Article
Actions and Reactions of Russian Manufacturing Companies to the Crisis Shocks from 2008–2009: Evidence from the Empirical Survey
This article explores the nature of the 2008 crisis and the channels through which it affected the performance of firms in Russia. Based on the findings of a manufacturing industry survey, the evidence suggests that all manufacturing firms were affected by crisis and that there is no single and dominant transmission channel. Crisis reactions were signficantly related to participation in international markets, although participation in trade, in external borrowing or FDi can not explain recession by themselves. The reversal of growth was mainly caused by a demand shock, and, following that, by financial constraints. Thus, the hypothesis that blames the overheating of internal demand in the years prior to the crisis seems to receive statistical backing. Globalised companies, though hit by external shocks, were better prepared to pay the costs and balance the consequences of the crisis.
In March 2011 scholars met in Prague at the conference Interculturalism, Meaning and Identity. This event revitalised this important theme related to Diversity and Recognition. The terms 'interculturalism' and 'integration' are experiencing a renaissance. As the extent of human movement between nations increases attempts are made to balance cultural difference and social cohesion. In some contexts immigration and settlement policies are becoming more draconian in response. Because of this, interculturalism can take on many meanings. However, pivotal to the way interculturalism is understood is identification. As the relationship between nation, ethnicity and language becomes more complex so too do the ways in which people represent them selves. The cultural resources drawn on and the processes used to form identities are examined in this truly international collection. So too are the implications of these developments for how we theorise culture, meaning and identity.
The conference is organized in collaboration with Polish Economic Society Branch in Toruń and Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic), BA School of Business and Finance (Latvia), Daugavpils University (Lithuania), Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky Hryhoriy Skovoroda State Pedagogical University (Ukraine), University of Angers (France), University of Pablo de Olavide (Spain), University of Latvia (Latvia). The conference is addressed to economist from all European Union countries and Eastern Europe. It aims to bring together economists form Western, Central and Eastern Europe to discuss issues in economics, finance and business management. Main conference tracks include: 1. Macroeconomics; Microeconomics; Econometrics; International Economics 2. Financial markets; Labour markets; Institutions; 3. Business environment; Management and Marketing.
The economic crisis of 2008, starting from US banking crisis, affected the economic and political developments in varied ways around the world. This edited volume examines the imact of the crisis on Eastern Europe and Russia, and the resulting policy responces. Taken as a whole, the economies of the former state social countries - frequently still referred to as transition economies - were hit hard by the crisis, suffering falls in GDP in 2009 that were deeper than the average around the world. However, there was considerable variety in the effects on individual countries, whilst some continuing to grow , others suffered quite exceptional falls in output. Policy responces were also quite diverse and do not obviously fit with the nature and severity of economic factors. The more general impacts on political life were also varied. In many cases very much the same governments continued in power, while in othere there were significant changes and signs of a growing instability in party and political structures. The articles in this book explore these differencies between countries and set them in a wider international context.
Using data on foreign borrowing, I identify Russian banks that were affected by the sudden stop of external financing caused by the Lehman Brothers’ collapse. Applying the difference-in-difference method, I compare these «affected» banks to «unaffected» ones and find that the Russian Central Bank’s (CBR) anti-crisis financial assistance primarily went to the former group. Tracing the impact of the CBR’s liquidity infusions on banks’ portfolio allocation decisions, I find that banks used CBR funds not only to pay out foreign debt, but also to accumulate cash deposits in non-resident banks. I also find that affected banks increased their holdings of market securities significantly more than unaffected ones, which suggests that the CBR’s bailout policies impacted their risk-taking strategies. While there was no significant difference in corporate lending growth between the two groups after the sudden stop, lending to borrowers with weaker banking relationships (individuals and entrepreneurs) decreased more among affected banks.
The chapter describes and analyses the main challenges and issues affecting the process of development of social work as a new profession in today’s Russia. At the end of the Soviet Union, the engagement of Russia with the West increased, but still the tensions between Russia and the West exist, and at times these tensions become even stronger. It is of particular interest to explore the specific implications of these relationships for social work. Since social work’s establishment as an occupation and training programme in early 1990s, educators, students, administrators and practitioners have not only implemented several shifts in the national policy agenda but have also addressed various global influences and incorporated them into the local policy context. The development of social work is being shaped by different power relations. Looking at these power relations from three interrelated analytical perspectives- those of actors, institutions and discourses – we will consider the role of international cooperation in the field of social work. We shall refer to the qualitative interviews with social work practitioners and manaters in three social service agencies conducted drign 2011-2012 in Saratov, Russia. These services were chosed because they were a part of international projects.
This article provides the results of development of bankruptcy prediction static model and its testing on the sample of more than thousand companies of manufacturing industry. The main scenarios of bankruptcy are identified and it is shown that depending on the bankruptcy scenario possible insolvency can be predicted one or four years before.
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.