Vincent Fardeau, Associate Professor at HSE ICEF, has reached a major career milestone: he recently published his paper ‘Asymmetric Thin Markets’ in the Journal of Financial Economics, successfully passed his major academic review, and received tenure. In this interview, Vincent discusses the story behind the paper, explains the concept of asymmetric thin markets, and shares his advice for young scholars aiming to publish in top-tier journals.

A researcher at HSE University analysed data on 1,539 doctoral students from 161 Russian universities to identify which features of a thesis topic are associated with academic success and engagement. The most important factor was found to be personal interest in the research topic, which was associated with almost all key aspects of doctoral programme experience—from engaging with the academic supervisor to research activity and confidence about successfully defending the thesis. The findings have been published in Higher Education.

Having a good defence attorney in criminal proceedings can largely determine whether a defendant retains their freedom, health and good name. Researchers at HSE University propose a method for predicting an attorney’s performance based on the outcomes of their previous cases. The methodology takes into account the severity of the charges, the complexity of the cases, and the most likely outcome, drawing on judicial statistics.