This volume offers profound analyses of the main theoretical and practical aspects of the concept of sustainable development: namely, current environmental problems; the building of green economies; climate policies; specifics of international cooperation in the sphere of sustainable development; specific features of business and government involvement in implementing sustainable development; the role of civil society; its social and gender aspects; and specific characteristics of national models of sustainable development. The focus on the international aspects of the implementation of sustainable development ideas makes the insights offered here fresh and unique.

Human capital is produced primarily by the education system. Today it is the most important factor in the development of economy and society. By investing in human capital, economic growth rates above the average world-level can be achieved, which is necessary in order to strengthen Russia’s positions in the context of increasing global competition. The report proposes 12 projects, aiming not only for the development of education, but for making a decisive contribution to the “breakthrough” of the country in economic, social and technological development by activating the creative potential of the Russian population as a whole and self-realization of each individual. The ultimate result of all the proposed 12 solutions will be a steady increase in the quality of life of the Russian people.

The research on technical regulations and standards highlights that the EAEU is already implementing many EU standards as the basis for reforming and modernizing its former GOST regulations and standards. In addition the EAEU is adopting many standards of the international standards organizations (ISO, IEC, ITU), which work very closely in partnership with the European standards organizations (CEN, CENELEC, ETSI), such that international and European standards are to a large degree identical. This means that the legal and technical infrastructure for non-tariff barriers of the two parties is already converging. This makes non-tariff barriers a potentially fertile field for cooperation between the EU and EAEU, which in turn could mean easier access to markets and increased mutual trade. In this case, the potential format and extent of cooperation could extend to include a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) on Conformity Assessment, through to the most ambitious formula (in EU practice) of the Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA). Such arrangements would in principle ideally form part of a free trade agreement. Such scenarios can be technically specified, but of course they would have to rely on demanding political conditions which today are not satisfied.  

The objectives of the study were (a) to identify the reasons and concerns of those public administrators and marketing scholars who do not accept the usefulness of marketing in the public sector; (b) to deconstruct, comprehend, interpret, and critically appraise the current conceptualization of public sector marketing from the viewpoint of negativists identified in step (a); and (c) to reconstruct, redefine, reinterpret, and reoperationalize the current controversial conceptualization of public sector marketing into a new conceptualization in the context of park and recreation services. The critical theory approach to the study primary used non-empirical procedures data collection and analytic procedures which included investigative research, negative case analysis, and theoretical triangulation. These procedures were supplemented with empirical data collected from in-depth interviews with five scholars and with three parks and recreation managers. Results of the non-empirical procedures revealed the biased selective nature of the current conceptualization of public park and recreation marketing and the existence of alternative conceptualizations which have been ignored. The existing and alternative models were discussed with scholars and park and recreation managers. Support was found for the alternative models. From these data an alternative conceptualization of public park and recreation marketing was developed and named the concept of administered marketing. Implications for park and recreation managers are discussed. Directions for future research into the administratively managed park and recreation marketing concept are suggested. 

In the last decade, advanced economies, including the euro area, experienced deflationary pressures caused by the global financial crisis of 2007‒2009 and the anti--crisis policies that followed—in particular, the new financial regulations (which led to a deep decline in the money multiplier). However, there are numerous signs in both the real and financial spheres that these pressures are disappearing. The largest advanced economies are growing up to their potential, unemployment is systematically decreasing, the financial sector is more eager to lend, and its clients—to borrow. Rapidly growing asset prices signal the possibility of similar developments in other segments of the economy. In this new macroeconomic environment, central banks should cease unconventional monetary policies and prepare themselves to head off potential inflationary pressures.

In order to understand a country as large and diverse as Russia, it is extremely important to consider spatial patterns of economic development. As Russia looks for new drivers of economic growth, it is important to understand the structural conditions that have defined economic development in Russia’s regions. This report uses the Economic Potential Index (EPI) methodology to identify the conditions that drive regional development. Economic potential is the level of productivity that is possible for a region to achieve given its structural endowments, which are characteristics that are hard to alter in the short run. The methodology used in this report combines quantitative analysis of drivers of productivity across regions with in-depth case studies that focus on the role of regional governments and institutions in converting endowments into economic outcomes. This methodology generates insights that are relevant for both national and regional governments. The first chapter of this report provides an overview of regional development in Russia over the last 25 years and identifies “Russia-specific” national structural conditions that may affect regional development. The second chapter discusses the results of an assessment of economic potential at the regional level and the factors that shape it in Russia. The third chapter focuses on the role of national and regional governance, policy, and institutions in promoting economic development of the regions. The final chapter proposes policy priorities for both regional and national authorities.

