The transformation of emerging markets in recent decades has generated a new, growing, and very large middle class market, also known as the middle of the pyramid. This market segment, which is middle by the standards of emerging markets yet low by the standards of advanced economies, is extremely attractive for firms, but still understood and underserved. This volume presents detailed analyses of exemplary firms that have innovated products, services, and business models to fulfil the needs and desires of these new middle classes. It provides useful insights for managers, consultants, researchers, and students interested in emerging economies, and actionable lessons on how to innovate for a new and expanding market segment.

Working Title: From Corporate Social Responsibility to Corporate Social Liability

Subtitle: A Socio-Legal Study of Corporate Liability in Global Value Chains

Series: N/A 

 

Articles of the collection are devoted to the analysis of trends and directions of research in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship. The issues of the current state of development of entrepreneurship, innovation, human resource management, marketing, regional development, public administration, under conditions of digitalization and pandemic COVID-19 are investigated. The collection is of interest to economists and sociologists, teachers, students and postgraduate students.

 The goal of the handbook is to add significant knowledge and experience to research methods in public administration, management and policy by exploring, in both a detailed and progressive manner, a variety of research methods that can take our field and discipline into the next generation of evolution. Its aim to provide readers (students, academics, field experts, policy designers, policy makers, etc) with the most advanced toolbox for understanding the science of public administration, management, and policy for the third decade of the twenty-first century. It is focused mostly on innovative research architectures, useful research techniques and best practices for the study of modern bureaucracy and the behavior of its agents and stakeholders. Providing specific examples of how these methods are used will enable a down-to-earth understanding of a variety of intellectual paths and sophisticated techniques.

The publication was carried out within the framework of a joint project of HSE University and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USSR / Russia and the Republic of Indonesia. The project heads are Dr. Evgeny Kanaev (HSE University) and Dr. Dmitry Mosyakov (IOS RAS).

International Research Conference “GSOM Emerging Markets Conference-2020”

The 10-Point Action Plan to catalyse a Circular Bioeconomy of Wellbeing is a call for collective and integrated action to global leaders, investors, companies, scientists, governments, nongovernmental and intergovernmental organisations, funding agencies and society at large to put the world on a sustainable path. The Plan is guided by new scientific insights and breakthrough technologies from a number of disciplines and sectors. It is articulated around six transformative action points (1–6) and four enabling action points (7–10), which mutually reinforce each other and need to be implemented in an integrated manner.

Contents Authors................................................................................................................................ 7 Acknowledgements............................................................................................................9 Executive summary ........................................................................................................... 11 1. Introduction....................................................................................................................13 Riccardo Valentini, Pekka Leskinen, Pieter Johannes Verkerk, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, George Safonov and Elena Kulikova 2. State of Russian forests and forestry............................................................................17 Dmitry Zamolodchikov, Anatoly Shvidenko, Sergey Bartalev, Elena Kulikova, Alexander Held, Riccardo Valentini and Marcus Lindner 2.1 Major characteristics of Russian forests..........................................................17 2.2 Natural forest disturbances.............................................................................. 21 2.3 Forest governance and use..............................................................................26 2.4 Ecosystem functions and services of Russia’s forests....................................28 2.5 Key challenges in forest resource management..............................................35 2.6 Key messages.................................................................................................... 38 3. Climate change in Russia – past, present and future................................................. 45 Riccardo Valentini, Dmitry Zamolodchikov, Christopher Reyer, Sergio Noce, Monia Santini and Marcus Lindner 3.1 Observed changes of Russian climate in recent decades.............................. 45 3.2 Climate change scenarios................................................................................48 3.3 Key messages.....................................................................................................51 4. Climate change and Russian forests: impacts, vulnerability and adaptation needs... 53 Christopher Reyer, Marcus Lindner, Dmitry Zamolodchikov, Anatoly Shvidenko, Martin Gutsch and Sergey Bartalev 4.1 Observed impacts of climate change...............................................................53 4.2 Projected impacts.............................................................................................56 4.3 Vulnerability assessment................................................................................. 61 4.4 Adaptation needs............................................................................................. 64 4.5 Key messages....................................................................................................67

