About the Periodical

In 1991 the Russian Economic Barometer (REB) long-term research program was launched by Sergei Aukutsionek and Elena Belyanova, researchers working with the IMEMO. The aim of the program is monitoring and investigation of the process of Russia’s transition to market economy. For this purpose a non-governmental research body was formed. In December 1991, REB started regular economic surveys. In 1992, "The Russian Economic Barometer" ("REB") – a monthly bulletin (in Russian, for regular REB respondents) and a quarterly (in English, for foreign customers) was launched. Bulletins present REB survey results in analytical reports, tables and graphs. The quarterly bulletin also contains research papers based on survey data, survey statistics of other Russian survey institutions, and monitoring of legislative changes.

Chief Editor is S.Aukutsionek.

STAFF: About 20 persons are engaged in survey activities, research work and publishing. The staff includes: researchers, experts and analysts (research work, survey methodology, analytical reports); an economist-mathematician and a statistician (econometric methods and procedures of data analysis); a programmer-mathematician (designing data base, procedures of data treatment); programmers (data processing); technical assistants (servicing respondents network); an editorial and production manager (responsible for publishing); editors; translators.

The sample comprises about 1000 respondents – more than 500 industrial enterprises, 300 agricultural enterprises and 100 commercial banks throughout Russia. The data base is regularly updated. It includes: (i) quantitative data (both actual figures and forecasts): standard indicators for measuring enterprise and bank performance, e.g., output and input prices, output level, wages, employment, order book level, stocks, capacity utilization, credit terms, bank assets and liabilities, etc. (monthly average percent changes for the sample and diffusion indices); (ii) qualitative data, collected quarterly and concerning the impact of macroeconomic reforms on enterprise and bank behavior: e.g., operational, investment, innovation, employment and financial strategies; managers' motivation and their assessments of the government economic policy.

MAIN CUSTOMERS. Several thousands of Russian managers (from 2 to 10 at each surveyed industrial enterprise, agricultural enterprise and bank) participate in the REB program on a voluntary basis – filling in questionnaires and studying the results reported back to them in the "REB" monthly bulletin. Russian governmental and legislative bodies use REB survey statistics and analysis as a source of information on microlevel response to macroeconomic policy, property rights reform, changes in legislation. RF Ministry of Economy, RF Science and Technology Committee, State Duma's Economic Reform Committee and Committee on Privatization are among them. Among 60 foreign subscribers to "REB" quarterly bulletin are IFO-Institute (Germany), Vienna Institute of Comparative Economic Studies (Austria), Kansai Research Center (Japan), Bank of Finland, Bank of Korea, Bank of Spain, Australian Bureau of Statistics, British Library Science Reference and Information Service, Library of the Austrian Bureau of Statistics and others.

MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL BODIES. The "REB" Editorial Board is a member of CIRET (Centre for International Research on Economic Tendency Surveys, affiliated to the IFO Institute, Munich, Germany) – international organization comprising about 200 research institutions and firms from more than 50 countries conducting surveys and focusing on the indicator approach and the microlevel foundation of the economies.

REB – is one of the most reputable Russian organizations conducting economic surveys. To date, REB is the only Russian survey organization that (i) has formed representative samples in the three major sectors of the Russian economy (industrial, agricultural, banking) all over Russia; (ii) conducts monthly surveys of enterprises and bimonthly – of banks, and possesses the most extended data base; (iii) applies, alongside the standard western methods of surveys, original methodology elaborated by REB researchers for analysis of economies in transition; (iv) provides Russian enterprises and banks – participants in the surveys – with monthly feedback reports ("REB" monthly bulletin); (v) carries out research in Russia’s transition to the market.

The Russian Economic Barometer

Director Dr. S.P.Aukutsionek, Head of Centre for Research in Transitional Economies (CRTE), Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences
Professor, Moscow State University

Tel.: (007 499) 128-7901
Fax/Tel.: (007 495) 120-8328, (007 499) 128-1940

Editorial and Production Manager I.Bashirova, Head of Group for Publishing "The Russian Economic Barometer",
CRTE, Institute of World Economy and International Relations,
Russian Academy of Sciences

Fax/Tel.: (007 495) 120-8328, (007 499) 128-1940
Address: IMEMO, 23, Profsoyusnaya Str., GSP-7, Moscow, 117997
Telefax: (007 495) 120-8328, 310-7027
E-mail: bachirova@imemo.ru