Article
Stopping the feast in times of plague: fighting criminal corporate raiding in diverse Russian regions
This paper analyzes the process of renegotiation of the informal contract between the regional and federal elites of Russia after the economic crisis. We use the database of Center of Public Procedures’ “Business against Corruption” to show that, after 2011, regional elites in Russia lost the preexisting opportunity to extract rents from businesses in return for favorable election results for Vladimir Putin and United Russia. We also analyze the connection between the level of corporate raiding in various Russian regions and the political competition, tenure, and ties of their governors. We show that there are two distinct models for fighting raiding in a region: an authoritarian model for suppressing negative signals and a competitive model with the creation of a new consensus among the elites. Although both models are similar in terms of the absence of negative signals, they have very different consequences in the business context of an area.
The sector of knowledgeintensive business services (KIBS) not only contributes to its own dynamic and innovative development but also to the development of the external environment through the creation, accumulation, and dissemination of knowledge. Therefore, it is considered one of the key pillars of the knowledgebased economy. This article addresses the problem of its spatial distribution in Russia. The basis of the study is uniquely empirical, obtained through a series of largescale surveys among Russian pro ducers and consumers of KIBS. The collected data provide quantitative evidence for the spatial dimension of the sector. Comparative analysis of the production and consumption of KIBS in Russia’s federal districts makes it possible to classify the latter in terms of the exchange of related services and mapping of the intensity of their interregional supply and demand across federal districts. It is established that companies offering KIBS in Russia are largely concentrated in big cities. The demand for KIBS is more distributed, but not spa tially neutral. This paper may be of interest to researchers focusing on the spatial distribution of elements of the innovationbased economy in Russia. It is also relevant for regional authorities, because it can help them assess the development capacity of their regions.
The article is dedicated to analysis and comparison of arrangement and socio-political function of democratic and republican parties of the USA. The main stress is made on ideological vectors of both parties and also on the role of geographical position and interests of the USA population which influence forming of the political platforms of the parties. The main goal of the article is to demonstrate the growth of polarization of American society closely associated with the growth of parties' emphasis on target audience and differences in financial policy.
This work looks at a model of spatial election competition with two candidates who can spend effort in order to increase their popularity through advertisement. It is shown that under certain condition the political programs of the candidates will be different. The work derives the comparative statics of equilibrium policy platform and campaign spending with respect the distribution of voter policy preferences and the proportionality of the electoral system. In particular, it is whown that the equilibrium does not exist if the policy preferences are distributed over too narrow an interval.
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.
This collection of articles contains reports and heads of reports to the Internetional Conference "Modern Models of Cultural Industries Development in Russian Regions", that was held in Saint-Petersburg on 9-10 October 2014 with the support of Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation.
Author reviews Russian legal system based on The Russian Constitution (1993) and also considers functioning of basic political institutions and others associated with them. At the same time author analyses reasons of unsatisfactory functioning of particular institutions from the point of view of the Constitution. In particular, author estimates constitutional status of Russian President and reveals his unproportional impact on other political and even civil societies institutions.
In the article are : the social bases of power as a nation, the nation, the elite, the elemental forces of the political market. It is noted that the idealistic view on social grounds authorities do not correspond to modern realities. Long enough described expenses provisions on the management Board of the nation. It is proposed to consider the rationalist approach in the determination of the constitutions of the social bases of power. The examples of the constitutions of a number of foreign States, in which the provisions of popular sovereignty is not understood completely. Russia proposes changing approaches to understanding the essence of popular sovereignty and representative government.
We address the external effects on public sector efficiency measures acquired using Data Envelopment Analysis. We use the health care system in Russian regions in 2011 to evaluate modern approaches to accounting for external effects. We propose a promising method of correcting DEA efficiency measures. Despite the multiple advantages DEA offers, the usage of this approach carries with it a number of methodological difficulties. Accounting for multiple factors of efficiency calls for more complex methods, among which the most promising are DMU clustering and calculating local production possibility frontiers. Using regression models for estimate correction requires further study due to possible systematic errors during estimation. A mixture of data correction and DMU clustering together with multi-stage DEA seems most promising at the moment. Analyzing several stages of transforming society’s resources into social welfare will allow for picking out the weak points in a state agency’s work.