iCare 2016: Results and Plans

On September 26-27, 2016, the International Conference on Applied Research in Economics (iCare) was held at one of the HSE’s partner universities — the Essex Business School (University of Essex, Colchester).

HSE Perm at iCare

Dmitriy Potapov, Associate Professor at the School of Economics and Finance, and Evgeniy Ozhegov, Senior lecturer at the School of Economics and Finance, presented a report on ‘Individuals versus couples in their choices of differentiated good: preliminary evidence from the performing arts industry’ at the session on ‘Applied industrial organization’.
The authors studied the difference in the behavior of theatergoers when they visit theatres alone or with a companion. The results showed that the main differences are found in the price elasticity and the assessment of the quality of seats in the audience hall. Moreover, couples can be characterized by the elements of demonstrative behavior. During a discussion with the conference participants the authors got some valuable feedback for further development of the project.

At the section ‘Health and Well-being’ Dmitriy Potapov presented another paper co-authored by Irina Shafranskaya, Head of the School of Management,  and Anastasiya Bozhya-Volya, Associate Professor School of Management, ‘Happiness and the city: an empirical study of the interaction between subjective well-being and city satisfaction’. Using structural models based on a sample survey of Perm residents, the authors studied the relationship between satisfaction with various city services and satisfaction with the city as a whole, considering the subjective perception of the quality of life and personal happiness. The results could serve as a basis for prioritizing policy at the municipal level. The article was also published in the international journal ‘Place management and development’.

Svetlana Suslova, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Private-Public Interactions, spoke on ‘Public Procurement of Social Services in Russia Following New Procurement Legislation’. In her project Suslova presented the results of a comparative analysis of the participation of Russian non-profit organizations in public procurement of social services before and after the introduction of a new law on public procurement. The discussion after the presentation helped to determine possible areas for developing  this project.

Professor Paola Valbonesi, Head of the working group on a project on public-private interaction, presented the results of their joint research on ‘Small and Medium Enterprises' preferential treatment in Russian e-auction for public procurement’, which has been carried out by Elena Shadrina, Leading Research Fellow at the Centre for Private-Public Interactions, and Ekaterina Oparina, Research Assistant of the Centre. The project, using information from a database of auctions in Russia, analyses the effectiveness of the support of small and medium businesses in the Russian system of public procurement.

Elizaveta Smirnova, Associate Professor at the School of Foreign Languages, presented research on ‘Peer effects: a case study of English language learning in Russian university’ co-authored by Marina Sheina, Senior Lecturer at the School of Economics and Finance.

The project was dedicated to the effects of coeducation in student groups at HSE Perm emerging in the process of learning English.

Dmitriy Potapov on the iCare conference

‘The title of the International Conference on Applied Research in Economics (abbreviated to iCare) reflects the basic idea of the conference - the participants discuss academic research that involves a wide range of applied economic issues with the potential to make our life better. We stress the fact that academic economists should not only promote the cutting edge of science, but also answer the question about how the results of the study can affect social life, and to whom they may be useful.

This year’s conference covered various areas of applied economics: from empirical industrial organization and public economics to the banks, finance and behavioral economics. The variety of topics can be seen in the reports of the conference key speakers. Professor Michael Keane spoke on the labor economy in ‘The effects of taxation on Labour Supply and Human Capital’, Professor Carol Osler presented an article on the financial markets (‘Dealer Trading at the Fix’), and Michael Ehrmann gave a talk on the policy and role of Central banks in the economy (‘Necessity as the mother of invention: monetary policy after the crisis’). As for the reports presented at the sessions, the project ‘The Causal Efect of Serving in Army on Health: Evidence from Regression Kink Design and Russian Data’ by Evgeny Yakovlev from NES seemed particularly interesting to me. In his report Yakovlev quantifies the negative impact of military service on the health of male population in Russia.

The conference was planned to be international. It was important for us to discuss not only the Russian academic agenda, and this decision affected the geography of participation. We decided to hold the conference at the University of Essex for two reasons: we wanted to get some new experience and understanding of the relevance of the conference without worrying about the venue, and secondly, to strengthen the conference brand and to demonstrate to our future potential participants the high level of the event and the long-term intentions of the organizers. We are very grateful to our colleagues from Essex for their willingness to host the conference this year, especially to Professor Neil Kellard, Head of the Programme Committee, Head of the Finance Group at the Essex Business School and Dmitri Vinogradov, Head of the organizing Committee and Lecturer at the Essex Business School.’

iCare-2017

Dmitriy Potapov notes that the organization of a successful conference should start a year before the event, as the schedules of the world's leading scholars invited as key speakers are planned a year in advance. The fifth iCare will be held in Perm in September 2017. The overall format will not change, but there will be a number of accompanying events that are now being discussed with the members of the Programme Committee.