The 11th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV2018) took place in Galway, Republic of Ireland, between 4 and 6 April 2018. The conference was held under the high patronage of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), Government of Ireland. The Insight Centre for Data Analytics, part of the National University of Ireland Galway, co-organised ICEGOV2018 with the United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV), which is also the conference series organiser1. The conference organisation was also supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).

The materials of The International Scientific – Practical Conference is presented below.

The Conference reflects the modern state of innovation in education, science, industry and social-economic sphere, from the standpoint of introducing new information technologies.

It is interesting for a wide range of researchers, teachers, graduate students and professionals in the field of innovation and information technologies.

The Report predicts that the coming five years will witness the five countries keep improving in national innovative competitiveness, with China and Russia maintaining their strong growth momentum, India growing at a moderate rate, and Brazil and South Africa gradually picking up speed and climbing out of the trough. It estimates that the five countries’ national innovative competitiveness will be keeping steady growth by 2030. 

 

The General Reports part presents a comprehensive analysis of the current status and achievements of STI cooperation between China and other BRICS countries and proposes priority areas of BRICS STI cooperation to provide valuable decision inputs for the BRICS countries to accelerate the improvement of their national innovative competitiveness. The Country Reports part respectively analyzes and makes predictions on the national innovative competitiveness of the BRICS countries based on a survey of their STI development and STI cooperation within the BRICS framework. The Thematic Reports part focuses on four thematic areas closely related to STI, i.e. digital economy, financial inclusion, energy, and agriculture, and offers detailed analysis of the STI development and potential of the countries in relevant areas, providing additional inputs for a further understanding of the national innovative competitiveness of the BRICS countries.

The book considers how to make the methodology of business ethics more scientific, especially its normative branch. Storchevoy explores the attempts of economic theory to contribute to the scientific normative analysis of economic behavior, particularly the welfare economics of 1910-1950 and methodological discussions of economics and ethics from 1980-2015. He then examines the development of the methodological structure of business ethics in general since the 1980s and the scientific validity of normative business ethics, including stakeholder theory, the separation thesis, integral social contract theory, corporate social responsibility, virtue ethics and other frameworks. He concludes by suggesting an additional step to make business ethics a more systematic discipline by developing a typology of moral issues and dilemmas. Business Ethics as a Science will be a thought-provoking resource for students and practitioners of business ethics and economists alike.

A complex analysis of the social and economic consequences of China, Ukraine, and Russia’s accession to the WTO was used to identify recommendations for the most successful adaptation of Russia to WTO standards. Russia tries to adapt to the WTO standards. The study focuses on the Chinese experience. China’s membership in the WTO is extremely useful for Russia from due to China’s positive influence on the development of its economy , as there has been expansion in the industrial and production sectors of its economy and promotion of goods in world markets, as well as an opportunity to use the WTO’s legal instruments for national domestic market protection.

China’s positive experience as a WTO member somehow contrasts with the described experience of Ukraine. An assessment of Ukraine’s versatile policy and its association with the EU allowed concluded that it is impossible for Ukraine to follow two ways at once: that of Eurasian integration and that of European integration.

Recently, the aggravated trade, economic and political confrontations between Russia and its American and European partners spurred radical changes in Russia’s economic strategy. Areas of such transformations can be determined by understanding both the positive and negative experiences of Russia’s old trade partners, namely China and Ukraine as they joined the world economic environment.

This book examines how Russia, the world’s most complicated country, is governed. As it resumes its place at the centre of global affairs, the book explores Russia’s overarching strategies, and how it organizes itself (or not) in policy areas ranging from foreign policy and national security to health care, education, immigration, science, sport, agriculture, the environment and criminal justice. The book also discusses the structures and institutions on which Russia relies in order to deliver its goals in these areas of national life, as well as what’s to be done, in policy terms, to improve the country’s performance in its first post-Soviet century. Edited by Irvin Studin, the book includes contributions from a tremendous list of Russia’s leading thinkers and specialists, including Alexei Kudrin, Vladimir Mau, Alexander Auzan, Simon Kordonsky, Fyodor Lukyanov, Natalia Zubarevich and Andrey Melville.

