristics of health workforce development in the context of the Soviet legacy and the comparative performance of other European countries. The paper uses data on comparative health workforce dynamics to argue that Russia is a European laggard, before then evaluating recent and current policies within that context. The health workforce challenges facing all low- and middle-income countries are acute, and this paper confirms this IS the case for Russia—Europe's largest country. The paper argues that the physician shortage is driven by the model of health workforce development inherited from the Soviet period, with its emphasis on quantitative rather than structural indicators. We find that, in contrast to most European Union countries, Russia's stalled reform process leaves it facing a chronic shortage of appropriately trained physicians. We document the costs of failed and slow reforms during the last 2 decades, while cautiously welcoming some recent policy initiatives.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW:
The social networks of people who inject drugs (PWID) have long been studied to understand disease transmission dynamics and social influences on risky practices. We illustrate how PWID can be active agents promoting HIV, HCV, and overdose prevention.
RECENT FINDINGS:
We assessed drug users' connections and interactions with others at risk for HIV/HCV in three cities: New York City (NYC), USA (n = 539); Pereira, Colombia (n = 50); and St. Petersburg, Russia (n = 49). In all three cities, the majority of participants' network members were of a similar age as themselves, yet connections across age groups were also present. In NYC, knowing any opioid user(s) older than 29 was associated with testing HCV-positive. In NYC and St. Petersburg, a large proportion of PWID engaged in intravention activities to support safer injection and overdose prevention; in Pereira, PWID injected, had sex, and interacted with other key groups at risk. People who use drugs can be active players in HIV/HCV and overdose risk- reduction; their networks provide them with ample opportunities to disseminate harm reduction knowledge, strategies, and norms to others at risk. Local communities could augment prevention programming by empowering drug users to be allies in the fight against HIV and facilitating their pre-existing health-protective actions.
In this paper we compare age-earnings profiles between generations. Our empirical estimates are based on the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey of HSE (RLMS-HSE), 1994–2015. Using intrinsic estimator, we overcome age-period-cohort problem inherent in Mincer-type earnings functions. Comparison presented in the work revealed that some male generations’ income is less than that of the young cohorts and the opposite effect for some generations of women.
The article reviews the normative documents regulating the environmental load in the Russian Federation, provides a summary on the contamination, analyzes the dynamics of pollutant air emissions and cancerous diseases in Russia, identifies populated areas with high and low pollutant air emissions. The study is complete with a regression analysis showing that the increase in sulfur dioxide emissions is an acceptable indicator of the malignant neoplasms risk assessment.
The article investigates the institutional factors that affect the motivation index wich is measured as the proportion between the share of Improvement-Driven entrepreneurs and necessity-driven entrepreneurs. The difference between entrepreneurs with necessity and opportunity motivation figures the difference in entrepreneurial behavior. Those of them who consider an income increase and anindependence desire as the motives of their activities (Improvement-Driven Entrepreneurs) are ready for large investments in business creation, for the production of new products and for the usage of new technologies, providing a greater contribution to economic development. We test few hypotheses using data of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Survey for the period 2007–2016. The results confirm the existence of positive relationship between the level of economic development and the motivation index, an increase in the share of Improvement-Driven entrepreneurs is typical for developed countries. Despite the necessity to develop all types of entrepreneurship, which are widely discussed in policy and programs for small and medium businesses, the promotion of Improvement-Driven Entrepreneurship entrepreneurs can contribute to GDP growth by creating new, including innovative, products and technologies, as well as increasing the scale of business. We found confirmation of the hypothesis that the protection of property rights, the regulation of corruption and the quality of education have a positive effect on the motivation index. Theconfidence that income and property are protected increases the likelihood of opting for voluntary entrepreneurship. Protection of rights affects not so much the general level of entrepreneurial activity, but rather the change in its “quality”. The perception of society as corrupt also reduces the level of forced entrepreneurship, but restricting corruption more strongly stimulates highly competitive entrepreneurs than forced ones.
