Top 14 HSE’s Most Interesting Research in 2014
Why are Russians unhappy; who serves the dictators; how to reform control and supervision;Trade versus wars; Russia’s new citizens; what do Russian and Chinese banks have in common; why analysts don’t predict recession; the provincial social environment and physical isolation of rural settlements: the most interesting research by HSE in 2014. According to Opec.ru.
8.9%
is the share of innovative products in total sales made by industrial enterprises.
Belief in Life after Death Affects Suicide Rates
Followers of older, more established religions are less likely to commit suicide than adepts of newer faiths. Factors influencing the risk of suicide include a feeling of isolation from the majority and a belief in life after death, according to a study by Eduard Ponarin, Director of the HSE's Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSR) in St. Petersburg, and Vassily Usenko, M.D., Ph.D., from Dnipropetrovsk.
Alcohol Use Will Lead the Country to Colonial Dependence
Most research into social change limits itself to social factors causing change. However, other factors, such as natural disasters, climate and geographical peculiarities of the particular place, or infectious diseases also have a significant impact on societal evolution.
Universities Fall into Decay Because of Opposition to Changes
Universities decline not only due to a lack of money, enrollment of weak students, lack of ties with professional communities, and brain drain. Conservatism of their administration, lecturers and scholars is also an obstacle to the life-saving ‘reset’ of universities, Isak Froumin, Academic Supervisor of the HSE Institute of Education, and Mikhail Lisyutkin, Junior Research Fellow at this Institute, say in their paper ‘The Phenomenon of Degrading Universities in Russia. Stating the Problem’.
Russians Prefer to Donate Directly
In the past year, 57% of adult Russians have donated money to charity or to strangers in need. Health, religion, disaster relief, and orphanages were the most popular causes, according to Irina Mersiyanova, Director of the Centre for Studies of Civil Society and Non-Profit Sector, and rina Korneyeva, researcher with the same Centre.
37%
of customers, when choosing an online store, first and foremost pay attention to the fact that the price of goods there is lower than that charged by competitors.
Host Country Affects Migrants’ Values
The values of migrants in Europe are more affected by their host country than by the country where the migrants were born and raised. In other words, the sociocultural environment migrants live in changes their value systems, Maksim Rudnev, a Senior Research Fellow in HSE’s Laboratory for Comparative Studies in Mass Consciousness, said in the study ‘Value Adaptation among Intra-European Migrants. The Role of Country of Birth and Country of Residence’.
190
is the average number of litres of water a person living in Russia uses each day. Ten years ago, average daily water consumption was 300-380 liters.