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In this brief, Jonathan Lehne and Maiting Zhuang examines the fragility of democratic institutions in Eastern Europe, comparing expert assessments and general population surveys. Experts' concerns have intensified, yet voters in almost all new EU member states and across age groups express growing satisfaction with their democracies. The study reveals a shift where people's perception of democracy is increasingly influenced by election outcomes rather than actual institutional change, even when media freedom or judicial independence is restricted by governments.

Several countries, including France, Canada, and Israel, have adopted the Nordic model of prostitution legislation to combat sexual exploitation. However, researchers from SITE highlight that these reforms might unintentionally increase sex tourism, necessitating comprehensive policy considerations.

In this policy brief, researchers from SITE explores the challenges of quantifying political discourse using 30 years of party manifestos. It analyzes the evolution of dominant topics in European politics, particularly in transition countries. The brief utilizes data from the Manifesto Project to describe the development of political discourse in Europe, emphasizing differences between Western European countries and Eastern European transition economies.

In this brief SITE researchers, Anna Anisimova and Cecilia Smitt Meyer, present a short overview of some of the most important statistics on Russia鈥檚 economic performance no longer publicly available. They also discuss some alternative measures to track the Russian economy which can be used to provide more accurate assessments of the effect of sanctions and thus reduce the impact of Russia鈥檚 data warfare.

In this policy brief, researchers Marcel Garz (J枚nk枚ping University) and Maiting Zhuang (SITE) illustrate the media's power to affect behavioural change, using the Swedish experience during Covid-19 as an example.

Throughout 2022, the reduction in Russian gas imports to the EU and the resilience of European energy markets have been subject of significant public discourse and policy-making. Of particular concern has been the EU鈥檚 ability to maintain its environmental goals. In this policy brief, researchers from SITE and the University of Pennsylvania aim to reevaluate the consequences from the loss of Russian gas and the EU鈥檚 response to it on greenhouse gas emissions in the region.

The post-war reconstruction of Ukraine will have to comprehensively address a number of objectives to set the country on a path of stable, sustainable and inclusive growth. In this policy paper, researchers from the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) and the Forum for Research on Gender Economics (FROGEE) together with other gender economics experts argue that the principles of 鈥渂uilding-back better鈥� need to take the gender dimension under consideration.

Did you miss the chance to attend the annual SITE 2022 Development Day conference? This policy brief shortly summarizes the presentations and discussions at the SITE Development Day Conference, held on December 6, 2022. The main focus of the conference was how to maintain and organize support for Ukraine in the short and long run, with the current situation in Belarus and the region and the ongoing energy crisis in Europe, also being addressed.

How much a country is talked about in the media can determine its place in the public debate. In this brief, SITE researchers Maiting Zhuang and Svante Str枚mberg study the amount of news coverage devoted to European countries in the Swedish press. They document a systematic difference between Western and Eastern Europe and explore underlying factors that could be important in explaining this East-West divide.

In recent years, there have been several high-profile leaks of documents related to the offshore financial industry, such as the Pandora Papers released last year. Some of the data contained in the leaked documents have now been made public. In this brief, SITE researchers Jonathan Lehne and Maiting Zhuang discuss the advantages and pitfalls of using these data for economic analysis. They show that despite some caveats, there are patterns in these data that can shed light on a secretive industry.