5. Climate-Smart Forestry in Russia and potential climate change mitigation benefits.............................................................................................................................. 73 Bas Lerink, Mariana Hassegawa, Alexander Kryshen, Anton Kovalev, Eldar Kurbanov, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Sergei Moshnikov and Pieter Johannes Verkerk 5.1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 73 5.2 Approach and general scenario assumptions.................................................74 5.3 Case study: Republic of Karelia.......................................................................78 5.4 Case study: Republic of Mari El.......................................................................84 5.5 Case study: Angara macro-district (Krasnoyarsk kray).................................. 91 5.6 Concluding remarks, discussion and implications....................................... 98 5.7 Key messages...................................................................................................101 6. The role of the bioeconomy in climate change mitigation in Russia..................... 105 Pekka Leskinen, Jo Van Brusselen, Mariana Hassegawa, Alexander Alekseev, Natalia Lukina, Olga Rakitova, George Safonov, Elena Kulikova and Mikhail Safonov 6.1 Introduction.................................................................................................... 105 6.2 The bioeconomy concept in Russia...............................................................106 6.3 The link between bioeconomy and climate change mitigation.................. 107 6.4 State of Russian forest industry and potential for bioeconomy................... 111 6.5 Sectoral development and outlook................................................................. 113 6.6 Summary and conclusions: Opportunities and challenges for a bioeconomy in Russia.....................................................................................123 6.7 Key messages...................................................................................................125 7. Conclusions.................................................................................................................. 131 Pekka Leskinen, Jo Van Brusselen, Marcus Lindner, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Pieter Johannes Verkerk, Natalia Lukina, Sergey Bartalev and Elena Kulikova 7.1 Forest resources............................................................................................... 131 7.2 Climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation....................................132 7.3 Forest management........................................................................................ 133 7.4 Enabling environment for a bioeconomy......................................................134 7.5 Holistic view.................................................................................................... 135 7.6 Key messages and next steps ........................................................................ 136

The article focuses on the differences of medium-sized companies’ management methods: on the one hand, from companies in small (micro) business, and on the other hand, from large companies. The application of the method was tested at a medium-sized poultry farm. The analysis of projects of the real program was made, the network model of the program was built, and the probability of projects’ and the program at all success was estimated. The evaluation of the program indicators allowed the authors to make conclusions about priorities of separate projects. The proposed approach can be used in various companies, regardless of industry affiliation

The economies of Central and Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia (CEECCA) grew at a varying pace in 2000–2019, with an average rate of 6.5 percent per annum (GDP, PPP). This economic progress was accompanied by some positive changes in environmental performance, but not in all areas and not in all countries in the region.

The bond market is a key securities market and emerging economies present exciting, new investment opportunities. This timely book provides insights into these emerging bond markets through empirical models and analytical databases, i.e. Bloomberg, Eikon Refinitiv and the Russian Cbonds.

The book looks at the dynamics of the development of emerging bond markets, their competitiveness, features and patterns using macro and micro level data. It also takes into consideration various securities type i.e. government, corporate, sub-federal and municipal bonds, to identify respective challenges and risks. The book also analyses factors that may inhibit or stimulate a well-balanced financial market. It includes case studies of Asian, Latin American and Russian bond markets, as also as cross-country comparisons.

It will be a useful reference for anyone who is interested to learn more of the bond market and the modelling techniques for critical data analysis.

The international scientific and practical conference “DIGITAL FINANCE 2020” is the successor of the annual international round table “Financial technologies in the digital economy: problems and prospects of development in the world and Russia”, which was held at the faculty of Economics for two consecutive years (2018, 2019). Traditionally, the event was organized by the Department “Finance and credit” Faculty of Economics, RUDN. The event was co-organized by the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, the Faculty of Business and information technology of the University “Turan-Astana” and National University of Science and Technology MISIS. This book addresses the processes of digitalization in various areas of Finance. We presented selected papers from the conference where we discussed a lot of important questions and points of three main sections issues: - “Institutions and markets in the digital environment”, - “Corporate and public finance and control in the digital environment”, - “Financial innovations, engineering, monetary systems and financial regulatory policies”.

