Understanding and improving the economy is possible with truthful, relevant, and high-quality information.
Our economic research provides a clear, independent, and professional view of the public economy, digital economy, business economy and social economy, enterprise economy or national economy.
We rely on appropriate economic research methodology and design, in-depth data analysis, and provide clear results, conclusions, and recommendations to better reflect economic challenges, changes, and prospects.
About us
In-Economy Research (IER) is a non-profit research project that aims to contribute to a better understanding of the modern economy in its changes, challenges, opportunities, and developments.
IER aims to be a provider of high-quality economic research based on appropriate economic theories and methods, independent and in-depth empirical analysis, and clear presentation of results and recommendations. We conduct economic research on micro or macro-economic dynamics that affect the economies of individuals, businesses, and countries.
Our achievements include international research experience, understanding of research design, and presentation of results and conclusions to the academic and business community, the media, and at conferences.
Our strengths include everyday work in a competitive business environment with small and medium entrepreneurs, which allows us to be immersed in and solve real-world economic issues. We regularly engage with stakeholders: consumers, startups, experts and regulators.
We focus on independent and insightful economic research that contribute to the improving economic policy and regulation, complementing academic research and research schools. Our economic research also contributes to solving business problems and achieving business growth. We aim to ensure that our recommendations are practical, actionable, evidence-based, and balanced. To achieve this, we rely on clearly formulating economic models and relevant economic analysis for stakeholders, which allows for informed decision-making for economic purposes.
We share the results and conclusions of our economic research in publications and reviews.
Key Research Areas
Digital Economy
ICT
Digital divide
Innovation
Digital skills
Users
Internet
Business Economy
Taxes
Smal and medium entreprises
Payrolls
Insurance contributions
E-commerce
Public Economy
Labour productivity
Healthcare
Personal finance
Public expenditure
Economic equity
Public policy
Market & Social Insurance
Social insurance
Pension insurance
Long-term care
Healthcare insurance
Social security
Financial behaviour
We focus on mentioned above key research areas.
Research & Analysis
We conduct economic research and economic projects. We are also interested in partnership as a subcontractor. We are open and welcome all relevant proposals.
Methodology and Design of Economic Research
Our economic research are based on appropriate theories, methodologies and literature reviews. We apple positive, normative, and political economy analysis. We believe that the theoretical design of the research allows us to fully reflect the research model and formulate right hypotheses. Pre- and post-analysis allows us to identify key economic issues that lead to the right research questions and research conclusions. We also apply state-of-the-art approaches and new trends in economic research.
Conducting Empirical Economic Research
We provide economic analysis for an assessment of the current and future changes. We apply Dara mining, collect primary data as well as secondary data sources for comprehensive data analysis. In data analysis, we process large data sets to identify and extract meaningful insights by taking into account concepts such as seasonality, cointegration, and data revisions. We apply quantitative, including spatial analysis, econometrics, statistics, and other methods. We check for risks of robustness, endogeneity, overfitting, etc.
Statistical Packages and Programming
We improve model building and economic analysis through automation using statistical packages SPSS, Stata, programs QGIS, programing Python, SQL. We also evaluate and recommend tools and technologies that enable effective data collection, analysis, and reporting.
Reports and Publications
Summarizing the main results of our economic research, we share the findings and conclusions in reports, presentations, overviews, etc. We translate our analytical findings into ideas and recommendations for stakeholders and users. We present and discuss our findings thought presentations, expert meetings, and conferences online and offline.
