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Модернизация России: условия, предпосылки, шансы. Сборник статей и материалов. Выпуск 2.
The article investigates the problems of low life expectancy and high death rates in the regions of Siberian Federal District, as the barriers for the modern social modernization, basing on a comparative analysis of national averages, as well as in dynamics. By analyzing the data of Russian Center of Statistics and representative public opinion polls for the program “Socio-cultural evolution of Russia” of The Center for the Study of socio-cultural changes of the Institute of Philosophy of Russian Academy of Science the authors consider specific factors that explain the gap in life expectancy between the regions of Siberian Federal District and Russia as a whole. It is revealed that the main reasons for the lag of Siberia in life expectancy from Russian average are the factors of mortality from avoidable causes like tuberculosis, external causes (especially in men), for instance, coronary heart disease at a relatively young age. Currently, low life expectancy of the population in the regions of Siberian Federal District and especially high mortality of capable population prevent the accumulation of the demographic potential, being a major barrier for social modernization of Siberia. In this case, not only low life expectancy is the barrier, but mostly socio-economic conditions, preserving it at this level and affecting both the low birth rate and migration unattractiveness of the region.
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 results of cross-cultural research of implicit theories of innovativeness among students and teachers, representatives of three ethnocultural groups: Russians, the people of the North Caucasus (Chechens and Ingushs) and Tuvinians (N=804) are presented. Intergroup differences in implicit theories of innovativeness are revealed: the ‘individual’ theories of innovativeness prevail among Russians and among the students, the ‘social’ theories of innovativeness are more expressed among respondents from the North Caucasus, Tuva and among the teachers. Using the structural equations modeling the universal model of values impact on implicit theories of innovativeness and attitudes towards innovations is constructed. Values of the Openness to changes and individual theories of innovativeness promote the positive relation to innovations. Results of research have shown that implicit theories of innovativeness differ in different cultures, and values make different impact on the attitudes towards innovations and innovative experience in different cultures.
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.