Inmates' informal code regulates their behavior and attitudes. We investigate whether prisons contribute to the spread of these norms to the general population using an exogenous shock of the Soviet amnesty of 1953, which released 1.2 million prisoners. We document the spread of prison norms in...

This paper evaluates the effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 on refinery margins, i.e. the difference between wholesale prices for road fuels (gasoline and diesel) and oil prices in Europe and Germany in particular. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, wholesale road...

This study examines the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on crude oil tail risk using the Conditional Autoregressive Value at Risk (CAViaR) framework. We analyzed 2364 daily observations of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures spanning 1 January 2015 to 11 December 2023, thereby...

The weaponization of agricultural trade has once again emerged as critical in the study of modern geopolitics due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Although Russia has used its wheat exports as a means of enhancing its geopolitical influence over countries in the Global South, evidence...

Russia's isolation from global financial markets and government programmes to support bank lending initially fuelled a wartime lending boom in Russia. With economic growth now stalled and borrowing costs rising, lending growth has slowed. This shift, in conjunction with increased public sector...

This paper evaluates the effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 on refinery margins, i.e. the difference between wholesale prices for road fuels (gasoline and diesel) and oil prices in Europe and Germany in particular. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, wholesale road...

A credible EU enlargement policy remains necessary from a geopolitical perspective, but can only succeed through a more pragmatic and gradual integration approach. New members amplify the existing challenges to EU decision making, rule-of-law conditionality and political cohesion, particularly...

The Pax Americana, which guaranteed the security of Germany and Europe after the Second World War, is coming to an end. Europe can no longer rely on its alliance and partnership with the United States. Even before Donald Trump’s second presidency, Europe was seeking to reduce its dependency on...

The evolving geopolitical landscape has placed South Africa at a crossroads, torn between its historical ties to the West and its growing relationships with BRICS+ nations, particularly China and Russia. The country's recent political shift, marked by the African National Congress (ANC) losing...

Space capabilities are a core element of any modern defence arsenal. In Europe, however, military space capabilities are limited and dependence on the United States remains high. Europe must develop its capabilities in order to reduce dependencies and enhance its capacity to act on its own,...

The Pax Americana, which guaranteed the security of Germany and Europe after the Second World War, is coming to an end. Europe can no longer rely on its alliance and partnership with the United States. Even before Donald Trump's second presidency, Europe was seeking to reduce its dependency on...

The weaponization of agricultural trade has once again emerged as critical in the study of modern geopolitics due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Although Russia has used its wheat exports as a means of enhancing its geopolitical influence over countries in the Global South, evidence...

Wars disrupt labor markets, yet systematic evidence on how markets for labor services operate during conflicts is almost entirely absent. Ukraine is a rare exception: despite the full-scale Russian invasion, timely data on workers and vacancies, in both stocks and flows, remain available. We use...

The acquisition of Greenland has repeatedly been a topic of discussion within US government circles since the 19th century. That is because of the island’s strategic loca­tion and its resources. In the summer of 2019, US President Donald Trump made his first bid to purchase Greenland from the...

The evolving geopolitical landscape has placed South Africa at a crossroads, torn between its historical ties to the West and its growing relationships with BRICS+ nations, particularly China and Russia. The country's recent political shift, marked by the African National Congress (ANC) losing...

This paper aims to investigate the sensitivity of the gas market: Russian Natural Gas and Liquefied Gas, to other commodity categories. It sheds light on the Russian-Ukrainian crisis by using an Autoregressive Distributed Lag model on daily prices of Russian Natural Gas, Liquefied Natural Gas,...

Space capabilities are a core element of any modern defence arsenal. In Europe, how­ever, military space capabilities are limited and dependence on the United States remains high. Europe must develop its capabilities in order to reduce dependencies and enhance its capacity to act on its own,...

• This report is built on an update of the Kiel Military Procurement Tracker, covering the UK, Poland and Germany up to January 2026. We show that orders have grown rapidly in frequency, size and number since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2025, German military...