The advantages of electronic purchases (e-purchases) in the digital economy and its use during the Covid-19 pandemic determine the current and future demand for them. While research have largely concentrated on the influence of personal characteristics and attitudes towards e-purchases, we focus on their relationship with economic and digital indicators: income and Internet use, based on data during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. In this article, we assess the comparative impact of income and Internet use on e-purchases in the European Union countries in 2020–2022. Applying regression and cluster analyses, we find that the use of the Internet has the most significant impact on most e-purchases in terms of their characteristics and types. Income has a greater influence on e-purchases in the financial sector and on e-purchases of relatively significant amounts. We identify two cluster groups of countries based on e-purchases, income, and Internet use, with a more even, and potentially equal, distribution on the latter indicator. This study contributes to understanding of policymakers, researchers, and marketers of the comparative role of economic and digital effects on e-purchases, given their characteristics and types, both now and during restrictions similar to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Digital skills, integral to the functioning of the digital economy and information society, show temporal and spatial variations measured by various indicators. In this article, we assess the spatial and temporal evolution of digital skills under the influence of key factors and domains in the EU countries from 2015 to 2021. Applying spatial autocorrelation analysis, robust geographical heterogeneity and consistent spatial patterns in digital skills are outlined, resulting in two ‘high–high’ and ‘high–low’ clusters in the North and Center, and a ‘low–low’ cluster in the South. Using feature importance selection, key indicators within aggregate domains driving digital skills policy are identified. Spatial lag regression analysis highlights the significance of all domains, revealing spatial and spillover effects on digital skills, with the primary influence observed in the social sphere, technology and innovations, and demography domains. Although the ICT infrastructure domain is statistically more significant in our spatial model along with the economy and technology and innovations, its spillover effects appear relatively modest, indicating a corresponding degree of within-country localization. This study contributes to the understanding of the evolution of digital skills by revealing both spatial relationships and temporal dynamics and strengthening spatial digital policy measures in the EU. The spatial coherence of digital policies, the spatial network of technological and innovation centers in both ‘high–low’ clusters and cross-border locations, and improving the social, demographic, and economic profiles of citizens are critical among other measures to improve digital skills in EU countries.
Despite the cross-border availability of almost all goods and services online due to global Internet access, the domestic origin of sellers remains significant. This study examines the preferences for domestic versus cross-border goods and services in online purchases in the EU online market from 2020 to 2023. We use quantitative methods including ordinary least squares (OLS), decision trees, and spatial autocorrelation analysis. We find significant effects of currency, language(s), and Internet use on domestic online purchases, while cross-border online purchases are further influenced by prices and urbanization. Our analysis reveals patterns based on the origin of the seller: domestic, intra-EU, or non-EU seller. There is a strong preference for electronic goods and services, regardless of the seller’s origin, while physical goods show a decreasing preference from domestic to intra-EU and non-EU sellers. Limited geographical effects and spatial patterns in online retailing were found, with a trend towards domestic localization. These differences in e-commerce by seller origin are primarily driven by country-specific characteristics (language(s), currencies) rather than geographic distance. The variation in the purchase of goods and services also depends on their physical and electronic form, that is, digital ordering and/or digital delivery. The expansion of e-commerce and the importance of country-specific characteristics require the development of standards to measure these influences.
The dynamics of e-commerce as part of the EU economy demonstrates new trends that are of interest to entrepreneurs and companies. What types of online purchases were popular in the EU in 2021–2023? What kind of e-commerce dynamics are countries demonstrating? The answers to these and other questions in our overview.
One of the current issues on the agenda of most economic debates and assessments is the possibility of a recession in 2023 and in the short term until 2024. What factors, indicators can affect recession risks, what are their dynamics and what are the economic forecasts? This analytics is in our brief review.
Inflation in 2022 has become the most significant socio-economic indicator, which, in turn, has affected the incomes of citizens around the world. In this brief overview, we present our notes on some aspects of last year’s inflation.
In this article, we measure the relationship between various types of the Internet use, digital divide and the social capital of users. We use panel data from a Russian longitudinal monitoring survey for 2012-2018. Fixed effect logit model is applied. The results of the regression show that the purposes of using the Internet have different effects on the social capital of users. Higher educational attainment relates to Internet use for work. Also, stable employment depends on educational use of the Internet. Internet use for communication is an important predictor for almost all observed social outcomes, while culture-related Internet use is closely associated with improving the educational level of users. In addition, we control regression results with age groups that show a decrease in the positive effect of Internet use with age and small or no effect for seniors on stable employment and professional mobility. The study’s findings on use of the Internet and its impact on social capital contribute to understanding government policies, employers’ programs, and community efforts to manage the digital divide in a digital society.