The article considers influence of entrepreneurial experience on the wageemployment wages. Empirical analysis is based on the RLMS-HSE panel data, 2000—2013, with using fixed effects models on the overall sample, five-year- and flexible window. Results show that transition from entrepreneurship to wageemployment leads to penalty of wages. Wage growth rate of former entrepreneurs’ lag behind the wage growth rate of workers without entrepreneurial experience. The size of wage-penalty decreases if the profession remains the same in transition from entrepreneurship to wage-employment.
Introduction. The concept of health-related quality of life as a key factor in patient-doctor interactions is an important basis for making managerial and medical decisions in many foreign health systems. In Russia, the concept of health-related quality of life is in its infancy: it is required the theoretical, methodological and scientific-practical foundations development.
Aims and objectives. The aim of this study is to assess the health- related quality of life for Russian population based on the EQ–5D questionnaire and to form the average health indicators.
Material and methods. The survey was conducted on a sample of 1,602 people aged 18 to 92 years. The final sample is representative for the country and federal districts. We use using the Russian-language version of the EQ–5D questionnaire which allows us to receive two indicators for each respondent – health profile and index based on visual analog scale EQ–VAS.
Results. The study revealed the following results: (1) the majority of the respondents among all ages have the problems in EQ-5D dimension “anxiety/depression”; (2) women tend to detect moderate problems in all dimensions more often than men; (3) EQ–5D descriptive results are decreased in all components with the respondents age; (4) the most infrequent population’s problems among the all dimensions are found in the "self-care" dimension; (5) the age changes related to a decrease of EQ–VAS are associated with the general tendency of a decrease in the dimensions.
Discussion. To obtain the most accurate and objective assessments from the EQ–5D, it is necessary to conduct a study in accordance with established international protocols, compare the estimates with the average population indices and adhere to a thorough research design.
Conclusion. The study reveals the possibilities of using EQ–5D and the first health-related quality of life Russian population indicators that can be used as a basis for comparing between different population groups and patients.
Introduction. The concept of health-related quality of life as a key factor in patient-doctor interactions is an important basis for making managerial and medical decisions in many foreign health systems. In Russia, the concept of health-related quality of life is in its infancy: it is required the theoretical, methodological and scientific-practical foundations development.
Aims and objectives. The aim of this study is to assess the health- related quality of life for Russian population based on the EQ–5D questionnaire and to form the average health indicators.
Material and methods. The survey was conducted on a sample of 1,602 people aged 18 to 92 years. The final sample is representative for the country and federal districts. We use using the Russian-language version of the EQ–5D questionnaire which allows us to receive two indicators for each respondent – health profile and index based on visual analog scale EQ–VAS.
Results. The study revealed the following results: (1) the majority of the respondents among all ages have the problems in EQ-5D dimension “anxiety/depression”; (2) women tend to detect moderate problems in all dimensions more often than men; (3) EQ–5D descriptive results are decreased in all components with the respondents age; (4) the most infrequent population’s problems among the all dimensions are found in the "self-care" dimension; (5) the age changes related to a decrease of EQ–VAS are associated with the general tendency of a decrease in the dimensions.
Discussion. To obtain the most accurate and objective assessments from the EQ–5D, it is necessary to conduct a study in accordance with established international protocols, compare the estimates with the average population indices and adhere to a thorough research design.
Conclusion. The study reveals the possibilities of using EQ–5D and the first health-related quality of life Russian population indicators that can be used as a basis for comparing between different population groups and patients.
This paper contributes to the discussion on possibilities to reveal ex post moral hazard in the Russian market for private health insurance. By ‘ex post’ we mean the period when a health insurance contract is valid. Moral hazard implies risky behavior of a respondent that increases health care utilization and/or decreases their incentives to prevent an insured event. In our empirical estimates, we explore the uniqueness of the Russian data that consists in the fact that many medical organizations provide services to respondents insured by enterprises. Adverse selection is hardly possible among such respondents. It gives us the possibility to observe ex post moral hazard, simply controlling for ex ante moral hazard by the use of individual fixed effects in panel data models. We use the RLMS-HSE data (2000–2015) for empirical estimates. We consider doctor visits, tobacco and alcohol consumption, physical exercises, and self-assessed health (SAH) as moral hazard indicators, estimating ordered choice regression models for each of the dependent variables mentioned above. To avoid inconsistency in estimates of parameters caused by the incidental parameter problem, we use the Blow-Up and Cluster (BUC) estimator. The results show a statistically significant increase in frequency of visits to the doctor and in alcohol consumption, as well as a decrease in SAH during the period of insurance. These results could be useful for insurance companies and could be accounted for in contracts for private health insurance.