To help countries achieve their full industrialization potential and fulfil the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and thereby improve their general welfare, UNIDO is promoting the concept of comprehensive and sustainable industrial development (ISID), which was established in the Lima Declaration adopted by UNIDO Member States on 2 December 2013. The UN General Assembly recognizes the significance of ISID as an important strategic direction for fostering global development in the future. ISID is a key instrument for achieving sustainable economic growth, the creation of quality jobs, the building of equal societies, the protection of the environment, and the active shaping of comprehensive sustainable globalization. The promotion of ISID as the key driver for successful integration of economic, social and environmental factors necessary to achieve full implementation of sustainable development by creating and improving countries’ industrial potential is the main priority of UNIDO’s current activities. To successfully implement ISID, UNIDO acts as a global forum for industrial development and the establishment of relevant international standards, including standards on industrial statistics [UNIDO, 2014; 2013a]. Accordingly, UNIDO has been implementing the regional project “Improvement of industrial statistics and development of statistical indicators for the analysis of industrial development in the CIS countries” since 2013. The project’s main objective is to provide methodological assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States’ (CIS) national statistical services in implementing international standards on industrial statistics in the statistical practice and presentation of modern, internationally comparable information for a qualitative and reliable reflection of industrial development processes. This report presents the results of the statistical analysis describing the availability, quality and measurement capabilities of official statistics in the CIS countries accumulated over the period 2005-2014.

Presenting the findings of a major research project, this  volume investigates the regional, ethnic and socio-cultural aspects of poverty and social exclusion in Russia in recent years. In-depth household interviews and survey data allowed teams from the UK, Denmark and Russia to compare different societies and communities in Russia across several different themes: the definition of poverty in different regional, ethnic and socio-cultural settings; the reproduction and formation of poverty subcultures in different societies and communities; the ethnic/national and political values of poor people; the readiness of poor people for social protest; and a comparison of Russia with other EU countries. Offering a wealth of original data collected following a period of rapid impoverishment of the Russian population, the study considers the challenge this presents to Western European models of poverty and social exclusion.

This book suggests that normative ethics should be developed as a social science, and that this will improve its reputation in business and society. Storchevoy defines four criteria of a good scientific method (clear definitions, correct logic, empirical verification, accurate measurement) and demonstrates how normative ethics can make use of them. He provides a historical review of the methodological evolution of normative ethics and outlines how it was moving in a nonlinear way towards this scientific development by the 16th century. A Scientific Approach to Ethics challenges the reputation of ethics among many within business and business schools as unscientific and argues that it can come to be seen as a scientific discipline able to reveal universal moral truth.

On 26-27 June 2017, IIASA hosted a high-level consultation meeting to further discuss the second phase of the IIASA Futures Initiative “Challenges and Opportunities of Economic Integration within a wider European and Eurasian Space”. The event concentrated around one full day on the high-level stakeholder segment and one day of an expert meeting. Stakeholders and organizations interested in participating and supporting the second phase of the project were presented a brief overview of the first phase (2014-2016), plans for the second phase (2018-2022), as well as the research on-going in 2017 as fast track studies. All the discussions are based on the “Lisbon to Vladivostok” and “Greater Eurasia” common economic space concepts. 

It is shown that the global spatial organization of the oil and gas field services sector depends largely

on the characteristics of assets available in the mineral resources sector and that Russian service companies

still remain players in the regional league. Our analysis reveals the key role of oilfield service companies in the

innovative processes in the oil and gas industry. Science-intensive services can significantly reduce the unit

costs of reserves increment and production costs. Endogenous, network, and exogenous models are used to

summarize the formation and development processes for the oil and gas component of regional innovation

systems. It is shown that resource regions cannot follow a single model of innovative development targeting

the needs of the oil and gas industry. These models should take into account a wide range of regional features.

The results demonstrate the need to strengthen the role of resource regions in regulating the oil and gas field

services sector and innovative processes in the oil and gas industry. The focus is on developing a methodology

for studying innovative processes within regional socioeconomic systems and on providing practical recommendations.

