The Economics Education and Research Consortium was created in 1995 to strengthen economics education and research capabilities in the CIS. The initial focus of EERC was on graduate level education and research support and networking in Ukraine. Since 2007 managed by a Kiev-based secretariat, EERC’s Research Network supports original policy-relevant studies, organizes training seminars and research workshops, links academics and policymakers, and invests in the virtual research infrastructure – access to scholarly literature, data and peers. As of 2000, EERC serves as the regional partner of the Global Development Network (GDN) in the CIS.
What have we achieved?
Since its creation EERC has registered a number of notable achievements, including:
- covering all CIS countries (increasing number of research projects from Central Asia)
- held over 40 research competitions
- more than 1300 research teams from most CIS countries have participated in the EERC research workshops
- supported more than 420 research projects
- creating a permanent cadre of international "resource persons" participating in the review process, serving as faculty at the research workshops, and, most recently, collaborating with program alumni in joint research projects
- launching a range of bilingual professional publications, so called a working paper series chronicling results of sponsored research for economists and policy makers in the region
- initiating a series of policy seminars to reach out to the CIS policymaking community.
Completed Projects
2009-2011: Inter-regional project on ‘Cities’ by the CIS and the CEE network
The project on cities is a cooperation effort between the CIS and CEE networks, focusing on urban policies and development in Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of independent states within the last two decades. The investigated topics range from existence of multiple equilibria in the system of cities, to drivers of urban economic growth, to real estate risk premium. The background report summarizes recent research on urban development in transition.
2005-2007: The Swedish Professorship Award (SPA)
Funded by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this award was designed to support research activities of returning Ph.D. faculty by providing a research supplement to their regular salary, and to facilitate their involvement in EERC’s networking activities. Applications have be submitted by potential host institutions. Size of support EERC granted two Awards (up to $7,500) on an annual basis.
2004-2007: Multidisciplinary Research and Intermediation Project (MIR)
It was launched in 2004 with support of the Global Development Network and the World Bank. The MIR initiative seeked to bridge the gap between research and policy in transition and developing countries by furthering multidisciplinary approaches to research and by promoting the dialog between scholars and decision-makers. The pilot phase of MIR was implemented simultaneously in the CIS and South Asia. To achieve the goals of MIR, GDN’s regional partners in both regions provide financial support (in the form of grants up to $25,000 for up to 18 months of work) and guidance to researchers in economics and other relevant social sciences and convene international research workshops and policy forums in order to discuss methodological challenges, research findings, and policy implications. Proposals were submitted by small teams of researchers based in the CIS countries.
