Article
Модель условной оценки отношения потребителей к продуктам питания, не содержащим искусственные добавки
This article discusses the attitude of consumers to food without synthetic additives. The practical part of the study is devoted to the assessment of the willingness to pay for mayonnaise, which does not contain synthetic preservatives, by Perm consumers. The paper uses the contingent valuation method to determine the willingness to pay for the product. The results of the analysis suggest that the average consumer of mayonnaise in Perm is ready to buy mayonnaise, which does not contain a synthetic preservative, with a 23,55 % premium to the price of mayonnaise with a synthetic preservative. Previously, there were no studies of the willingness to pay by Russian consumers for a product without synthetic preservatives and this work fills this gap. The results of the study will help companies and government to assess the attitude of consumers to synthetic preservatives.
With low take-up of both private health insurance and the existing public drug reimbursement scheme, it is thought that less than 5% of the Russian population have access to free outpatient drug treatment. This represents a major policy challenge for a country grappling with reforms of its healthcare system and experiencing low or no economic growth and significant associated reductions in spending on social services. In this paper, we draw on data from a recent Levada-Center survey to examine the attitudes and social solidarity of the Russian population towards drug policies in general and towards the introduction of a proposed voluntary drug insurance system in particular. In addition to being among the first to explore these important questions in the post-Communist setting, we make three important contributions to the emerging policy debates. First, we find that, if introduced immediately and without careful planning and preparation, Russia’s voluntary drug insurance scheme is likely to collapse financially due to the over-representation of high-risk unhealthy individuals opting in to the scheme. Second, the negative attitude of higher income groups towards the redistribution of wealth to the poor may further impede government efforts to introduce voluntary drug insurance. Finally, we argue that Russia currently lacks the breadth and depth of social solidarity necessary for implementing this form of health financing.
Projects and reforms targeting infrastructure services can affect consumer welfare through changes in the price, coverage, or quality of the services provided. The benefits of improved service quality—while significant—are often overlooked because they are difficult to quantify. This article reviews methods of evaluating the welfare implications of changes in the quality of infrastructure services within the broader theoretical perspective of welfare measurement. The study outlines the theoretical assumptions and data requirements involved, illustrating each method with examples that highlight common methodological features and differences. The article also presents the theoretical underpinnings and potential applications of a new approach to analysing the effects of interruptions in the supply of infrastructure services on household welfare.
In Russia, many citizens have a deficiency of vitamins and minerals due to their deficiency in the diet. This deficit can be made up by eating fortified foods. This study is devoted to the study of the attitude of Russian consumers to products enriched with vitamins and minerals. The theoretical study of the article is devoted to the identification, justification and grouping of factors that affect the choice of foods enriched with added vitamins and minerals. The article presents the results of a study of consumers’ attitude to salt enriched with iodine as the most important product in the Ural region, for which the problem of iodine deficiency is traditionally acute. According to the study, young people, women, consumers with higher incomes, people who already use iodine-containing vitamins and increased amounts of seafood, people who have a doctor’s prescription for the consumption of these products, as well as those who have formed an understanding of the increased usefulness of this product are willing to pay more for an enriched product.
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.