Russia is estimated to hold the world's largest technically recoverable shale-oil resources. The conventional oil resource base is still very large, but there are doubts about how much is economically recoverable. Increasing attention is given to unconventional oil. The purpose of the article is to assess whether fundamental conditions for sustainable, profitable production of unconventional oil are in place. Compared to the successful development of unconventional oil in the USA, Russia has several disadvantages. The Russian oil sector is dominated by big companies without the flexibility in methods and decision-making required in very heterogeneous unconventional projects. Infrastructure is less accessible in Russia than in most American projects. On a more fundamental level the relatively poor condition of geological data collections is a serious cost increasing factor, and the system for development and dispersion of new technologies has critical shortcomings. Russia lacks appreciation of risk taking and a corresponding regulatory framework, as well as relevant financial mechanisms. Nevertheless, government documents almost exclusively focus on technology as such as well as on taxation and tax benefits as preconditions for successful development. Without addressing the fundamental institutional problems, the potential for exploiting the resources base will be limited.

This article examines the goals, methods, and implications of regional organizations founded and dominated by autocracies—including the Commonwealth of Independent States (spearheaded by Russia), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (China), Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Venezuela), and Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia). It shows the role that these organizations play in preserving and promoting autocracy and the different tools they use for this purpose: rhetorical endorsement; the redistribution of resources to support weaker authoritarian states; and even military interventions to suppress revolution. The existence of authoritarian regionalism poses an important challenge for Western states and institutions in democracy promotion around the world.

The paper deals with the issues of concentration of economic activity in Russian regions influenced not only by factors of the “first nature” – presence of minerals, fertile land, favorable geographic position, but also by factors of the “second nature”, in particular, the agglomeration effects and potential savings in the scale. Analysis of the geographic concentration and the region-specific focus reflects the general trend in the concentration of industrial production, investment and human resources, provides the necessary information framework for a harmonized economic policy. The purpose for the study is to theoretically justify and analyze economic activity concentration in terms of assessment of concentration and specialization of Russian regions over time. The paper reveals terminological aspects of concentration, agglomeration, specialization, agglomeration economics and urbanization. The applied methodological tools of assessment include the localization factor, Herfindahl-Hirschman and Krugman concentration and specialization indices, Gini index. The research novelty lies in the formation of the terminological framework of the location theory, namely the definition of agglomeration as a process of concentration of activities in a region supported by circular logic at several levels with a distinction between its two types – “economy of localization” and “economy of urbanization”; in the identification of the relative and absolute types of geographic concentration. Elements of the research novelty are contained in the methodological framework of the study – the system of traditional indicators for assessing the concentration and specialization of regional economy is supplemented by relevant Krugman indices similar in content to the Herfindahl-Hirschman indices, but reflecting the heterogeneity of development to a greater extent; the localization factor is used to identify potential economic clusters in the territory when making decisions in the process of regions’ management. High concentration of investment and industrial production in Russian regions, consistent upward trend of the labor force is revealed. This situation leads to increased inter-regional inequality. The manufacturing industry has experienced a decline in employment. The tendency towards concentration is identified in the pulp and paper industry, publishing and printing, metallurgy, manufacturing of transport vehicles and equipment, and chemical production. The regions with a high level of specialization include Kamchatka Krai, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the Sakhalin, Magadan, Ivanovo and Lipetsk oblasts. The obtained results can be used in scientific research to analyze the concentration of economic activity, assess the development of agglomeration processes, or as recommendations for implementing the economic policy in the regions.

This article investigates whether and how regional international organizations created by authoritarian countries can aid the regime survival of their member states. Numerous regions of the world have witnessed a proliferation of regional organizations established by powerful authoritarian states. We argue that the external influence of these organizations can affect regime survival and reinforce non-democratic regime trajectories, but in a nuanced manner. The article argues that, in addition to examining the impact of the regional organization itself, one must examine how the existence of these regional organizations changes the strategy of autocratic leading states, which—in bilateral relations with other countries—could become more eager to support authoritarian regimes of geopolitical importance. We use the case of the Eurasian Economic Union to explore various strategies of Russia, the leading state, vis-à-vis post-Soviet Eurasian countries. These strategies, however, appear only to matter for authoritarian consolidation when countries, from the Russian point of view, are on the ‘front line’ of geopolitical competition with the EU, and which are, therefore, important in stabilizing Russian influence. The article identifies five strategic foreign policy models of leading states which are determined by the existence of regional organizations and evaluates the benefits of these strategies for both leading and targeted states.

The attached paper contains an assessment of the ten years' cooperation between the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and the Russian Federation in the sphere of the trade and investment relations.

The paper consists of three parts:

1. Dynamics of the trade and investment relations between the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation;

2. Development of the Russian-Kyrgyz partnership in part of an intensification of trade and economic and investment cooperation;

3. Formulation of recommendations about policy issues in the field of the sustainable trade and investment relations and mutual benefit.

