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Aleksei Smirnov, Assistant Professor, HSE University Faculty of Economic Sciences, and Egor Starkov, Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen, have constructed a mathematical model that explains why it is advantageous for sellers not to delete negative reviews of their products. A study detailing this conclusion has been accepted for publication in The American Economic Journal: Microeconomics.

Social class does not strongly influence the kind of alcohol Russians drink. Gender, age, education and place of residence are more important. For example, young people prefer beer, wines are primarily popular among women, and ‘moonshine in combination with other drinks’ are mainly consumed by the older age groups. This was the conclusion reached by HSE University researchers.

Why get a second Master’s degree? How difficult is it to switch from public administration to studying business and finance? Is it possible to combine work and study? We talked with Vincent Kersuzan, a French graduate of HSE’s Master of International Business, about these and other questions.

In early December, Teach for HSE, a programme aimed at helping HSE instructors expand their teaching methods and skills, held a series of master classes on how to integrate online games into one’s teaching. The master class was led by winners of the spring competition held by the Fund for Educational Innovation, and it was open to instructors of all HSE campuses.

Among the wide range of issues considered at the VII global conference on new educational technologies, EdCrunch On Demand, two topics were highlighted: the development of the education system during the pandemic and the further improvement of the competitiveness of Russian higher education. Conference participants concluded that the future of education lies in a combination of online and offline studies, that it is necessary to invest in different types of universities, and that universities will have to compete with start-ups and large corporations.

An applied research project being carried out by the HSE Laboratory for Economics of Climate Change uses the example of the Chechen Republic and the mountainous areas of Krasnodar Krai to create a model of climate risk evaluation and management for Russian regions. Laboratory heads Igor Makarov and Ilya Stepanov talk about the threats presented by global climate change, about whether the pandemic will slow it down, and why a multifaceted approach is essential.

Researchers at HSE and Lomonosov Moscow State University analyzed data on Russians’ movements during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their analysis showed that residents of lower-income municipalities self-isolated less compared to residents of higher-income cities. The findings were published in the journal Environment and Planning A.

On the one hand, the transition to online learning has brought new opportunities. On the other, it has raised several critical questions that are essential for evidence-based education. The pandemic has only made these issues all the more acute. The problems of online education were discussed at the recent eSTARS conference, which was organized by HSE University together with Coursera. Dmitry Abbakumov, Head of the HSE Centre for Computational Educational Sciences, shared his perspective on the matter.