One of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is the relationship between social distancing measures and increased use of the Internet, electronic services, and digital devices. How does digital inequality in the context of social distancing affect the COVID-19 pandemic? In this article, we assessed the impact of existing digital inequality as the cause of the changing number of cases of COVID-19 in the EU. We assessed the relationship between the increase in COVID-19 cases between the first and second waves in 2020 and the presence of digital inequality in Internet use and digital skills across sociodemographic factors: gender, age, education, generation, marital status, and place of residence. We applied the ordinary least squares method to data from the 2019 Eurobarometer survey, which reveals the digital maturity of EU citizens, and from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control in 2020, which tracks COVID-19 cases. We found that the strongest relationship between the number of COVID-19 cases and digital inequality is related to Internet use rather than digital skills. The digital divide by age, between generations, and the geographic digital divide in Internet use show a strong positive relationship with the changing incidence of COVID-19 cases. The gender digital gap shows a negative relationship for both Internet use and digital skills, indicating the social role of women in households in the pandemic, caring for children and the elderly. A negative relation was also found in digital inequality by marital status for digital skills, which reflects preferences regarding living alone during the pandemic. These findings prove the importance of universal access to the Internet for older people and those living in rural areas. The results can contribute to policies aimed at reducing digital inequalities in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The extension of remote forms of employment, education and communication during the Covid-19 pandemic was expected to bridge the digital divide in 2020. However, more digitally developed countries have shown a reduction of Internet use. This article examines the changes in Internet use in 2020 as the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic focused on cross-country digital development. We use a random effects regression model to assess the relationship between Internet use as an indicator of digital divide and digital development on the macro, business, infrastructural, and individual levels in EU countries. Panel data from Eurostat for 2014–2020 are applied. We found that more digitally developed EU countries, including Estonia, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway, show a higher relationship between Internet usage and digital performance than other EU countries. These countries saw a decrease in Internet use during 2020, which is contrary to the general trend of either increasing or unchanging Internet use in the case of social distancing restrictions and lockdowns. High digital dependence in more digitally developed countries, and in some other EU countries in the context of a pandemic as a crisis, has led to a reduction in Internet use due to the vulnerability of digitalized industries, enterprises, jobs and personal patterns that may identify the new challenge as inverted digital divide.
Despite the fact that remote services were successfully implemented in most European social and health systems before 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented development of health and social care services provided in this form. This paper compares the readiness of patients to use the digital solutions in healthcare systems implemented in EU countries, in response to the current pandemic situation. In the study, technological, health insurance, and demographic variables were selected on the basis of substantive criteria. Next, the linear ordering method was applied to make a ranking of the analyzed countries according to the level of patients' readiness to use digital healthcare services. The main findings show that the Netherlands and Ireland are characterized by the highest level of patients' readiness for using remote healthcare services. On the other hand, Romania and Bulgaria are among the countries with the lowest readiness. The study also made it possible to group European countries according to the level of patients' preparedness.
The purpose of the presented report is to identify foreign experience in organizing and financing long-term care (LTC) in countries where LTC has existed for a long time, which may be relevant for the development of LTC in Russia.
Taking into account the demographic trend of ageing and strengthening of digitalisation on employment, it is obvious that the financial imbalance of government obligations with financial revenues: insurance premiums, social taxes will continue in the future. One of the reserves for balancing the obligations of social insurance funds and reducing administrative costs is the improvement through the integration of administrative structures, the creation of unified centres for the provision of social services, and the widespread use of electronic forms of their provision. Criticism of the concept of social insurance, its lack of effectiveness in recent years is not always caused by global demographic problems or financial crises. In many respects, the inefficiency of social insurance is determined by the inefficiency of its management.
The report is devoted to platform employment, its distinctive features, as well as the benefits and risks it creates from the point of view of the population involved and the economy as a whole. Based on materials from international analytical reviews, scientific publications and court decisions in this area, the authors summarize the existing experience of defining and regulating platform employment, including in terms of the scope and mechanisms for providing platform workers with basic social guarantees. A special topic of the report was the analysis of in-depth interviews conducted in April-May 2021 to clarify the position of key public and private stakeholders on the regulation of platform employment in Russia.
