Expert Categories: Internal
Paul Castaneda Dower
Paul Castaneda Dower is an Assistant Professor at the New Economic School (NES) in Moscow, Russia, and also works as a Lead Economist for the Center for Financial and Economic Research (CEFIR).
He studies the political economy of development and his research has focused on the impact of land reform on household and firm behavior.
Galina Besstremyannaya
Galina Besstremyannaya is a Lead Economist at the Centre for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR). She is a Senior economist at the CEMI RAS, and an Associate Professor at the Higher School of Economics (HSE University). Galina Besstremyannaya has graduated from Moscow State University (MSU).
She gained her MA in economics at the New Economic School (NES). And she obtained her PhD in Economics from Keio University (Tokyo) in 2010. Her research interests include econometrics, productivity analysis, management, and health economics.
CEFIR is an independent economic policy think tank with a mission to improve Russia’s economic and social policies by producing cutting-edge academic research and policy analysis. CEFIR makes it possible for both policymakers and the public to make informed choices and is a member of the FREE Network.
(Last updated January 2020)
Aleh Mazol
Aleh Mazol received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Belarusian State Economic University (2003) and obtained his Master’s degree in Economics from Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) in 2013. Since January 2015, Mazol works at the Belarusian Research and Outreach Center (BEROC) as a Researcher.
His research interests are spatial economics, monetary economics, poverty and inequality and corporate governance.
(Last updated November 2022)
Anastasiya Luzgina
Anastasiya Luzgina works as a Research Associate at the Belarusian Economic Research and Outreach Center (BEROC). Before that, she served as an Associate Professor at the Belarusian State University. Anastasiya Luzgina also has worked at the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (2003-2007) and the IMF Resident Representative office in Belarus (2007-2009).
In 2015, Anastasiya took a part in the program for visiting researchers of the Central Bank of Finland. She also participated in Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program (USA) (2018). She teaches monetary policy, monetary statistics, finance and FinTech.
(Last updated October 2021)
Anna Zasova
Anna Zasova is a Research Fellow at the Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies (BICEPS). She received her PhD degree in Economics from the University of Latvia. Her main research interests include public economics and labour economics.
(Last updated November 2021)
Dzmitry Kruk
Dzmitry Kruk is a Research Associate at the Belarusian Economic Research and Outreach Center (BEROC). He obtained a BA in economics (2002) and an MA in banking and finance (2004) from the Belarusian State University. Currently, he is a PhD nominee at Krakow University of Economics.
His research interests are in economic growth and finance, as well as monetary economics.
(Last updated Jan 2025)
Elena Paltseva
Elena Paltseva is an Associate Professor at the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE), Stockholm School of Economics (SSE). Prior to joining SITE, Paltseva worked as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen (UCPH). She is also a Research Affiliate at the House of Sustainable Society (HOSS).
Her research interests include Political Economics, Industrial Organization, and Energy and Resource Economics.
(Last updated March 2026)
Chloé Le Coq
Chloé Le Coq is Professor of Economics at the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas, Research Fellow at SITE at the Stockholm School of Economics and at the University of Cambridge (EPRG). Her research focuses on energy markets and their regulation, with recent work on nuclear safety, technology mix competition, and energy security.
(Last updated March 2026)
Torbjörn Becker
Torbjörn Becker is the Director of the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), a position he has held since 2006. As a leading expert in international macroeconomics, economic crises, and transition economies, he brings extensive experience from his nine years at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
His research focuses on macroeconomic policy, fiscal management, and financial markets, with a particular emphasis on Russia, Eastern Europe, and emerging markets.
Torbjörn Becker frequently contributes to international media discussions on global economic policy and serves on the boards of several prominent research institutes across Eastern Europe, including the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE). He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.
(Last updated October 2025)
Eric Livny
Eric Livny is the Lead Regional Economist for Central Asia at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). He advises senior management on the Bank’s country strategies, liaises with governments and international financial institutions, and leads the industrial policy stream within the Bank’s Community of Practice on Competition Policy.
Eric Livny graduated from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Eric has been involved in the founding and management of several world-class education start-ups in the former USSR, including the New Economic School in Moscow, the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), and the International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University (ISET). Eric Livny has served as president of ISET and the affiliated ISET Policy Institute – the first university-based economic policy think-tank in the South Caucasus.
In the last decade, Eric has been regularly publishing his views on policy in weekly columns in Georgia Today and The Financial, as well as in The ISET Economist and his Tbilinomics Tamada blog.
*Last updated April 2021