The online roundtable discussion “The economic effects of flexible work arrangements: trends and forecasts” was held today by the Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia.
The event was attended by the experts from leading international organizations, think tanks and companies (OECD, ILO, Facebook, APEC, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, EY, VEB.Ventures, etc.). The Institute for Urban Economics was represented by its Executive Director and Director of the Real Estate Market Department Tatyana D. Polidi.
The wide spread of flexible work arrangements in the world economy (e.g. remote work, flexible schedules, occasional remote work, etc.) is forecasted to drive labor productivity, labor force participation, innovation and, as a result, GDP growth.
On top of the direct macroeconomic impact, the mass adoption of flexible work arrangements will also lead to sectoral tectonic shifts. To name but a few trends: approaches to calculating workers’ compensation will change; taxation schemes will become more complicated; and urban policies will need to adapt to the inflow of remote workers to second tier cities and their outflow from the mega-cities. New consumer needs and, thus, business opportunities will arise from all of the above-mentioned trends.
As the Russian government embarks on the journey of devising measures supporting the adoption of flexible work arrangements, it is critical to take all the macroeconomic effects and sectoral shifts into account.
Tatyana Polidi shared her vision of the problem and presented a slide-show "Russian Metropolitan Areas: Economic Structure and Urban Spatial Models", based on the research made by the Institute for Urban Economics.
The expert answered relevant and fundamental questions: Does the population movement trend that we see today mean there are going to be long-term changes in the urban planning? And if so, how should the governments adapt?
Online translation record is available on a FB page and here’s the link to the agenda: link.
