Working paper
Net Comparative Advantage Index: Overcoming the Drawbacks of the Existing Indices
We investigate the 2008–2009 trade collapse using microdata from a small open economy, Belgium. Belgian exports and imports mostly fell because of smaller quantities sold and unit prices charged rather than fewer firms, trading partners, and products being involved in trade. Our difference-in-difference results point to a fall in the demand for tradables as the main driver of the collapse. Finance and involvement in global value chains played a minor role. Firm-level exports-to-turnover and imports-to-intermediates ratios reveal a comparable collapse of domestic and cross-border operations. Overall, our results reject a crisis of cross-border trade per se.
This article assesses the level of openness of Russian economy. It is shown that the open-ness indicators used in the Concept of Long-term Social and Economic Development of the Russian Federation differ from those employed by international organisations. The present research analyses both the intensity of Russian trade in terms of its gross domestic product and the relative strength of import penetration in Russia. Methodological differences determine the differences in the analysis results.
The general region socio-economical developement estimation approach is based on the agregation of diffeerent indices into one number. This approach leads to the loss of information, because highly economically developed regions are mixed with the poorly developed regions which live only due to subsidies. The new complex-valued index is proposed in the article. The usage of the index allows to evaluate the regions' developement from two separated sides: the social developement and economical developement. The simple way of such a complex-valued indices is proposed in the article.
The article explores the procedural aspect of constructing structural and logical typologies with the aim of creating the innovation index - workers attitudes guiding innovation and innovation -related behavior at workplace.
This study analyzes the effects of reducing trade barriers in the context of the objectives of competition policy. Separate chapters are devoted to the assessment of the height of Russian trade barriers, the analysis of the impact of international trade on domestic prices and concentration of production.
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.