This chapter addresses the interaction between the authorities and non-state actors in HIV prevention among drug users. Based on case studies in Samara and St. Petersburg, it looks into the mix of vertical structures of governance (dominated by health authorities, including the regional AIDS centers, and drug control authorities) and aspects of network governance where both state and non-state actors collaborate on policy-making and implementation. The chapter concludes that the issue is largely left in a void outside the direct responsibility and attention of state agencies and governance networks. It is approached mainly by actors within the non-governmental sector which, for their part, do not have the resources or necessary authority to make the required policy impact.
The work is devoted to the analysis of entrepreneurial activities. The main purpose of paper is to better understand the institutional impact on entrepreneurship and business survival. Were used data from GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) for 98 countries throughout 1999-2016 as dependent variables such as total entrepreneurial activity (TEA), established business ownership (EBO), and early-stage business survival rate (EBO/TEA). As explanatory variables characterizing institutional environment we used the rule of law and control of corruption.The results show positive relationships between rule of law and early-stage business survival, and between control of corruption and early-stage business survival rate. Also the rule of law positively influence on level EBO. However, there was no evidence that rule of law and control of corruption are important for the total entrepreneurial activity.
The world heroin market today commands an estimated annual market value of US$55 billion and affects around 12 million people. After a short description of the current state of the world heroin market and its basic properties—maturity, segmentation, and elasticity—this chapter briefly outlines the history of heroin consumption and its regulation over the last 150 years. Historically, most interventions in the heroin market sought to curb its availability and consumption by using either vinegar (incarcerating drug sellers and users) or honey (diverting addicts to treatment). However, there is no conclusive evidence that either way is effective in reducing the number of heroin users and addicts; to a large extent, drugs become popular or fall out of fashion due to the natural history of epidemics and other social and cultural factors. Thus, the traditional drug policy goal of addressing the root cause—reducing the number of heroin users—is largely misplaced. Currently, many scholars conceive of “harm reduction” as an overarching goal of drug policy. As health-oriented harm reduction does not aim to curtail drug use per se but reduce some of its harmful consequences, criminological harm reduction applied to drug-related crime does not aim to prevent violation of drug laws per se but rather to prevent certain harmful consequences of drug use and sales. We then use the influential Goldstein model of drug-related crime to show how harm reduction principles can be applied to heroin-related drug crime.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union experienced an unanticipated stagnation in the process of mortality reduction that was accelerating in the west. This was followed by even starker fluctuations and overall declines in life expectancy during the 1980s and 1990s. We identify statistically the extent to which, since the 1990s, the countries of the post-communist region have converged as a group towards other regional or cross-regional geopolitical blocks, or whether there are now multiple steady-states (‘convergence clubs’) emerging among these countries. We apply a complex convergence club methodology, including a recursive analysis, to data on 30 OECD countries (including 11 post-communist countries) drawn from the Human Mortality Database and spanning the period 1959–2010. We find that, rather than converging uniformly on western life expectancy levels, the post-communist countries have diverged into multiple clubs, with the lowest seemingly stuck in low-level equilibria, while the best performers (e.g. Czech Republic) show signs of catching-up with the leading OECD countries. As the post-communist period has progressed, the group of transition countries themselves has become more heterogeneous and it is noticeable that distinctive gender and age patterns have emerged. We are the first to employ an empirical convergence club methodology to help understand the complex long-run patterns of life expectancy within the post-communist region, one of very few papers to situate such an analysis in the context of the OECD countries, and one of relatively few to interpret the dynamics over the long-term.
