HSE Perm Student Presents Research at International Forum

Anastasia Zamorina, fourth-year Economics student  presented her report at the Warsaw Regional Forum 2015 ‘Territorial Uncertainty and Vulnerability as a Challenge for Urban and Regional Policy’.

Forum 2015 ‘Territorial Uncertainty and Vulnerability as a Challenge for Urban and Regional Policy’.

Over 100 scholars and researchers from different countries took part in the event. The participants discussed the vulnerability of territories, and economic, institutional and geopolitical threats at different levels.

Anastasia Zamorina presented the report ‘Spatial Concentration of Industry in Europe: Evidence for Germany’. Her research is based on the data provided by 3477 German companies (83 cities) and 9 industry sectors between 2007 and 2014.

In the report Anastasia analyzed the impact of agglomeration effects on a variety of factors, including the quality of labor resources at companies. The results showed that localization effects have a positive impact on the number of employees, while the urbanization has a negative impact. In addition, the number of employees largely depends on the region and industry: the larger the region and its population, the greater the impact of agglomeration effects.

Anastasia shared her impressions of the event:

‘It was my first conference and it was international. Anna Bykova, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Economics and my academic supervisor recommended me to take part in the conference.

I have been studying the assessment of the impact of agglomeration effects since 2013. I started studying this topic as part of my term paper, and then I carried on with my research at the Humboldt University summer school. We studied regional development planning, which helped me to obtain the necessary knowledge for my research. I plan to develop this theme in my thesis.

Researchers from Warsaw, Poland, Italy, and Slovenia took part in the conference. There were mostly professors, scientists with PhD degrees, I was the only student. It was very useful for me to get acquainted with their works and to gain experience. The majority of works are dedicated to geopolitics. After my presentation the participants made comments and asked me questions that helped me to develop the research.

During the forum I met Simona Epasto, Professor at the University of Macerata. She invited me to a conference on economics and business in Italy and suggested writing a joint paper. The conference will be held on November 30 in Rome, and if I can't go, she will present our work. We haven't quite decided on the topic: we will either assess agglomeration effects based on Italian data or we'll pick a topic related to corporate finance.

I am very glad that I participated in this conference; it was useful experience for my professional and personal development. At the beginning of 2016 my report will be published in several international journals.’