Electronic Repository of Russian Historical Statistics, 18th - 21st centuries.

The aim of the project is to create an on-line electronic repository of Russian historical statistics. The repository operates on the principle of a historical data-hub, bringing together data extracted from various published and unpublished sources in one place. Data are standardised to facilitate access and to enable comparative research over time and across regions and nations. The principal focus of the data-hub is Russian economic and social history of the last three centuries (18th-21st). The Electronic Repository of Russian Historical Statistics will be the first research tool of its kind and scope to be created in the Russian Federation. It will cater to the needs of the scholarly community, of teachers and students in the social sciences in higher education, and aims to provide the basis for an informed public debate on Russia’s past and present social and economic performance.

Participating institutions:

Interdisciplinary Centre for Studies in History, Economy and Society (http://www.icshes.ru/en1)

International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (http://www.iisg.nl)

New Economic School, Moscow, Russia (http://fir.nes.ru/en/Pages/default.aspx).

Subsidy: The project is financed by the ‘Dynasty’ foundation, Moscow, Russia (http://www.dynastyfdn.com/).

[project pages]

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Work, Income and the State in Russia and the Soviet Union, 1900-2000

Since 2002 members of the centre have been involved in the research project Work, Income and the State in Russia and the Soviet Union, 1900-2000, funded by the Friends of the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Taking the household or the family as the central unit of analysis the project studies income earning strategies of the non-agrarian population in twentieth century Russia and the Soviet Union. It is studied how households used the human capital, labour- and other resources at their disposal to generate income and how they adjusted their behaviour in this respect to changes in the social, economic and political environment.

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Social and Economic Agency and the Cultural Heritage of the Soviet Past

Within the framework of the Dutch-Russian research project Social and Economic Agency and the Cultural Heritage of the Soviet Past, financed by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), members of the centre have worked together with colleagues from the Centre for Economic History at Moscow State University, the Institute of General History at the Russian Academy of Sciences, the International Institute of Social History, and Amsterdam University to investigate how social norms and practices, mentalities and attitudes inherited from the Soviet period have affected the course and outcome of the process of social transformation in post-soviet Russia. The project was completed in 2008.