Article
Общие тенденции и региональная специфика в распоряжении средствами материнского капитала в России
The article examines the non-demographic outcomes of the maternity capital program as a measure of socio-economic assistance to families with children. The analysis is based on the data of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation and population surveys. The scale of and the reasons for the regional differences are revealed. It is concluded that this support mainly benefits the population of the low-level economic development regions and of the small towns and rural areas, while the largest cities’ and the northern regions’ population profits less from the program. However, the housing shortage of families with children has not been explicitly relieved after the implementation of the maternity capital program.
On the basis of in-depth case studies of four Russian regions, Kirov and Voronezh oblasts and Krasnoyarsk and Perm' krais, the trade-offs among social and economic policy at the regional level in Russia are examined. All four regional governments seek to develop entrepreneurship while preserving social welfare obligations and improving compensation in the public sector. Richer regions have a greater ability to reconcile social commitments with the promotion of business. Regions differ in their development strategies, some placing greater emphasis on indigenous business development and others seeking to attract federal or foreign investment. Governors have considerable discretion in choosing their strategy so long as they meet basic performance demands set by the federal government such as ensuring good results for the United Russia party. In all four regions, governments consult actively with local business associations whereas organized labor is weak. However, the absence of effective institutions to enforce commitments undertaken by government and its social partners undermines regional capacity to use social policy as a basis for long-term economic development.
Value of higher education. Opinions of representatives of families with children on the value of education. A survey of the «Public Opinion» Foundation A review of results of a Russian household survey in which there were analyzed the influence of education, profession, and career status of the parents, domicile, material and cultural resources of the family on the education strategies of children, as well as the extent, structure, and incentives of the education activity of adults.
The paper examines the structure, governance, and balance sheets of state-controlled banks in Russia, which accounted for over 55 percent of the total assets in the country's banking system in early 2012. The author offers a credible estimate of the size of the country's state banking sector by including banks that are indirectly owned by public organizations. Contrary to some predictions based on the theoretical literature on economic transition, he explains the relatively high profitability and efficiency of Russian state-controlled banks by pointing to their competitive position in such functions as acquisition and disposal of assets on behalf of the government. Also suggested in the paper is a different way of looking at market concentration in Russia (by consolidating the market shares of core state-controlled banks), which produces a picture of a more concentrated market than officially reported. Lastly, one of the author's interesting conclusions is that China provides a better benchmark than the formerly centrally planned economies of Central and Eastern Europe by which to assess the viability of state ownership of banks in Russia and to evaluate the country's banking sector.
The paper examines the principles for the supervision of financial conglomerates proposed by BCBS in the consultative document published in December 2011. Moreover, the article proposes a number of suggestions worked out by the authors within the HSE research team.