This publication is the culmination of the 16th International Scientific Conference entitled “Human Potential Development” (HPD). The conference was held in Łódź between May the 28th–30th, 2019, and was patronized by the Associate Professor Tomasz Czapla, the Dean of the Faculty of Management at the University of Łódź, and also by the International Academic Network HPD CEEUS. The international nature of the conference resulted in ten articles in this publication being written in five languages, with English being the leading language of the conference. The aim of the conference was the international exchange of knowledge in the field of HPD in the context of the latest, theoretical and practical solutions, with particular emphasis on the need to create, motivate and develop the driving force of organizational changes – employees and managers. It was assumed that this goal would be implemented within three conference working areas: 1) using and developing human potential, 2) new challenges within the mentioned area, and 3) developing models and practices related to human potential and human resource management. The concept of HPD is common in the international human resource management literature, which emphasises its strategic dimension, and combines organizational and social goals with the promotion of a competitive advantage based on the human capital concept. At the same time, this strategic dimension is inseparably accompanied by the focus on the needs, aspirations, growth and development of people. As a consequence of the implementation of both dimensions, the creation of a learning and development culture has been observed as an inherent feature of training planning and implementation, as well as the creation of personal, employee and citizen development programs. Each of the authors presents different viewpoints within their HPD research, but the common theme of all findings and considerations were the expectations, decisions and behaviors of people in specific contexts of economic reality. The publication opens with an article by the British author William Chambers, a retired professor at Hope University in Liverpool, a longtime charity 12 • Introduction community activist in the UK. He presents examples and types of difficult working conditions, which sometimes lead to dysfunctional behaviors of volunteers, employees and managers of these organizations. The author describes the associated human resource (HR) management practices as well as the context in which they are used. It is worth noting the summary of the article, which is an attempt to answer questions about the specificity of charitable organizations, actors performing their roles, the essence of managing these organizations and the importance of estimating personnel risk. A team of Lithuanian researchers, including Irena Bakanauskiene, Rita Bendaravićiene and Inesa Daugintaite, refers to the important issue of happiness in the workplace and its multidimensionality. This topic is presented using the example of research results from teachers. Although all dimensions and attributes of employee happiness are important for the surveyed employees, reality does not meet employee expectations – especially in the area of motivation and remuneration systems. The importance of employee communication competences for the quality of services in the public and non-profit sectors is presented by Barbara Batko, who indicates some features of socially useful information, the development of which requires specific and universal competences for the purposes of handling the communication process. It is worth noting that these are well known and important components of human capital, that is, adequate knowledge, the ability to think critically or search for cause and effect relationships. Martina Grófová allows the audience to consider the possibility of implementing the principles of a circular economy in Slovakia. This is one of the possibilities of transition from serial production to production based on customer value, but with a more rational use of resources and reduction of the negative impact on the environment of manufactured products. However, it is worth paying attention to the need to build consumer awareness in this new reality and the responsibility of companies in this matter. Shaping customer relationships in e-commerce is a key corporate responsibility. Justyna Majchrzak-Lepczyk is able to highlight the purchasing process of e-customers and presents the results of her own research in this area. It is worth paying attention to the essence of employee competences and their ability to read the needs of e-buyers. A research team consisting of Zdenko Stacho, Katarína Stachová and Martina Grófová draws attention to the importance and openness of communication as an instrument of engaging human resources in order to maintain organizational competitiveness in the context of the speed of market changes and Introduction • 13 their nature. What is interesting is the informal communication and information technology (IT) support highlighted by the authors. Vladimir Šulc and Petr Jedinák take up the subject of the requirement to increase IT security of the information flow in the context of its integration with the legislative environment of the European Union, exemplified by the Czech Republic. The authors emphasize the increased vulnerability of IT systems to dangers in the network and the role of programmers in securing it. Based on two surveys and a series of interviews in the business service sector, Robert Marciniak presents Hungarian experience in the field of the impact of technological progress on the automation of service processes. The author discusses the resistance and expectations of employees towards the described trend. Evgeniy Borisovich Morgunov and Igor Borisovich Gurkov present the results of research on the production plants of foreign corporations operating in Russia. They show the features and processes of human resource management. The context of the described solutions and the indicated tensions between East and West are presented. We conclude with the consideration of Jiří Stýblo, who draws attention to the impact of digitization and automation on HR processes and the work environment which are changing the skill requirements of HR specialists and managers. This publication is intended for readers who want to expand their knowledge of the essence of building the capacity of individuals, teams and societies in a comprehensive and non-trivial way. At the same time, it encourages reflection and a holistic view of the phenomenon of human potential. I encourage you to read the aforementioned conference papers.

This book studies complex systems with elements represented by random variables. Its main goal is to study and compare uncertainty of algorithms of network structure identification with applications to market network analysis. For this, a mathematical model of random variable network is introduced, uncertainty of identification procedure is defined through a risk function, random variables networks with different measures of similarity (dependence) are discussed, and general statistical properties of identification algorithms are studied. The volume also introduces a new class of identification algorithms based on a new measure of similarity and prove its robustness in a large class of distributions, and presents applications to social networks, power transmission grids, telecommunication networks, stock market networks, and brain networks through a theoretical analysis that identifies network structures. Both researchers and graduate students in computer science, mathematics, and optimization will find the applications and techniques presented useful.