The first block of the paper provides the analytical review of the key macroeconomic statistical indicators characterizing business tendencies and dynamics of the main indicators of trade and investment activity with emphasis on manufacturing between Kyrgyzstan and Russia during 2008 - 2016. The main sources of information, which supports this block, are:

the database of the United Nations conference on trade and development (UNCTADstat);

— the database of the Eurasian economic commission;

— the database of the National statistical committee of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The second part of the paper provides the summary of ten years' bilateral economic cooperation in the sphere of trade and investment partnership between Kyrgyzstan and Russia from the complex analysis of the set of the documents concerning bilateral contracts, projects and agreements. Key long-term interests of two states were determined and the prospective directions for stimulation of development of trade and economic relations in the medium- and long-term are highlighted.

There are presented some conclusions and fundamental recommendations about issues of coordination of economic policies in the field of development of the sustainable trade and investment relations in the medium- and long-term, which are based on the revealed tendencies of economic interaction and dynamics of convergence of the countries are formulated.

Three approaches are developed for assessment of different types of organizational ambidexterity proposed in the relevant literature. The new model for measurement of organizational ambidexterity using data envelopment analysis (DEA) is introduced. The DEA score based on innovation activity inputs and two different performance outputs acts as a proxy for organizational ambidexterity. Sustainability goals and product ambidexterity are also analyzed as the key characteristics of ambidextrous behavior. The introduced three approaches are tested for their aptness to complement each other as well as to support a strategic decision-making. Empirical examples from energy and pharma sectors associate organizational ambidexterity with firms’ performance. We measured the organizational ambidexterity of energy and pharma companies by (1) pursuing long-term versus short-term organizational performance measured as a DEA two-output efficiency score; (2) the share of disruptive products in a company’s activities assessed through the proportion of R&D expenditure or sales; and (3) sustainability versus financial performance of the company, where the Green ranking and participation in innovative financing programs were used as proxies for sustainable development. Positive relation between performance and organizational ambidexterity for energy sector are discovered. At the same time, orientation towards sustainability disrupts performance of pharmaceutical companies. Results of the OA impact on performance are highly industry-sensitive and depend on the methods used in empirical assessment. Our findings suggest that the scarcity of data sources make all three approaches complementary and mainly functional for strategic decision-making.

This paper looks at the effects of tax-benefit systems and social stratification determinants on the probability of poverty among mothers after childbirth and divorce/separation. The analysis was carried out for twelve EU countries, which represent a variety of welfare regimes providing different degrees of defamilialisation. We applied the stress-testing methodology using microsimulation techniques as proposed by Atkinson (2009) and carried out a regression analysis of the simulated results. We show that the degree of income replacement provided by the welfare state is higher for childbirth than for divorce. Countries with low post-childbirth poverty include those with an explicit pro-natalist orientation and socio-democratic regimes. High post-childbirth poverty rates are found in pro-traditional and South European conservative countries, and especially in the liberal regimes. The same is true for the post-divorce poverty rates.  Moreover, our findings confirm that the mother’s occupational class has a statistically significant effect for predicting poverty in the case of both events, with a stronger social gradient in case of divorce. Cross-country variation in the social gradient for post-childbirth poverty was insignificant. For post-divorce poverty we find weaker social class effects in the highly defamilialised welfare systems (Scandinavian countries and France) and stronger social class effects in the UK and the post-socialist countries.

The last decade brought increasing attention to income and wealth inequalities in advanced economies because of their increase in several countries and negative social and political implications. However, this debate is often limited to the single-country perspective, disregarding decreasing global income inequalities, i.e. inequalities between individuals in the entire world. This paper focuses mainly on the global dimension of the inequality trends but also tries to update statistics on national inequality trends which, contrary to the dominant narrative, seem to go in various directions depending on a concrete country. Finally, an attempt is made to analyze the potential interrelation and trade-off between decreasing global inequalities and increasing national inequalities and the role of globalization, in its various forms, in such a trade-off.

