History. The Institute for Economics and Mathematics was established in 1990; however, the history of its collective dates back to the late 1950s (until 1965 it was the Computing Center of Steklov Mathematical Institute, Leningrad Branch; in 1965–1975 — Leningrad Department of the Central Economic-Mathematical Institute; in 1975–1990 — the Mathematical Department of the Institute for Socio-Economic Problems). The research in mathematical economics was initiated by the group headed by L. V. Kantorovich (who became later the only Russian Nobel Prize winner in economics). An important role belonged also to the outstanding Russian economist V. V. Novozhilov. The Russian game-theoretic school was created by N. N. Vorob?ev. At the same time, L. A. Oganesian became one of the initiators of a new direction in numerical analysis — the finite element method. A scientific school in finite automata headed by V. I. Varshavsky has been working for over 20 years. The decisive role in the creation of the Institute belongs to its first director — Professor B. L. Ovsievich, a well-known mathematician and economist.

Basic research areas. Theoretical economics (including game and decision theory); mathematical modelling in urban and regional economics; information technologies in socio-economic research and humanities; theory and methods of modeling and forecasting the response of the environment under the impact of economic activities.

Main scientific achievements. Development of the axiomatic approach in the mathematical game theory as a basis for working out the optimality principles in the models of conflict situations; existence theorems and methods for finding optimal solutions for broad classes of game-theoretic models (N. N. Vorob?ev and his pupils). Foundations of the theory of economic dynamics; ascertaining its connections with the convex analysis, investigation of various classes of dynamic macroeconomic models and economic equilibrium models (A. M. Rubinov and his pupils). Creation of a new direction in the mathematical modelling of organizational structures in management; a structural approach to the development of information technologies in socio-economic and humanitarian research (B. L. Ovsievich). Elaboration of the fundamentals of the theory of finite element methods for boundary value problems for linear elliptic equations, development of economical solution methods for schemes of the finite element method (L. A. Oganesian, G. P. Astrakhantsev, L. A. Rukhovets).

Recent scientific achievements. Investigation of the space of solvable linear programming problems (N. E. Mnev, D. Fulkerson International Prize winner). Extension of the Nash equilibrium to game-theoretic problems with non-numerical preferences; elaboration of a unified approach to social choice problems and cooperative games (E. B. Yanovskaya). A new axiomatic approach (based on the linearity property and its extensions) to the construction of a new broad class of solutions for cooperative games (S. L. Pechersky). Mathematical models and program complexes for investigation, forecasting and state regulation of regional labour markets (V. T. Perekrest), for demographic analysis and forecasting (G. L. Safarova, S. V. Sivashinsky), for mass economic estimation of urban territories and forecasting transportation flows (V. P. Fedorov). Development of macroeconomic models for studying some specific features of the modern Russian economy: transformational decline, the influence of income distribution on macroeconomic indicators, policies of employment stimulation (V. D. Matveenko, K. Yu. Borisov). Development of a mathematical model complex and information technologies for determining the strategic directions of the socio-economic development of a large city (B. L. Ovsievich). Methods for computer representation of humanitarian knowledge, formal description and analysis of textual information in humanities (G. V. Lezin, E. A. Kanevsky). Construction of mathematical models and methods to analyze and forecast environment changes under the influence of economic activities; development of a system of computer models of Ladoga Lake ecosystem (L. A. Rukhovets, G. P. Astrakhantsev). In 2002, two diploma of the Foundation for promotion of the Russian science in nomination "The best economists of the Russian Academy of Sciences" have been awarded (V. P. Fedorov, V. D. Matveenko).

International cooperation. There are permanent contacts with 32 foreign scientific institutions. The institute organized the international conferences "Game theory and economics" dedicated to the memory of N. N. Vorob?ev — 1996 and "LGS-2" (Logic, Game Theory, Social Choice) — 2001. In the last 5 years the members of the institute took part in more than 50 international conferences. Eight researchers of the institute are members of various international scientific societies.

• Saint-Petersburg Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences

• Leningrad branch of the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the USSR