HSE's Nizhny Novgorod branch has hosted Belgian economist, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, Jacques-Francois Thisse, and Academic Supervisor at HSE St Petersburg's Center for Market Studies and Spatial Economics, who read his paper 'Urban development, regional differences and effective transport'. Professor Thisse is very well known and respected for his research in spatial economics, new economic geographies, international trade and market analysis.