This article examines the presence of the reference price effect in mergers and acquisitions in Russia, which can act as a distortion in investor perception of the influence a deal has on a company. In this study we use the Russian market as a laboratory for the investigation of behavioral effects in a relatively inefficient market. We find a relationship between the acquirer’s announcement period return and the proximity of its pre-announcement share price to the 52-week high. The 52-week high serves as a salient anchor even though it is economically irrelevant for valuation purposes. This effect appears to be stronger for deals associated with higher levels of uncertainty. The findings confirm the presence of the anchoring bias in evaluating the effect of a merger or acquisition announcement by Russian investors. We demonstrate a significant anchoring effect even for deals with a blocking (>10%) or a controlling stake (>25%) in an emerging market with a highly concentrated ownership.

Deregulation is often claimed to be the cause for financial distress. Thus it has to lead to financial defaults and losses. However, exact dependence is not clear. To verify it we tried to investigate the roots of world largest financial losses. As we found no source to extensively and completely cover those, we decided to prepare a data set of our own. By choosing a round threshold of USD 100m equivalent of loss amount as of announcement date, we arrived at the set of 117 defaults with total loss of USD 914bn in 46 years. Our key purpose is to make comprehend data set of largest losses.

Ten years after the global crisis of 2007–2009 the financial regulation has being enhanced with the pace of world stock markets growth. Latter ones have hit their historical maximum values being two to three fold higher than on the eve of the crisis. Such prudential tightening incentivizes using financial technologies to create new banking products and optimize regulatory burden. Same time it inflates the stock market bubble leading to greater fragility and increases the probability of another global crisis. Current research shows how human psychology has to be accounted for. This is relevant both for humans managing financial institutions as objects of regulation and humans benefiting from regulation when consuming financial services. It is shown that unconventional policy measure of abandoning both regulation and state deposit insurance enables to enhance financial stability. It implies more conservative behaviour and diminishes risk-appetite for both financiers and their clients.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the frequently neglected role of business model innovation (BMI) as a key instrument of strategic adaptation of Western multinational enterprises to emerging economy enviroment. Despite an abundance of studies on BMI, prior works have paid little attention to how specific characteristics of emerging economy environment force MNEs to change their business models. In order to fill this gap the author developed the analytical framework allowing to trace potential directions of this changing impact, and suggested a typological classification of respective innovative business models responding to concrete challenges posed by emerging economies to MNEs. The paper identifies the main directions of influence exerted by emerging economy environment on various building blocks of MNEs’ business models, thus enabling related innovative activities. These growing BMI activities entail very serious implications for MNEs’ strategy and organization, and innovation governance mechanisms, which are increasingly required to enhance their abilities to support multiple business models adapted to specific environment in all major host countries.

This paper defines a stress scenario as a global or national business development leading to the scrapping of established trends as a result of one or several technological breakthroughs, which can combine with a number of events and factors unfavorable for the global or national economy. The paper presents an analysis of technological shifts in the global agricultural sector focused the impact of these development on the Russian economy. Special attention is paid to scenarios involving deviation from conventional trends, when the imbalance between production and consumption becomes particularly acute while the situation in global food markets changes quickly and significantly with serious consequences for the Russian economy. This remains dependent on developed countries, which are major suppliers of vital resources required for the Russian agricultural sector. Six stress scenarios for the Russian agricultural sector, if certain drivers are triggered, were developed. In contrast to conventional forecasts based on the trends formed in recent years, stress scenarios consider the disruption of such trends, which today are recognized by most experts as the most realistic.

This paper contributes to the conceptualisation and operationalisation of the “technology trend” discussion in the scope of the Technology Foresight paradigm. It proposes a consistent logical approach to analysing technology trends and increase predictive potential of futures studies. The approach integrates Big Data analysis into the Foresight studies’ toolset by means of applying text mining, namely computerised analysis of large volumes of unstructured text-based industry-relevant analytics. It comprises methodological results such as analytical decomposition of the trend concept, including trend attributes (inherent characteristics) and various trend types and empirical results of detection and classification of global technology trends in the agricultural sector. The study makes a significant contribution to the development of a conceptual apparatus for trend analysis as a sub-area of Foresight methodology. The agricultural field is used to demonstrate the application the methodology. The empirical results can be applied by federal and regional authorities responsible for promoting development of the sectors to design relevant strategies and programmes, and by companies to set their long-term marketing and investment priorities.

