Gender and time allocation differences in Taganrog, Russia

Data from a time-use survey made in 1997 and 1998 for the city of Taganrog, Russia, is used to analyse the socio-economic determinants of allocation of time and the gender division of housework among mar-ried/cohabiting couples. The main objective of this essay is to identify and assess the impact of a range of socio-economic factors expected to influence the gender division of labour and the time devoted to household activi-ties. The reasons why men and women allocate time differently may be ascribed to efficiency aspects, relative bargaining power, normative and/or discriminatory factors. The results of our estimations suggest that variables such as having children (age 0-12), household income and share of labour income affect the time women spend on housework to a larger extent than men. Furthermore, male education seems to affect both men and women, whereas the education of women has little importance. Thus it seems probable that efficiency factors alone do not suffice to explain the gender differences in time allocation. Our results are to a large extent in line with pre-vious research and do not indicate that Russia differs from Western experience more than Western countries differ among themselves. Gender differences in time allocation show the same pattern over countries and regions even if societies may differ in many other aspects.Time allocation, housework, gender, transition, Russia

Essays on transition

Transition Economics focuses on the transformation of a socialist economic system to market economy, which is of interest both because of its policy relevance and its importance to economic theory. As transition was one of the most important economic events of the last century, the study of Transition Economy may help us to understand the difficulties, surprises, and obstacles when a society undergoes profound change. Moreover, it may develop our knowledge of the capitalist economic system and its institutions. The dissertation consists of two different topics within Transition Economics. The first three papers, based on three different data sets, focus on various aspects of the Russian labour market. Theses papers include analyses about the ways people search for work, how unemployment duration is affected by different characteristics, but also how people divide the time outside the paid labour market. This may provide new insights on the Russian labour market, and hopefully also deepen our understanding of labour markets in general. The fourth paper, based on a fourth data set, takes a macro perspective and is concerned with transition and terrorism. It has been claimed that with new democracies, an increased risk of terrorism follows. Therefore, in the final paper, the potential connection between terrorism and transitional progress is analysed