The second Ghent Russia Colloquium

Theme: Russia’s Political Economy Since 1992: Back to the Future?

Since 1992, Russia has changed face repeatedly. The socio-economic collapse of the transition period governed by the Washington consensus, the financial meltdown with the default of August 1998, the emergence of Vladimir Putin as the new power broker and Russia’s economic revival during this period, Putin’s personal evolution from an economic liberal to a conservative nationalist, the ensuing stagnation of the Russian economy, and the renewed political and economic tensions with the West, have provided a breath-taking socio-economic roller-coaster that left most observers deeply puzzled. The early 2000 prediction of Shleifer and Treissman that Russia was about to become a normal country has been refuted by reality. Therefore, academic research that helps us to understand in which direction Russia might be going in light of its recent history is strongly needed.

The purpose of the second Ghent colloquium is to bring together scholars and practitioners working in various disciplines to present their research on the political economy of Russia.

Programme

You can consult the full programme here.

Presentations

The slides of the different presentations are available, as well as some papers for which the authors gave consent to publish them online.

Panel 1: Banking and Financial Markets

• Christopher A. Hartwell (Bournemouth University): "Rational response or irrational fear? Financial markets and terrorism in Tsarist Russia"

Panel 2: Long lasting Effects of Transition

• William Pyle (Middlebury College): “Russians Impressionable Years: Values, Beliefs and Transition’s Legacy”

Panel 3: Energy

• Niels Smeets (KU Leuven): “Preserving Regime Stability during a Global Energy Transition: Neopatrimonial Explanations of Russia’s Renewable Energy Practices”

Panel 5: Institutions and Firms

• Carsten Sprenger (New Economic School): “CEO Characteristics, Political Connections and Company Performance”
• Irina Levina (Higher School of Economics): “Decentralization of Firms in a Country with Weak Institutions: Evidence from Russia”
• David Szakonyi (George Washington University): “Indecent Disclosures: Anti-Corruption Campaigns and Political Selection”

Panel 6: Institutional Development in Russia

• Aleksandra Peeva (Humboldt University of Berlin): "Did sanctions help Putin?"

Panel 7: Redistribution and Inequality

• Gerry Christopher (University of Oxford): “The impact of supplemental private health insurance on health-related behaviours and outcomes: new evidence from Russia”
• Ekaterina Borisova (Higher School of Economics): "Who to help? Trust and preferences over redistribution in Russia"

Panel 8: Institutions and the Public/Private Boundary

• Bram De Lange (Ghent University): “State-Owned Enterprises across Europe”
• Polina Petrusha (ITMO University): “Innovations in Russian Higher Education as Baseline to Modernization of Russian Economy”

Pictures

Pictures of the event are available on the photo gallery

Venue

Het Pand

Onderbergen 1

9000 Ghent, Belgium

More info about the first Ghent Russia colloquium