Rising geopolitical tensions and fluctuating financial market conditions have increased volatility and negatively impacted property returns across BRICS countries, yet this critical area remains underexplored despite its significant implications for policy reform and investor participation. To...

We examine recent developments and outcomes from Russia's policies on import substitution and technological sovereignty utilizing official documents, statistical data, and company surveys. While Russian officials proclaim ambitious technological sovereignty targets, the reality is less...

We examine how Western sanctions imposed in response to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine shaped firm-level stock market performance in the EU and the US. To measure sanction exposure, we link firms to the specific products targeted by US and EU sanctions at the HS6 level, producing a detailed,...

Since Russia launched its full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022, the European Union (EU) has pursued its enlargement policy as part of a geopolitical approach. According to the European Commission and candidate states, the EU could admit new members from 2028 onwards, while...

A series of scandals in Ukraine has shown that Russia’s war of aggression has not put an end to corruption in the country. Although Ukraine’s specialised institutions play an important role in combating corruption, the country’s governance model does not yet meet the requirements of the...

Since Russia launched its full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022, the European Union (EU) has pursued its enlargement policy as part of a geopolitical approach. According to the European Commission and candidate states, the EU could admit new members from 2028 onwards, while...

Russian attacks and threat posturing are increasingly extending into space as well. This poses risks to infrastructure in Europe, which is becoming ever more dependent on satellite systems. This affects civilian services such as navigation, but also Europe's defence capabilities. The question is...

The so-called Russian shadow fleet primarily serves to evade sanctions on oil exports and thereby finance its war of aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, it is increasingly emerging as a security risk with defence implications for Europe. Vessels associated with the shadow fleet are...

My paper claims that the current us policy is based on prejudices that originate in mercantilist thinking, which treats trade as a strategic zero-sum game. This thinking has dominated american academia since the 1970s through a fallacious application of game theory to explain competition between...

This paper examines how Russian imports were reoriented after the 2022 sanctions. Using annual bilateral trade data at the product level, it asks whether direct Chinese export gains to Russia were concentrated in the same product lines in which EU exports to Russia declined. It also studies...

Overall economic activity in non‑EU countries in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) has remained resilient, although most economies recorded slower growth in 2025 compared with the previous year. Looking ahead, new challenges are emerging for 2026. The war in the Middle East is...

How do non-belligerent societies view the return of large-scale conflict to Europe? Among European countries, with their different historical ties to Russia and lived experiences of conflict, this article examines how the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia-two former Yugoslav republics...

The contours of a genuine economic endgame are coming into view for Russia. The economy has not collapsed, but the structural foundations have eroded fast. Economic growth has come to a standstill and fiscal buffers are largely exhausted. Higher oil prices as a result of the war in the gulf will...

Russia's regions bear a rapidly growing share of the fiscal costs of war. Since showing surpluses as recently as 2021, the collective regional deficit quadrupled in a single year. Using five years of budget execution reports from the Russian Federal Treasury across all 85 Russian regions...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 reshaped geopolitics and intensified debates on how wars influence domestic political support. Media reports and scholarly work based on aggregate time-series data suggest rally effects, reflected in an immediate surge in Putin's approval ratings....

Inclusive growth has increasingly emerged as a central framework for understanding how firms can align economic performance with social inclusion and environmental responsibility, particularly in emerging markets characterized by institutional volatility. In the context of geopolitical shocks...

A “Ukraine Support Tariff” on the remaining €57.2 billion in EU-Russia trade could generate €6-16 billion per year at moderate rates of 30-50% (partial equilibrium) and €3-11 billion (general equilibrium) - exceeding the €3 billion from frozen Russian asset interest income. General...

This paper formalizes the geopolitical externality of climate policy and estimates its plausible magnitudes. Specifically, domestic reductions in fossil fuel demand depress global prices, thereby lowering export revenues for resource-rich autocracies - many of which allocate substantial...