The paper analyzes the existing approaches to the concept of scientific career, as well as career patterns of PhD holders. The authors consider the choice of alternative career options that do not involve a strict hierarchy or a clear understanding of where a person’s career path will take him. Taking into account the approaches developed earlier in the framework of the sociology of science, the sociology of employment and the theory of life cycles, as well as on the basis of the results of modern empirical research, including the results of the international project “Careers of Doctorate Holders (CDH)” (OECD, Eurostat, UNESCO Institute for Statistics), the authors propose a new model of academic career and identify the main factors, allowing to assess the success of a career. The model was tested on the data obtained during a survey among Russian researchers involving 828 respondents aged between 30 and 49 and employed by universities, research institutes, organizations of engineering services, industrial enterprises, medical centers and clinics. The analysis revealed 5 main factors determining the research career: recognition in the academic community; application of the scientific results in practice; implementation of research interests; formal criteria for successful employment (salary and level of position); mobility (including international). The results of the study confirmed the initial hypothesis that the factors affecting career success can be classified by their significance for the individual / for the professional community / for society as a whole.

The paper compares and contrasts the patent-based indicators, traditionally used to assess a country’s technological capacities and specialization. It seeks to determine how a chosen metric might affect the results of such an analysis, sometimes being misleading. Empirically, the paper is based on the statistical information on patent activity of the top-10 patenting countries. It concludes with a clear demonstration of the need to employ a complex of patent-related indicators to make deliberate solutions on managing technological development of a country. Also the authors offer a taxonomy of technological capacities, which might further help understanding their current status and prospects for future progress. Above the methodological implications, the paper might be of an interest for policy-makers and practitioners as it analyzes the patent profiles and technological specialization of the global leaders

The modernisation of the Ukrainian economy and state continues to develop at an unsatisfactory pace due to a lack of pro-reform political consensus. The two upcoming election campaigns in 2019 (presidential and parliamentary) make the reform process even slower and additionally put its effectiveness and sustainability under risk. The international community has a limited toolkit to overcome this stalemate.

Virtual currencies are a contemporary form of private money. Thanks to their technological properties, their global transaction networks are relatively safe, transparent, and fast. This gives them good prospects for further development. However, they remain unlikely to challenge the dominant position of sovereign currencies and central banks, especially those in major currency areas. As with other innovations, virtual currencies pose a challenge to financial regulators, in particular because of their anonymity and trans-border character.

The G20 and BRICS emergence in response to systemic vulnerabilities and structural changes in the world economy germinated expectations, reflections and criticisms. The G20 sought to manage the crisis, reform the international architecture and devise a new global consensus. BRICS committed to foster cooperation and policy coordination between its members and promote the international institutions reform.  Often criticized for lack of efficiency and legitimacy, G20 and BRICS consistently engage with international organizations (IOs). This engagement has the potential to promote inclusiveness and efficiency of the two institutions and global governance. The study explores the G20 and BRICS modes of engagement with the IOs testing the assumption that the they can resort to a combination of “catalyst,” “core group” and “parallel treatment” modes and their preferred choice reflects their mission and role in the system of international institutions. Acting as a catalyst they can exert influence for change in IOs through endorsement or stimulus. Engaging IOs as a core group they can impart a new direction by giving a mandate or providing the necessary political leadership. They can also create their own mechanisms in parallel with IOs.  Drawing on quantitative and qualitative analysis of G20 and BRICS documents the authors trace the dynamics and models of the G20 and BRICS engagement with IOs since their first summits.  The findings confirm G20 and BRICS commitment to multilateralism. The G20 exceeds the BRICS by the number, intensity and scope of references to IOs. It employs all three modes, engaging key partners (the IMF, the FSB, the OECD, the WB, the WTO and the ILO) mostly as a core group. With a different degree of success G20 exerts catalytic influence over its key partners. It resorts to parallel treatment sparingly. The G20 engages IOs across the full range of global governance functions.  BRICS members consistently support the G20 decisions and the UN central role in the multi-polar world. BRICS acts as a catalyst endorsing and supporting change of the UN, the IMF, the WB, the WTO, but never acts as a core group. BRICS increasingly uses its own institutions. The BRICS mostly engages IOs in deliberation and direction setting, less frequently in decision-making. BRICS own mechanisms are also involved in delivery.  Thus G20 demonstrates a strong capability for global governance development through use of IOs, while BRICS contributes to global governance development building BRICS-centered institutional system and stimulating change of the IOs. 

