Stalin and the Origins of Mistrust

We examine current differences in trust levels within the countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) and trace their origins back to the system of forced labor during Stalin, which was marked by high incarceration rates and harsh punishments. We explore whether those exposed to knowledge about the repressions became less trusting and transferred this social norm to future generations and communities. We argue that political repressions were more salient and visible to local communities living near forced labor camps (gulags), which symbolized the harshness of Stalin's regime. Combining contemporary survey data with the geolocation of forced labor camps, we find that living near former gulags lowers present-day social trust and civic engagement. These effects are independent of living near places where Stalin's victims were arrested. Moreover, they are above and beyond any experiences with war or civil conflict that the extant literature documents, indicating that the gulag system's repressiveness is a crucial trigger of the mistrust culture within the FSU countries today. As such, we furnish novel evidence on how past political repression matters for current socioeconomic outcomes. © 2022 The Author(s).All three coauthors have contributed equally. This paper initially appeared as GLO Discussion Paper 344 and IZA Discussion Paper 12326 and should be replaced by the current version, which is substantively new. The authors thank Michaela Bia, Katrin Boeckh, Shuai Chen, Natalia Danzer, Filipe dos Reis, Paul Elhorst, Richard Frensch, Ira Gang, Kseniia Gatskova, Scott Gehlbach, Guido Hausmann, Herman Hoen, Stepan Jurajda, Morgan Kelly, Krisztina Kis-Katos, Mariko Klasing, Katerina Kralova, Lukas Linsi, Anthony Lepinteur, Anastasiya Lisina, Saliha Metinsoy, Petros Milionis, Javier Olivera, Elizaveta Pronkina, Martin Fernandez Sanchez, Thomas Siedler, Gerhard Toews, Felipe Valencia, Pierre-Louis Vezina, Hans-Joachim Voth, and participants in the 2021 Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) paper session ‘‘The Long Shadow of Communism,” the 2021 European Society for Population Economics (ESPE) conference, 2021 Armenian Economic Association (ArmEA) conference, 2021 European Public Choice Society (EPCS) conference, 2021 WEast Berlin Conference, as well as participants at research seminars at LISER, UWE Bristol, the Free University Berlin, University of Groningen, IOS Regensburg, and Corvinus University for useful comments and suggestions. We are grateful to Martien Scheepens and the Geodienst at the University of Groningen (and especially to Hannah ter Steege and Wouter Wijbrands) for help with mapping. Furthermore, we thank Alonso Gonzales for digitizing historical railroads maps, and Erkinai Derkenbaeva for excellent research assistance with collecting data on altitudes and the location of current prisons. We are thankful to John S. Huffstot for copy-editing and proofreading. All errors are our own. Vladimir Otrachshenko acknowledges the funding by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) from funds of Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ), SDGnexus Network (Grant No. 57526248), program ‘‘exceed – Hochschulexzellenz in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit.

Waxing power, waning pollution: The effect of COVID-19 on Russian environmental policymaking

Like most countries globally, COVID-19 continues to have a demonstrable health, economic, and environmental impact on Russia. The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible ramifications for environmental quality in Russia during and following the coronavirus pandemic. Our work builds on the framework of Elinor Ostrom, as we argue that the pandemic and subsequent lockdown in Russia has highlighted the need for a more polycentric, de-centralized approach to environmental protection. We provide evidence for this point using a novel econometric strategy: given the tight centralization of environmental policymaking, we proxy for de facto decentralization using the amount of influence a regional governor has at the federal level. Using timely data on pollution in major Russian cities both before and during the pandemic, we employ an instrumental variable analysis which shows that pollution in a particular Russian region is negatively related to the amount of influence a Russian governor has at the federal level. Thus, the more powerful a governor is in their ability to set their own course, the better results they have in environmental quality. We conclude that Russia's environmental policy needs a fundamental rethink – and extensive decentralization – in a post-COVID-19 world. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.he authors are grateful to Olivier Petit, two anonymous referees, and participants at the ECPR Annual Conference for helpful comments and suggestions. The authors also thank Plume Labs, Igor Loshchitc, and Gleb Polushin for their help with data collection. Vladimir Otrachshenko acknowledges the funding by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) from funds of Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ), SDGnexus Network (Grant No. 57526248 ), program “exceed - Hochschulexzellenz in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit”