 

Recent Applications of Financial Risk Modelling and Portfolio Management is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the use of modern data analysis as well as quantitative methods for developing successful portfolio and risk management techniques. While highlighting topics such as credit scoring, investment strategies, and budgeting, this publication explores diverse models for achieving investment goals as well as improving upon traditional financial modelling methods. This book is ideally designed for researchers, financial analysts, executives, practitioners, policymakers, academicians, and students seeking current research on contemporary risk management strategies in the financial sector.

This book explores Russia’s efforts towards both adapting to and shaping a world in transformation. Russia has been largely marginalized in the post-Cold War era and has struggled to find its place in the world, which means that the chaotic changes in the world present Russia with both threats and opportunities. The rapid shift in the international distribution of power and emergence of a multipolar world disrupts the existing order, although it also enables Russia to diversify it partnerships and restore balance. Adapting to these changes involves restructuring its economy and evolving the foreign policy. The crises in liberalism, environmental degradation, and challenge to state sovereignty undermine political and economic stability while also widening Russia’s room for diplomatic maneuvering. This book analyzes how Russia interprets these developments and its ability to implement the appropriate responses. 

Forest ecosystems, their products and services play an important role in achieving ambitious climate change mitigation objectives at the same time requiring profound adaptation to climate change. Forest management schemes to support climate action have to be developed within their regional context but also have to be aligned with national or EU-level climate, forest and sustainability policies. The conference on “Managing forests in the 21st century” is the final conference of the FORMASAM, REFORCE and FOREXCLIM research projects. The conference bringstogether scientific experts on forest management from all over Europe facing very specific management challenges. The aim isto discuss and improve the understanding the role of forests and forest management in the context of climate change. The conference addresses climate change impacts, as well as needs for mitigation and adaptation especially with regard to the following scientific questions: 1. What are the impacts of climate extremes and disturbances? 2. What are the management challenges (and options) for resilient forests? 3. What can we do to increase the contribution of forest management to climate change mitigation?

The implementation of information systems is aimed at improving the financial performance of a company, creating a transparent reporting system and improving many other competitive factors. However, the acquisition of these benefits does not negate the complexity of making a decision whether or not to implement a particular IT project. The total cost of ownership of the information system throughout the life cycle is usually not considered in comparison with the expected benefits from the use of the system, due to the uncertainty of such benefits. Comparative certainty of approaches and methods is present only in terms of costs, both for a priori (planned) and a posteriori (actual) assessment. It is possible to determine both capital and operating costs accurately enough. Indirect definition of the positive influence of an information system on the activity of the organization also seems possible. However, there are currently no generally recognized methods for analyzing the expected positive effect of an IT project. At the same time, large companies, in accordance with the requirements of the respective regulators and / or due to internal management considerations, build a risk management system to determine the level of capabilities, losses and to prevent adverse events. This study considers the feasibility of an approach to analyze the effectiveness of the implementation of the information system on the basis of the company’s risk reduction, leading to a decrease in economic benefits. It takes into account the internal risks of the information system that occur during the installation of the system, its operation and the termination of work with the system.

In this paper, we test whether sanctions applied to an entire group on account of the free-riding of one of its members can promote group cooperation. To measure the efficiency of such collective sanctions, we conducted a lab experiment based on a standard public good game. The results show that, overall, collective sanctions are ineffective. Moreover, when subjects are able to punish their peers, the level of cooperation is lower in the regime of collective sanctions than under individual sanctions. Both outcomes can be explained by a general disapproval of the collective responsibility for an individual fault: in the post-experimental survey, an absolute majority evaluated such regimes as unfair. While collective sanctions are not an effective means for boosting group compliance, there are nevertheless two insights to be gained here. First, there are differences across genders: under collective sanctions, men’s level of compliance is significantly higher than under individual sanctions, while the opposite is true for women. Second, there were intriguing differences in outcomes between the different regime types. Under collective sanctions, a person who is caught tends to comply in the future, at least in the short term. By contrast, under individual sanctions, an individual wrongdoer decreases his or her level of compliance in the next period.

