RUSSIANS LAUNCH COMPARE THE MARKETS MOOC

The Economics of Transition and Emerging Markets Mooc led by Professor Marek Dabrowski from Moscow's Higher School of Economics has just started on Coursera - https://www.coursera.org/course/etem and is summarised thus: "This course concentrates on challenges faced by transition and emerging-market economies, i.e. middle- and low-income countries. It starts from a brief history of communist economic system based on central planning in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe, its evolution and collapse at the end of 1980s/ early 1990s and subsequent transition to a market system in 1990s and 2000s. Then it analyzes experience of market reforms in China, India, other Asian countries, Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America at the same period. Finally, it discusses the problems of contemporary global economy and global and regional economic governance with the special focus given to emerging-market economies and their role." I'm enrolled and it looks good! However, Professor Dabrowski's style may appear somewhat unreconstructed (or just a little old fashioned) for those accustomed to the razzmatazz of some academic rockstars, despite his "living legend" status in Russia.

Postscript 26.11.2014:  I have just discovered this very good article about Marek Dabrowski - http://www.hse.ru/en/news/edu/137622553.html - who, it turns out, was "co-author of the Polish economic reforms during their most difficult and intense stage in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1989-1990, he served as Poland’s Deputy Minister of Finance and was later an advisor to the Prime Minister, a Member of Poland’s Sejm and an advisor to the head of the National Bank of Poland. In addition to his position at HSE, he is currently a fellow under the 2014-2015 Fellowship Initiative of the European Commission, Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs. His academic research interests include, among others, monetary and fiscal policies, growth and poverty, currency crises, international financial architecture, and perspectives of European integration...."

Please Note: Above image is from "Compare the Meerkat" - http://www.comparethemeerkat.com - and not from "Compare the Markets" mooc.