News
From east to west: A paper curtain in Swedish foreign news coverage?
08 February 2022
How much a country is talked about in the media can determine its place in the public debate. In this brief, SITE researchers Maiting Zhuang and Svante Str枚mberg study the amount of news coverage devoted to European countries in the Swedish press. They document a systematic difference between Western and Eastern Europe and explore underlying factors that could be important in explaining this East-West divide.
Paradise leaked: An analysis of offshore data leaks
01 February 2022
In recent years, there have been several high-profile leaks of documents related to the offshore financial industry, such as the Pandora Papers released last year. Some of the data contained in the leaked documents have now been made public. In this brief, SITE researchers Jonathan Lehne and Maiting Zhuang discuss the advantages and pitfalls of using these data for economic analysis. They show that despite some caveats, there are patterns in these data that can shed light on a secretive industry.
What does the gas crisis reveal about European energy security?
25 January 2022
The recent record-high gas prices have triggered legitimate concerns regarding the EU鈥檚 energy security, especially with dependence on natural gas from Russia. This brief discusses the historical and current risks associated with Russian gas imports. SITE researchers Chlo茅 Le Coq and Elena Paltseva argue that decreasing the reliance on Russian gas may not be feasible in the short-to-mid-run, especially with the EU鈥檚 goals of green transition and the electrification of the economy. To ensure the security of natural gas supply from Russia, the EU has to adopt the (long-proclaimed) coordinated energy policy strategy.
How will climate change and the need for energy transformation affect environmental policy in Eastern Europe?
10 January 2022
The need for urgent climate action and energy transformation away from fossil fuels is widely acknowledged. Yet, current country plans for emission reductions do not reach the requirements to contain global warming under 2掳C. What is worse, there is even reasonable doubt about the commitment to said plans given recent history and existing future investment plans into fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure development. This policy brief shortly summarizes the presentations and discussions at the SITE Development Day Conference, held on December 8, 2021, focusing on climate change policies and the challenge of a green energy transition in Eastern Europe.
From Russia with love?
22 December 2021
Policy brief: Some recently discovered money laundering schemes have funnelled large amounts of illegal money from former soviet states through European banks. This note briefly describes the evolution of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regime for financial institutions, the introduction of which was concurrent with the post-soviet transition and the connected illegal flows of funds. It discusses the effectiveness of the current AML regime 鈥 and its ability to detect and seize illegal funds. The brief also highlights some of its deficiencies as well as lack of compliance with its prescriptions. It proceeds to stress that after judging the current framework insufficient, the US recently introduced whistleblower rewards for AML-infringements. Europe might want to follow their lead if it really aims at limiting money laundering.
New insights concerning the 1970 nobel prize in literature to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
15 November 2021
Policy brief: The recently declassified proceedings of the Swedish Academy shed new light on why it awarded Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn the literature prize in 1970. His novels reflected unique experiences of many prisoners. The Academy characterized his work as a renewal of the great Russian literary tradition. However...
The COVID-19 pandemic effects on our well-being
20 September 2021
Policy brief: This brief summarizes the insights shared in the online workshop 鈥淒imensions of Well-being鈥, where participants presented and discussed their latest research relating to the dimensions of well-being. The two-day workshop was organized by the 海角社区下载 Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) as part of the Forum for Research on Gender Economics (FROGEE) and took place on 28-29 June, 2021.
IMF鈥檚 new SDR allocation鈥擶hy Belarus is 鈥淕etting money from the fund鈥
09 September 2021
Policy brief: Why is the IMF sending $1bn to Belarus as the country is falling deeper into repression and authoritarianism? The answer might not be what you expect.
Green concerns and salience of environmental issues in Eastern Europe
31 August 2021
Policy brief: Changes in individual behavior are an essential component of the planet鈥檚 effort to reduce carbon emissions. But such changes would not be possible without individuals acknowledging the threat of anthropogenic climate change. This brief discusses the climate change risk perceptions across Europe.
Vaccination progress and the opening up of economies
11 August 2021
Policy brief: In this brief, we report on the FREE network webinar on the state of vaccinations and the challenges ahead for opening up economies while containing the pandemic, held on June 22, 2021.