The reduction of the digital divide due to the availability of the Internet and the improvement of skills is accompanied by reverse and resistance trends associated with the influence of socio-demographic and economic characteristics of users. In this paper, we estimate the volume and dynamics of the digital divide in access and use of the Internet in Russia by key social groups according to a longitudinal survey for 2008–2018. We found that along with the reducing of the digital divide, its gaps still remain. The greatest polarization is associated with the income, age, and type of residence of the respondents. The most vulnerable social groups on access to ICTs and Internet use are the low-income, the elderly, citizens with disabilities, and those living in rural areas. The reverse shifts in the digital divide were recorded mainly in relation to the Internet usage by age between the middle-age and youth and by gender. In addition, we pointed out the most resistance social groups to reduce the digital divide in the period under review, in particular, by income and type of residence of the respondents. The findings contribute to an understanding of the dynamics and social consequences of the digital divide and can be taken into account in social policy and measures.
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are one of the key factors for fundamental changes in industries. Along with the positively assessed impact of ICTs on labour productivity’s growth, there are concerns about possible industrial unemployment. The analysis of the relationship between ICTs, labour productivity and employment in inter-sectoral comparison in Russia shows heterogeneous effects depending on particular industries. Despite the substantial spread of ICTs in recent years, the findings indicate that their influence on labour productivity and employment is characterized rather by gradual changes and sustainability in certain industries.
Life insurance is one of the substitute investments for social protection at the micro level for individuals and households. Like state social insurance, life insurance mitigates the social risks of aging, unemployment, reduced health, poverty and simultaneously saving for future well-being. Such social reasons and social surroundings and common economic factors affect life insurance. Demographic pressure with the aging of the population, the transformation of social protection and the influence of information and communication technologies impact the social determinants of life insurance. In this work, we assess the relationship between life insurance premiums and social indicators: demographic, labour and social protection in 24 countries of the European Union in 2007–2017. We found that the Gini index, health-care expenditures and average wages have the largest influence on life insurance. Other determinants, such as old dependency and life expectancy ratios, replacement of unemployment, population growth and self-employment, did not show a significant relation with life insurance. When analysing countries, we found a more precise picture: the selected social indicators have a significant impact on life insurance in the Netherlands, Greece and Italy and the smallest in Norway, France and Slovakia. The findings provide policy implications for the development of life insurance in the European Union, as well as for social policy and social insurance.
Unlike previous crises, which were linked to economic cycles, financial market problems or housing bubbles, the 2020 economic downturn is largely the result of policy decisions reflecting governments' desire to contain the spread of the coronavirus and reduce its potential death toll.
The article discusses the concentration of the insurance market in Russia, its influence on the state of insurance in the country and regions. The indicators of the concentration of the insurance market, including by types of insurance, are analyzed, the factors of their changes in the period of 2014–2018 are specified. Predictive estimates of the concentration of the insurance business on the basis of identified trends are given.
Uncertain economic situations like shock, crisis, and fall impact significantly on the personal investments, main of them are life insurance and savings. Taking into account the importance of precautionary life insurance and savings as the future buffers due to current ambiguity, it is essential to understand individuals’ behavior regarding to the economic uncertainty. This article studies macroeconomic, social, and insurance indicators and its impact life insurance in Russia. We found the supportive arguments both rational and irrational customers’ actions. The justification of discovered contradictory life insurance behavior lies on the bounded or local rationality and its assumptions that can be useful to the participants of insurance markets, policymakers.
The dynamism of changes in the economic and social environment affects the timeliness of transformation of social insurance, its compliance with the requirements of the insured persons, increasing the efficiency of social services provided, and sustainability in the long-run period. Actual requirements for social insurance on the part of society and the state consist in improving the quality of social services provided and reducing their costs. The main mechanism for this is the improvement of the administrative-territorial structure and information service. The present work is aimed at studying current Russian and foreign trends in social insurance, its reforms and finding a balance in financing, organization and management.
The pension systems of the post-Soviet space, which had in the background one of the best in the world USSR PAYG (pay-as-you-go) basis, currently continue to evolve and improve. Some of the countries have made major pension changes, while others start their first reforms. How implemented various pension reforms impact on the retirement benefits and wealth of pensioners: pensions, their indexation, pension ages, and life expectancy?
In this article we consider the results of pension reforms on the example of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, which entered three different pension models: PAYG, fully-funded, and mixed, respectively. We found that PAYG pension system is more suitable and beneficial now for pensioners. However, the advantages of other pension models may appear in the future due to demographic and economic reasons.