Khazan Mikhail Itskhokovich (1950)

Khazan Mikhail Itskhokovich (1950, Riga) — mathematician and economist.

In 1972 he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of University of Latvia, after which he continued postgraduate studies at the university’s Computing Center. While still a student, he published several scientific articles in the Latvian Mathematical Yearbook and participated in the research seminar of Professor Boris Plotkin.

In 1975 he defended his Candidate of Sciences dissertation at Voronezh State University, then considered one of the leading centers of mathematical science in the Soviet Union. From 1989 to 1992 he was a doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of Saint Petersburg State University. In 1992 the University of Latvia awarded him the degree of Doctor of Mathematical Sciences.

Between 1973 and 1989, Khazan’s works were published in leading scientific journals and series, including Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR, Differential Equations, Itogi Nauki i Tekhniki, Mathematical Encyclopedia, Problems of Mathematical Analysis (Leningrad), and Proceedings of the Seminars of the Steklov Mathematical Institute. His works were translated and published in Soviet Mathematics — Doklady, Journal of Soviet Mathematics, Journal of Mathematical Sciences, and the Encyclopaedia of Mathematics.

From the late 1990s onward, his research focused mainly on labor market economics. Among his major projects were:

  • analysis of labor markets in the Baltic states for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2001–2002); 

  • a study of interregional migration in the Baltic states for the European Commission (2003); 

  • research on prospects for labor emigration from Latvia for the Bank of Latvia (2003); 

  • analyses of the Latvian labor market for the World Bank (2003, 2006, 2009); 

  • a labor market study of Albania for the World Bank (2004); 

  • research on labor supply characteristics in the Baltic states for the European Commission (2004); 

  • studies of working conditions in Latvia for the International Labour Organization (2005); 

  • research on labor migration from Latvia to Western Europe after EU enlargement (2005). 

In 2006–2007 he participated in projects of Latvia’s National Labour Market Research Programme devoted to wages, gender equality, causes and duration of unemployment, and also directed regional studies on the socio-psychological profile of the unemployed.

In 2007–2008 he conducted a study for the European Commission on the integration of ethnic minorities into Latvia’s labor market and served as an expert for the European Agency for Reconstruction on improving labor market statistics in Montenegro.

In 2008–2009 he carried out a widely discussed international study on labor migration from the Baltic states after their accession to the European Union.

Further scientific works by Mikhail Itskhokovich Khazan were published in leading international academic journals, including Journal of Population Economics, Economica, Empirica, LABOUR: Review of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations, and Growth and Change, as well as in volumes issued by Springer Nature and Edward Elgar Publishing. His research also appeared in the World Bank Policy Research Working Papers series and three times in Beyond Transition Newsletter.

He is a member of the European Economic Association, the European Association of Labour Economists, the European Network of Experts in the Economics of Education, and several other international associations of economists.

Since 1975 he has taught at the Faculty of Economics and Management of the University of Latvia, and since 2007 has served as Professor of Econometrics. He has worked with students of the bachelor’s program in Analytical Economics, the master’s programs in Mathematical Economics and European Studies, the doctoral program in Economics, as well as international students in the “Campus” and Erasmus Programme exchange programs. He has taught courses in labor economics, mathematical economics, economic policy, investment portfolio management, practical research methodology, and related subjects.

From 1994 to 2003 he coordinated the student research program of the EuroFaculty at the University of Latvia. Since 2002 he has collaborated with the Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies (BICEPS), and since 2007 with the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) at the University of Bonn.

Between 2005 and 2007 he cooperated successfully on a number of projects with sociologists from “Factum,” the Baltic Institute of Social Sciences (BISS), the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Latvia, and the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the University of Latvia.

Between 2003 and 2008, seven students supervised by Khazan became winners or prize recipients in economics research competitions organized by the Latvian Economic Development Forum and the Bank of Latvia.

Works.: Nonlinear evolution equations in locally convex spaces. Soviet Math. Dokl. 1973. 14:5. Pp. 1608–1614; Существование в целом непрерывного решения начально-краевой задачи для квазилинейного уравнения первого порядка Дифференциальные уравнения. T. 10. № 8. Минск: Наука и техника, 1974. С.1478—1485; Existence in the whole of a continuous solution for the initial and boundary value problem of a quasi-linear first-order equation. Differentsial'nye Uravneniya (Differential Equations). Vol. 10. Pp. 1478—1485. Aug. 1974; Differentiability of nonlinear semigroups and the classical solvability of nonlinear boundary value problems for the equation . Soviet Math. Dokl. 1976. 17:3. Pp. 839—843; Нелинейные и квазилинейные эволюционные уравнения: Существование, единственность и сравнение решений; скорость сходимости разностного метода Записки научных семинаров Ленинградского Отделения Математического Института им. В.А. Стеклова АН СССР. T. 127. Л.: Наука, 1983. С. 181—200; Nonlinear and quasilinear evolution equations: Existence, uniqueness, and comparison of solutions; the rate of convergence of the difference method. Journal of Mathematical Sciences. Vol. 27. № 2. Oct. 1984. Pp. 2662—2672; Comparison theorems for nonlinear evolution equations and their application to the investigation of the dependence of the solutions of the equation ut=Δϕ(u) on ϕ and on the boundary conditions. Journal of Mathematical Sciences. Vol. 35. № 1. Oct. 1986 Pp. 2282—2292; Problems with evolution in the boundary condition. Journal of Mathematical Sciences. Vol. 45. № 3. May. 1989. Pp. 1191—1199; How parallel markets fuelled chronic shortage in the Soviet official sector. Baltic Journal of Economics. 1999. Vol. 2. Pp. 3–58; Unemployment and the Earnings Structure in Latvia. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper. 2005. № 3504. Pp. 90; Does Commuting Reduce Wage Disparities? Growth and Change. 2004. 35 (3). Pp. 360—390; Looking for the Workforce: The Elderly, Discouraged Workers, Minorities and Students in the Baltic Labour Markets. Empirica. 2007. 34 (4). Pp. 319—349; Latvian labor market before and after EU accession. Beyond Transition Newsletter. 2007.18 (1). Pp. 10—11.