Bank of Finland Internship Programme

Denis Ivanov, the ISCID senior research fellow, was invited to participate in an internship programme at the Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition.

- Could you tell us more about the internship?
-This internship was organized by the Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition. The institute addresses various issues, most of them are related to Russia and China as well as other transition countries. I submitted a research proposal on the legacy of Soviet shadow economy and attitude towards market and entrepreneurship in Georgia. The institute offered me an internship, particularly because ‘trust in banks’ was one of the dependent variable in my study.

- What is a back story of your research?
- Even though the Soviet period is known for its planned economy, shadow economy was widespread in some regions. For example, in Georgia shadow economy played a significant role in the republic’s development. I believe that people in regions of Georgia where historically shadow  economy was stronger, on the one hand, would have weaker nostalgic feelings about the Soviet era  with its planned economy and, on the other hand, would have better attitude towards entrepreneurship and market. This hypothesis was tested with survey data from Caucasus Barometer.

- Will Bank of Finland help in the research in some way?
- Definitely, this internship would give me an opportunity to present my research and to discuss it with my Finnish colleagues. There will be a scientific seminar and the final result of the internship is expected to be a working paper and later an article based on the research carried out during the internship.