Emigration, remittances, and the subjective well-being of those staying behind

© 2018, The Author(s). We offer the first global perspective on the well-being consequences of emigration for those staying behind using several subjective well-being measures (evaluations of best possible life, positive affect, stress, and depression). Using the Gallup World Poll data for 114 countries during 2009–2011, we find that having family members abroad is associated with greater evaluative well-being and positive affect, and receiving remittances is linked with further increases in evaluative well-being, especially in poorer contexts—both across and within countries. We also document that having household members abroad is linked with increased stress and depression, which are not offset by remittances. The out-migration of family members appears less traumatic in countries where migration is more common, indicating that people in such contexts might be able to cope better with separation. Overall, subjective well-being measures, which reflect both material and non-material aspects of life, furnish additional insights and a well-rounded picture of the consequences of emigration on migrant family members staying behind relative to standard outcomes employed in the literature, such as the left-behind’s consumption, income, or labor market outcomes

Life (dis)satisfaction and the decision to migrate: evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

This paper provides the first evidence regarding the impact of life satisfaction on the individual intention to migrate. The impact of individual characteristics and country macroeconomic variables on the decision to migrate is analyzed in one framework. Differently from other studies, we allow for life satisfaction to serve as a mediator between macroeconomic variables and the intention to migrate. Using the Eurobarometer Survey for 27 Central Eastern (CEE) and Western European (non-CEE) countries, we test the predictions of our theoretical model and …find that dissatisfi…ed with life, people have a higher intention to migrate. The macroeconomic conditions have an effect on the intention to migrate indirectly through life satisfaction. At all levels of life satisfaction, unemployed, middle-aged individuals with a low or average income from urban areas at all levels of education are found to have higher intentions to migrate from CEE countries than from non-CEE countries

Life (dis)satisfaction and the decision to migrate: evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

This paper provides the first evidence regarding the impact of life satisfaction on the individual intention to migrate. The impact of individual characteristics and country macroeconomic variables on the decision to migrate is analyzed in one framework. Differently from other studies, we allow for life satisfaction to serve as a mediator between macroeconomic variables and the intention to migrate. Using the Eurobarometer Survey for 27 Central Eastern (CEE) and Western European (non-CEE) countries, we test the predictions of our theoretical model and …find that dissatisfi…ed with life, people have a higher intention to migrate. The macroeconomic conditions have an effect on the intention to migrate indirectly through life satisfaction. At all levels of life satisfaction, unemployed, middle-aged individuals with a low or average income from urban areas at all levels of education are found to have higher intentions to migrate from CEE countries than from non-CEE countries

Talking about climate change in Russia

The topic of this issue is Climate Change and Russia. Firstly, Vladimir Otrachshenko and Olga Popova point out that Russia is a key partner in global efforts on mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change, but are skeptical whether the Russian population and the Russian economy can adapt to the steadily increasing influence of global warming. Secondly, Marianna Poberezhskaya discusses climate change discourse in Russia. She observes that climate change discourse at the national level has been limited and delayed.Diese Ausgabe des RAD beschäftigt sich mit dem Klimawandel und Russland. Zunächst zeigen Vladimir Otrachshenko und Olga Popova auf, dass Russland ein Kernpartner im Rahmen der globalen Bemühungen zur Minderung der negativen Auswirkungen des Klimawandels ist. Allerdings sind sie skeptisch, ob die russische Bevölkerung und die russische Wirtschaft sich an die stetig wachsenden Einflüsse des Klimawandels anpassen können. Anschliessend diskutiert Marianna Poberezhskaya den politischen Diskurs zum Klimawandel in Russland. Sie hält fest, dass dieser auf nationaler Ebene lediglich begrenzt und verzögert stattfindet.ISSN:1863-042

Can Bribery Buy Health? Evidence from Post-Cmmunist Countries

Corruption is pervasive, but we know little about its effects on individual lives. Using individual-level data from 28 post-communist countries, we demonstrate that bribing for public services worsens self-assessed health. We account for endogeneity of bribery and show that bribing for any type of public service, not just for health services, has an adverse impact. We also find that bribery lowers the quality of services received. Moreover, there are potentially high indirect costs of bribery since, as we show, it comes at the expense of cutting food consumption. These findings suggest that corruption is a potentially important source behind the poor health outcomes in many developing countries. © 2021 Association for Comparative Economic Studies.We thank Steven Bond-Smith, Alan Duncan, Jan Feld, Silvia Salazar and the participants of BCEC Research Development Series 2019 for valuable comments. The authors gratefully acknowledge the research travel support under Australia–Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme (DAAD PPP Australia 2019 funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research ). Vladimir Otrachshenko acknowledges the funding by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) from funds of Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ), SDGnexus Network (Grant No. 57526248 ), program “exceed - Hochschulexzellenz in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit”