The aim of Djankov’s lecture was to present to EUSP students and professors the research directions of the recently formed Laboratory of Economic History (HSE, NES), which he currently leads.
Djankov directed students’ attention to the reasons that make Russia’s economic history such a promising area for study: its rich imperial past, ethnic and cultural diversity, a plurality of experiments throughout the country’s history (such as Stolypin’s agrarian reforms in 1906, the October Revolution, the NEP years) — all of which give historians and economists a wide range of possibilities for comparative analysis. He also observed that while the field of economic history is represented almost exclusively by historians, it would be logical to include there also economists in light of contemporary developments in economic theory.
One example Djankov gave was a study of the impact of Stalin-era deportations on trust (Roman Levkin, Duke University). In the course of a statistical study of deportation data taken from the 1991 referendum on the future of the Soviet Union and a 2007 survey on trust in the President of the Russian Federation, an inverse relationship was found between the number of people deported and the share of votes in favor of preserving the USSR (in regional areas, with all other factors being equal, 1% more deportations occurred and there were 0.75% fewer votes for the preservation of the Soviet Union). There was also an inverse relationship between the number of people deported and the percentage of citizens expressing faith in the president of the Russian Federation.
Djankov also spoke about several other case studies. One, for example, was about the relationship between the positioning of past GULAG camps near certain regional areas, and the share of votes cast for the Communist Party in the 1996 elections (Natalya Kapelko, Yandex; Andrei Markevich, NES, head of the Laboratory). It turned out that residents of the regions closest to the camps were less inclined to support the Communist Party at election time.
In general, the October 10th is the first of several joint events that will be organized by the European University and NES this fall and aimed at their future collaboration.
Alena Skolkova
