On September 4, 2018, the Institute for Social Policy held a scientific seminar on the topic “Inequality and Welfare Dynamics in Russia during 1994-2015”

The seminar moderated by Alina I. Pishnyak, director of the center for studies of income and living standards, heard a presentation by Dr. Kseniya R. Abanokova, Junior Research Fellow of the Center for Comprehensive Social Policy Studies.

Russia offers the unique example of a leading centrally planned economy swiftly transforming itself into a market-oriented economy. A comprehensive study of inequality and mobility patterns for Russia using multiple rounds of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Surveys over the past two decades spanning this transformation was presented. Is was found rising income levels and decreasing inequality, with the latter mostly caused by pro-poor growth rather than redistribution. The poorest tercile experienced a growth rate of 476 percent over the past 20 years, which is ten times more (43 percent) than that of the richest tercile, leading to less long-term inequality than short-term inequality. It was also found that switching from a part-time job to a full-time job, or from a lower-skills job to a higher-skills job is statistically significantly associated with reducing downward mobility.