Monthly Report No. 02/2020 (publication)

Monthly Report No. 02/2020

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Vasily Astrov, Nikolay Kondrashov, Liudmila Konovalova, Valeriy Mironov and Leon Podkaminer

wiiw Monthly Report No. 2, February 2020
40 pages including 1 Table and 26 Figures

Chart of the month: A lost decade for Russian living standards
by Vasily Astrov
Opinion Corner: A case for balanced trade
by Leon Podkaminer
It is argued that countries following externally balanced growth paths perform best in the long term. It may be in a country’s interest not to indebt itself to others – and not to become a creditor of others.
Will restructuring yield acceleration of the Russian economy?
by Valeriy Mironov and Liudmila Konovalova
The dynamics of Russian GDP over the past five years have been driven, on the one hand, by the accelerated growth of sectors such as mining, agriculture and some related services, and, on the other, by the decline of the retail and wholesale trade sector, and the slowing dynamics of high-tech industries.
Problems calculating gross regional product in Russia
by Nikolay Kondrashov
Gross regional product (GRP) statistics have limited practical use in Russia because of a long publication lag (14 months), absence of quarterly data, and biased estimates of volume, structure and real growth. For instance, combined GRP for Russia as a whole significantly differs from the country’s GDP, and some components are omitted or grossly underestimated in the country’s GRP calculations. However, this can be improved.
Monthly and quarterly statistics for Central, East and Southeast Europe

Keywords: Real disposable household incomes, Russia, current account imbalances, long-term economic growth, structural change, total factor productivity, Kaldor-Verdoorn’s law, gross regional product, gross domestic product, regional specialisation

Countries covered: Russia

Research Areas: Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy, Labour, Migration and Income Distribution, Regional Development