Abstract Purpose This paper explores the phenomenon of ribbon-cutting ceremonies for new overseas subsidiaries and demonstrates the possibility of modifying such ceremonies to place greater emphasis on intra-organizational communications. Design/methodology/approach A careful study of 200 videos on 73 ribbon-cutting ceremonies in Russia between 2012 and 2018. Findings Under the current prevalent design, ribbon-cutting ceremonies mostly entail interorganizational communication, i.e., communication between foreign investors and representatives of the authorities of the host country. Meanwhile, in addition to the standard ribbon-cutting ceremonies, we observe several videos on intra-organizational communication, i.e., pseudoformal meetings between the team from the corporate headquarters and employees of a newly built factory. During such meetings, top corporate executives express the importance of the factory vis-à-vis the future of the whole corporation, state their expectations for the further development of the factory’s production facilities, postulate the desired working atmosphere in the factory, and appeal for the commitment and assistance of the employees in safeguarding the future of the investment. Originality/value The findings provide a basis for a broader discussion on the role of ribboncutting ceremonies as staged large-scale events organized by firms to articulate, highlight, disseminate, rationalize, as well as mobilize internal and external support for their strategy.

Objective: The objective of the article is to prove the empirical and predictive value of the aggregate opinions of businesses and households for expanding cyclical macroeconomic data in Russia, especially during the coronavirus shocks.

Research Design & Methods: We use qualitative information from surveys that cover about 24,000 organisations and 5100 households in all Russian regions. The total economic sentiment indicator (TESI) combines information on 18 survey-based indicators. Cross-correlation analysis, Hodrick-Prescott filtering, and a vector autoregressive (VAR) model with dummy variables are used as the research methods.

Findings: The study confirms an almost synchronous cyclic conformity of the gross domestic product (GDP) growth and TESI dynamics for the period of 1998–2020. Probable GDP growth until the end of 2021 is estimated based on the expected impulses in the TESI dynamics, including those due to the sudden impact of the coronavirus.

Implications & Recommendations: Assessments of business and household activity are reliable and available much earlier than quantitative statistics on GDP growth. Therefore, we advise using them as an early warning system about economic growth and take them into account in policymaking.

Contribution & Value Added: We are the first to confirm the effectiveness and reliability of TESI as a leading indicator of GDP growth in Russia, using data from large-scale business surveys and with a focus on crisis shocks.

This paper examines the tough anti-alcohol legislation recently introduced in Russia, which due to regional variation allows it to be used as a natural experiment. The effect of the restricted trading hours on alcoholic poisoning mortality is estimated. To establish a causal link, difference-in-differences and synthetic controls are used. The main conclusion is that the sales restrictions lead to higher alcohol poisoning mortality, which implies that more toxic alcohol surrogates serve as substitutes for commercially available alcohol.

Globally, policy environments have become increasingly more complex with the growth in the number of wicked problems, such as that posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In their response to these problems, public administrations have, from necessity, become heavily reliant on their intergovernmental relations systems, as the challenges posed generally require multilevel responses. This paper analyzes the role of intergovernmental relations in shaping the responses of the BRICS countries when confronted with COVID-19. We develop an analytical framework to understand the dynamics of intergovernmental relations in these countries. Based on this we assess the capacity of the state and political systems to manage intergovernmental relations and ensure effective responses to the COVID-19 crisis. This framework is based on an analysis of three dimensions of the policy domain: the political and state system, formal and informal institutions, and the political alignment between them. Whilst state and political systems were found to be instrumental in formulating an immediate response to the crisis, informal institutions and political processes also played a prominent role in determining the extent to which strategies were implemented, particularly in countries that are more decentralized. Countries lacking the robust formal institutions needed to facilitate intergovernmental relations and to ensure swift policy responses, tend to deliver ineffective and inefficient results when confronted with wicked problems.

This paper discusses the effect of conformism on the demand for products that differ in quality and studies its implications for firm selection, entry, average quality, and trade pat- terns. Demand for each variety is shown to fall when consumers have a lower degree of conformism or when the distribution of conformism becomes more concentrated. This in- duces firms facing lower demand and of lower quality to exit the market, which raises average quality and diminishes product diversity. In an international trade context, home consumption bias is amplified when there is a lower degree of conformism. Home con- sumption bias is mitigated by the presence of global conformism, in which individuals tend to conform to people across the world rather than within their own country.

