This year's edition of the annual Development Day conference were centred around the current political and business climate in the Eastern European region, throwing light on new developments in the past few years, strides towards and away from democracy, and the challenges as well as possible policy solutions emanating from those.

The Swedish government is once again evaluating leniency to break criminal gangs, according to news agency TT. But can the government break the culture of silence around criminal gangs in Sweden? What are the risk and consequences of being a government witness? Professor Giancarlo Spagnolo and Assistant Professor Maria Perrotta Berlin shared their insights on this topic.

Working paper: This paper aims to describe the corruption case and the connected cartels that affected one of the biggest Brazilian companies by analyzing how the cartel members acted and the contracts affected or potentially affected by the illegal activity.

What are the consequences of weak political checks and balances, corruption and authoritarianism in Eastern Europe? What are the opportunities for peace and cooperation in Europe overall? These are some of the questions highlighted in this year’s edition of SITE’s Development Day conference.

Working paper: Whistleblower reward programs, or “bounty regimes”, are increasingly used in the United States. According to Professor Spagnolo and his co-auhtor, the effectiveness of these programs has been questioned, and empirical evidence on their effectiveness have been scarce likely due to their relatively recent introduction.

Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics. Anders Olofsgård, Associate Professor at SITE, shares his insights and thoughts in an interview with the Swedish news media Omvärlden.

The Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics invites applications for tenure-track positions at the assistant and associate professor level.

“Policy Lessons After 30 Years of Research on Transition” is organized to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Polish parliamentary elections of June 1989. Thirty years since the breakthrough elections in Poland numerous challenges remain and the role of good evidence-based policies seems to be as relevant as ever.

SITE director Torbjörn Becker has published a working paper on Russia’s macroeconomy.

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.