  In this paper, we introduce a simple new theory on mixed competition between oligopolistic firms and the competitive fringe, assuming a comparative advantage for  big firms and  free entry for small firms.  Oligopolies are defined as conglomerates, each part of which benefits from joint operations through lower costs.  Our theory implies that   (i) industries with a few oligopolies arise as a stable outcome of mixed competition;   (ii) mixed competition differs from the monopolistic competition of single-product firms due to the underproduction of oligopolistic firms and  differs from pure oligopolistic competition since constraints on this underproduction are imposed by the competitive fringe;   (iii) a positive shock in the market size can strengthen or weaken the competitiveness of the economy through the growth of the number of oligopolies.  

This paper investigates the role of bank voluntary disclosure, as a source of information about risk, in the interbank market. Using data on the 179 largest Russian banks over the period of 2004-2013 we test whether the ability to attract interbank loans is sensitive to various transparency indices such as those disclosing bank risks, board composition, or even corporate event details. We show that larger but riskier banks – at least in terms of credit risk – behave more transparently and disclose more. The article is also the first to provide evidence that the ability to attract funds in the interbank market is positively correlated with the degree of transparency. This result is stable for various aspects of disclosure.

This article evaluates the efficiency of current MIF rates for the Russian market and identifies the effects of their changes. In order to estimate the demand of end users and end-user surpluses the study uses the adopted version of the Bedre-Defolie and Calvano (2013) model as well as representative samples of 800 traditional (offline) Russian merchants, 1500 Russian individuals and 7 banks from the top 20 that cover more than 80% of the Russian issuing and acquiring markets and the end-user benefits. Results confirm the efficiency of currently set MIF rates. Comparative statics analysis confirms that the changes in MIF rates never lead to a Pareto improvement, while the total surplus changes are asymmetric across different market parts. The article also shows that once the realistic assumptions are introduced to the models (e.g., information asymmetry, imperfect pass-through of changes) the end-user welfare is distorted more severely as a result of the MIF rates changes. The first-best policy for the Russian regulator and legislators is the use of alternative (non-tariff) stimulating measures for a cashless economy in order to isolate the effect of changes to the intended groups

We explore the role and organizing capacity of foreign business associations (FBAs) in the Russian context. Considering the potential role of FBAs as effective intermediaries during time of aggravated international relations, the paper examines the problems and mechanisms of foreign firms’ interaction with key national partners in their host countries and describes the conditions that lead to effective dialogue between FBAs and national governments. The main phases and factors of evolution are identified for Russia’s two main channels of foreign firms’ collective actions: The Foreign Investment Advisory Council, which is chaired by Russia’s prime minister, and FBAs. A comparative analysis of the efficiencies of each channel finds that political, rather than economic or institutional, factors play the dominant role in explaining the shifting efficiency of collective action of foreign firms over time.

The signing of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement and the Kigali Declaration may signal a new push towards economic integration on the African continent. However, it remains to be seen how many more countries sign up, how successfully 'phase two' is implemented later this year, and whether the agreement can be built upon to more comprehensively promote trade in services and a reduction of non-tariff barriers.

In the last decade, advanced economies, including the euro area, experienced deflationary pressures caused by the global financial crisis of 2007-2009 and the anti-crisis policies that followed—in particular, the new financial regulations (which led to a deep decline in the money multiplier). However, there are numerous signs in both the real and financial spheres that these pressures are disappearing. The largest advanced economies are growing up to their potential, unemployment is systematically decreasing, the financial sector is more eager to lend, and its clients—to borrow. Rapidly growing asset prices signal the possibility of similar developments in other segments of the economy. In this new macroeconomic environment, central banks should cease unconventional monetary policies and prepare themselves to head off potential inflationary pressures. Failure to do so in right time may create serious macroeconomic and financial stability risks.

In recent years the Russian banking system has witnessed numerous bank license withdrawals. Many of the failed banks had significant volumes of retail deposits in their liabilities, thus, transmitting the default burden to the Deposit Insurance Agency and ultimately to the taxpayers. In their attempt to stay in the market banks may try to attract the depositor funds even more intensively when the failure is not far away. The main assumption of this paper is that banks raise additional funds through inflated deposit interest rates – the overstatement strategy – before leaving the market. We use unique data on Russian bank deposit interest rates for deposits of different maturities in 2015–2016 combined with data about bank fundamentals coming from their financial statements. The results suggest that if a bank offers too generous interest rates for deposits for 180-365 days this can be a signal of a significantly higher probability of license withdrawal in 3 quarters. In their attempt to urgently attract funds when moving closer to default banks assign the highest rates for the longest-term deposits, with the maturity over one year. The interest rates higher than the market average dramatically increase the probability of a bank failure in 2 quarters.