Identifying and monitoring business and technological trends are crucial for innovation and competitiveness of businesses. Exponential growth of data across the world is invaluable for identifying emerging and evolving trends. On the other hand, the vast amount of data leads to information overload and can no longer be adequately processed without the use of automated methods of extraction, processing, and generation of knowledge. There is a growing need for information systems that would monitor and analyse data from heterogeneous and unstructured sources in order to enable timely and evidence-based decision-making. Recent advancements in computing and big data provide enormous opportunities for gathering evidence on future developments and emerging opportunities. The present study demonstrates the use of text-mining and semantic analysis of large amount of documents for investigating in business trends in mobile commerce (m-commerce). Particularly with the on-going COVID-19 pandemic and resultant social isolation, m-commerce has become a large technology and business domain with ever growing market potentials. Thus, our study begins with a review of global challenges, opportunities and trends in the development of m-commerce in the world. Next, the study identifies critical technologies and instruments for the full utilization of the potentials in the sector by using the intelligent big data analytics system based on in-depth natural language processing utilizing text-mining, machine learning, science bibliometry and technology analysis. The results generated by the system can be used to produce a comprehensive and objective web of interconnected technologies, trends, drivers and barriers to give an overview of the whole landscape of m-commerce in one business intelligence (BI) data mart diagram.

This paper provides comprehensive empirical evidence on political connections of Russian corporations based on a sample of companies for the period 2011–2015 (divided into subsamples before and after the events in Ukraine). Based on a unique database, the study (1) evaluates how common political connections are for Russian corporate environment, and (2) investigates the impact of political connections on firm value through an event study. The research shows that 27% of Russian corporations from the sample had the top officials of Russia as directors, and 43% of corporations were found to be politically connected on the basis of either state ownership or directorship. Political connections are unevenly distributed among industries, and regulated industries are more heavily politicized. Aviation, oil & gas, and banking were the most politically connected sectors of the Russian economy. The event study showed that political connections have a value-destructive total effect which is statistically significant and robust. Generally, the stock market responds to announcements of political connections with a drop in share prices by 1.34% on average within 5 trading days. Different groups of stakeholders exert different impacts on firm value. The most negative influence on firm value is that of politically connected owners. The stock market reacts to acquisitions of shares by politically connected owners with a drop in stock prices by 1.82% within 5 trading days, and with a drop in stock prices by 4.3% when the politically connected owners were individuals. The negative value effect of political connections strengthened after the events in Ukraine.

The guarantee of an anonymous mechanism is the worst case welfare an agent can secure against unanimously adversarial others. How high can such a guarantee be, and what type of mechanism achieves it? We address the worst case design question in the n-person probabilistic voting/bargaining model with p deterministic outcomes. If n is no less than p the uniform lottery is the only maximal (unimprovable) guarantee; there are many more if p>n, in particular the ones inspired by the random dictator mechanism and by voting by veto. If n=2 the maximal set M(n,p) is a simple polytope where each vertex combines a round of vetoes with one of random dictatorship. For p>n>2, we show that the dual veto and random dictator guarantees, together with the uniform one, are the building blocks of 2 to the power d simplices of dimension d in M(n,p), where d is the quotient of p-1 by n. Their vertices are guarantees easy to interpret and implement. The set M(n,p) may contain other guarantees as well; what we can say in full generality is that it is a finite union of polytopes, all sharing the uniform guarantee.

The paper discusses interregional differentiation in the distribution of electronic purchases among the population in Russia. The aim of the work is to find out what factors are primarily responsible for interregional gaps in the level of online channel use in consumer retail purchases. The study focuses on regional drivers and barriers for the spread of e-commerce. The results show that shares of users of stationary computers (desktops), users of smartphones, and gross regional product per capita are the main positive factors, and lack of trust in e-commerce channels is the main obstacle, while Internet access, age structure, educational level, urbanization, aggregated regional preferences for personal purchases and physical availability of retail trade outlets were found to be irrelevant.

Drawing on foundational arguments from the literature on emerging market institutional strategies, and employing a realist historical analysis, we present a retrospective on the Russian automotive industry. We begin by tracing the origins of the sector and synthesizing salient post World War II developments. We then recount the subsequent expansionary decade of the 1960s, followed by the stagnation of the late 1980s, culminating in the eventual collapse of socialism and the breakup of the USSR. Attracted by both the rapid growth in the local market, and the preferential tax rates that accompanied investments, we then document the swift expansion of production facilities in Russia by major global manufacturers in the 2000s. We show how eventually an ensuing sharp halt in local market growth, and an accompanying rise in spare production capacity, saw most manufacturers pursue institutional strategies aimed at obtaining new tax concessions and leveraging intra-industry cooperation, rather than divesting their recently established production facilities. Overall, our retrospective, in particular, calls attention to how global manufacturers were able not only to acquire and rejuvenate existing production facilities or install new greenfield ones, but also to exercise their agency in shaping the broader policy framework and in fashioning new sectoral institutions designed to buttress and sustain the industry.

