Entry to and Exit from Poverty in Russia: Evidence from Longitudinal Data

Long-term sustainability requires social stability and hence could be undermined by high poverty levels. Still more than twenty five million Russians have incomes that are lower than subsistence level. Effective policies to fight poverty are to be based on clear understanding of its determinants and are to distinguish between measures to prevent from slipping into poverty, and measures to get out of poverty for those who are poor. The study is the first attempt to investigate how entry to poverty and exit from poverty in Russia are shaped, and what are the determinants of the processes. We study entry and exit to poverty using survival analysis and utilizing the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) panel for 1994-2004. The study allows obtaining some important insights. In particular, it shows that the two processes have both symmetries and important asymmetries, with an example of one of the most interesting results being the asymmetry in the influence of economic periods. It turns out that economic growth lowers chances to slip into poverty but also reduces hazards from poverty. This implies that households in poverty in the era of economic upturn are those with serious problems and are to be paid special attention to.Poverty, Duration Analysis, Entry to Poverty, Exit from Poverty, Transition,RLMS

Mortality in Russia: Microanalysis

The paper studies determinants of Russian adult mortality controlling for individual and household heterogeneity. We utilize twelve rounds of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey spanning the period of 14 years to study determinants of adult mortality. Survival analysis is the main methodology employed. The results are original in several respects. We find empirical support to the importance of relative status measured in non-income terms in shaping mortality hazards while income-measured relative position is confirmed to be statistically insignificant. We find evidence on the influence of labor market behavior, and sectoral and occupational mobility in particular, on longevity. The health detrimental role of smoking is found to be comparable to the role of excess alcohol consumption which is novel in the Russian context where the influence of smoking is downplayed in comparison to the alcoholism. Finally, we find no micro evidence in support to the regional data result underlying Treisman (2008) political economy story.Mortality, Relative Deprivation, Survival Analysis, Transition, Russia

Poverty Is No Crime: Measuring Poverty in Russian Regions

Fighting poverty is on the top of Russia’s political agenda. The scope of poverty as well as the poverty profile is still an open question, however. The question is even more open with respect to the Russian regions. One could expect that being a heterogeneous country, Russia’s regional poverty profiles are also heterogeneous. We measure poverty in Russia’s regions using absolute poverty notion, official regional subsistence levels and consumption-based approach. We also draw regional poverty profiles by identifying the factors which influence poverty rates and poverty gaps. The exercise is based on NOBUS database – a nationally and regionally (for 46 regions) representative survey of 45000 households done in April-May 2003. We find that poverty rates vary significantly – up to threefold difference - across regions. The list of factors that influence poverty rate and poverty gap in regions are similar, with variation in relative weights of the factors. The former conforms with other studies on poverty in Russia that conclude that there are no major differences in determinants of transitory or persistent poverty. Some interesting insights in regional-specific patterns of poverty are found.poverty, Russian regions, poverty rate, poverty profile, NOBUS