The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly every part of the globe. In the early phase of the pandemic, countries adopted nonpharmaceutical interventions. These interventions included school closures, travel restrictions, curfews, and quarantines. These strategies were motivated by the need for “social distancing” in order to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. But it was not always clear which of these interventions work best. For this reason, governments were faced with the dilemma of acting both quickly and correctly.

Policy brief: Today’s political crisis in Belarus has given a rise to the phenomenon classified in political science as political illegitimacy. However, this is not a pure political phenomenon. It causes adverse and severe economic adjustments. In a short-term perspective, it gives a rise to numerous risks of financial destabilization. Moreover, it is likely to deepen the current recession and make it protracted. In the long-term, political illegitimacy causes adverse institutional adjustments and erosion of human capital, which is likely to lead a country into a long-standing depression.

Last year marked an important milestone as the world celebrated the 30-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first post-communist election in Poland. Despite the latest developments, there is still a large democratic gap between transition countries that became EU members and other transition countries.

What do we really know about Putin’s Russia? How far will the Russian economy, military prowess and international ambitions go? Torbjörn Becker together with other distinguish researchers and authors provides a basis for assessing Russia's prospects without the distortions caused by fake news and disinformation wars in the new book “Putin’s Russia - Economy, Defence and Foreign Policy” edited by Professor Steven Rosefielde of University of North Carolina.

SvD Näringsliv recently interviewed Torbjörn Becker – Director of Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics – sharing his impression about the current situation in Belarus and what potential role Russia have in all of this.

When organizations grow too fast, they expose themselves to several risks. In the past, research has shown that people who try to move forward without careful evaluation is often associated with unethical decision-making, while taking time to evaluate consequences is associated with ethical decisions. Does this same rule apply also to organizations?

New research on innovation explores how management ideas change workplace practices while workplace practices change management ideas.

Sweden is considered one of the most gender equal countries but the question remains whether there are still challenges when it comes to gender equality in Sweden. We interviewed Pamela Campa (Assistant Professor at SITE) where she shares her reflections on why there are still few women in power in Sweden.

Working paper: This paper looks at economic growth and its fundamental determinants in Russia over the last decades. It starts by showing that, contrary to the views of some political commentators, growth is highly important for the popularity of president Putin.

Working paper: This paper looks at how the Russian economy has developed under the leadership of Putin and how it spills over to its neighbours in the CIS region.