The article analyses the short-term effects of aggregate economic sentiment on the expected GDP growth in Russia based on the results of regular large-scale surveys of business activity of the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation for the period 1998-2020. The main purpose of the study is to substantiate the predictive value of the opinions of economic agents in expanding macroeconomic information, including in crisis periods. The authors calculate a composite economic sentiment indicator (ESI), which combines quarterly information for the analysed period on 18 indicators of surveys with a sample of about 24,000 organizations of all size in basic kinds of economic activity, and 5,000 consumers in all Russian regions. The authors prove the possibility of using a vector autoregression model (VAR) with dummy variables to measure the relationship between GDP growth and ESI time series. Scenario estimates of GDP growth until the end of 2021 are based on the expected impulses in the ESI dynamics at the end of 2020, which differ in the amplitude and duration of their impact on economic growth, primarily due to the coronavirus effect. According to the results, under all possible scenarios for the development of business trends, national economic growth can exceed the level of the end of 2019, starting from the third quarter of 2021.

Commuting is linked to fertility through demographic, social, and economic mechanisms. Average differences in first-birth rates of young, working women are estimated by a bivariate model with endogenous commuting. Empirical evidence based on administrative data (Sweden) reveals that commuting women have a lower probability of a first birth between 21-28 years of age and a higher probability between 29-32 years. Therefore, commuting women likely postpone their first child. Additional direct and spillover effects of commuting on fertility appear in income cross-municipal flows, diffusion of fertility norms across space, and changes in gender structure of the population of fertile age. A positive effect on relative income and social norms and a negative sex ratio effect are found significant both for commuting women and those who work in the municipality of their residence. Marginal effects for commuters are greater in magnitude.

Economic and sociological research that touches upon the determinants of alcohol consumption is mostly centered on the traditional factors of human capital (e.g., education). While much attention is given to education as a valid instrument to reduce alcohol misuse, less is given to the impact of non-cognitive skills. Data are collected from a nationally representative Russian panel survey, 2016–2018. We estimate a random-effects probit model for the probability of abstinence and a random-effects tobit model with a Heckman correction for the volume of alcohol consumption. Non-cognitive skills are consistent predictors of drinking in Russia. In both genders, conscientiousness and extraversion have strong connections to the probability and the volume of alcohol consumption, while openness to experience and neuroticism only affect the volume. The estimates for education differ substantially when the Big Five variables are excluded from the model, which suggests that a major part of the effect of education on alcohol consumption patterns may be mediated through non-cognitive skills. Although educational interventions are often seen as a method of solving excessive drinking problems, introducing personality traits into the analysis raises the question of the effectiveness of such interventions.

This paper studies the e¤ects of consumer income heterogeneity on monopolistically competitive product markets and individual welfare in the context of non-homothetic pref- erences. When expenditure of richer individuals is less sensitive to price change compared to poorer ones, a mean-preserving contraction of income distribution makes firm revenue less sensitive to price changes. This entices firms to charge higher prices. As a result, new firms enter the market, broadening product diversity. General equilibrium e¤ects have a negative impact on poorer individuals and, in specific circumstances, on richer individuals. Furthermore, reduced income inequality may shift the market equilibrium further away from optimal product diversity. In open economies, lower income inequality in a country creates a price divergence between countries and decreases trade volumes and values. Those general equilibrium e¤ects are shown to be quantitatively non negligible.

Tech clusters play a growing role in knowledge-based economies by accommodating high-tech firms and providing an environment that fosters location-dependent knowledge spillovers and promote R&D investments by .rms. Yet, not much is known about the economic conditions under which such entities may form in equilibrium without government interventions. This paper develops a spatial equilibrium model with a competitive final sector and a monopolistically competitive intermediate sector, which allows us to determine necessary and sufficient conditions for a tech cluster to emerge as an equilibrium outcome. We show that strongly localized knowledge spillovers, skilled labor abundance, and low commuting costs are key drivers for a tech cluster to form. Not only is the productivity of the final sector higher when intermediate firms cluster, but a tech cluster hosts more intermediate firms and more R&D and production activities, and yields greater worker welfare, compared to what a dispersed pattern would generate. With continual improvements in infrastructure and communication technology that lowers coordination costs, tech clusters will eventually be fragmented.

This paper examines the FDI entry and exit behavior of Japanese multinational enterprises (MNEs) in foreign markets using firm-level panel data for the period of 1995-2015. We construct “sales verticalness” and “purchase verticalness” for each country, which is a novel index to measure the degree of connection with Japan in terms of overseas affiliate sales and procurement and present several stylized facts. Unlike exporter dynamics, the exit rates of FDI are much lower, but increase with market-specific age, implying larger sunk costs pertaining to FDI. At the country level, the exit rates of FDI increase with distance whereas entry rates show no correlation. Sales verticalness declines with distance exhibiting gravity, while purchase verticalness does not. Probit regression analysis of firm entry and exit of FDI reveals that a firm’s past experience of exporting raises the probability of FDI entry and lowers the probability of exit in the region implying that learning by exporting reduces the uncertainty entailed in FDI. Sales verticalness promotes entry and lowers exit propensity after controlling for country characteristics such as GDP and distance. In contrast, purchase verticalness discourages entry and raises exit propensity.

This paper investigates the role of technology levels in shaping the structure of the global value chain (GVC) at the macro level. We incorporate Ricardian comparative advantage into the production of intermediate goods involving both snake- and spider–type supply chains to capture the overall GVC integration. We analytically find that the country with a higher technology level produces the intermediate inputs at production stages involving a higher degree of difficulty, which is consistent with the real data. Furthermore, we verify how well the model fits the observed data by executing the calibration procedure using data from the World Input–Output Database. Our findings indicate strong correlations between calibrated outcomes and the observed data, as high as 87.3\% for the GVC participation value and 79.3\% for the real wage, proving that our model is a plausible representation of the structure of the GVC.

A genuine measure of an ex-ante credit risk links borrowers’ financial position with the odds of default. Comprehension of borrower’s financial position is proxied by the derivatives of its filled financial statements, i.e. financial ratios. To measure an ex-ante credit risk, one needs a forward-looking estimate. We identify statistically significant relationships between the shortlisted financial ratios and the subsequent default events. To estimate the odds of the borrower to default on its obligations, we simulate its probability of default at a horizon of one year. We horse run the constructed PD model against the alternative measures of ex-ante credit risk that the related literature on bank risk-taking widely uses: credit quality groups and credit spreads in interest rates. We compare the results obtained with the PD model, and with the alternative approaches. We find that the PD model predicts the default event more accurately at a horizon of one year. We conclude that the developed measure of ex-ante credit risk is feasible for estimating the risk-taking behaviour by banks and analysing the shifts in portfolio composition with the sufficient degree of granularity. The model could be used in applied research as the tool for measuring ex-ante credit risk based on micro level data (credit registry).

This paper represents the empirical analysis of existing gender differentiation in labour income in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Research is performed on micro data of annual tests of households conducted by the Committee on Statistics of the Ministry of the National Economy of the Republic Kazakhstan. On the whole, scales of gender differences in wages in the Kazakhstan labour market are comparable with similar evaluations in other countries. In Kazakhstan, the proportion of wages of women to men is 69%. For the last 15 years, the reduction of difference in the salary, by gender, was caused by changes in the gender structure of employment. The results of the evaluation of the segregation indexes testify about the recess of the situation connected with segregation of the labour market in Kazakhstan.  A decomposition of the distinction in annual average labour incomes between men and women, carried out by the method of Oaxaka-Blinder, showed that gender segregation explains that more than thirds of observable differences in wages between men and women. This is not offset by the higher level of accumulated human capital of women. However, 80% of gender distinctions in wages remain unexplained, apart from being related to the existing discrimination against women in the labour market in Kazakhstan.

This paper explores the black box behind efficiency measurements in higher education and define the determinants of university efficiency. Particularly, it investigates how the efficiency of universities is affected by the characteristics of the territory in which they operate. We propose an analysis that combines two perspectives: 1) the resource dependence theory, suggesting that the location of university can determine the amount of resources available to it; 2) institutional isomorphism, according to which the characteristics of other higher education institutions located in the same area may shape the university production function and the efficiency of its operations. In order to test this framework we use the data on Russian universities and non-parametric conditional order-m efficiency estimator with two categories of exogenous variables. The first group includes the social, economic and cultural characteristics of the region where the university is located. The second set includes the characteristics of other higher education institutions located in the same region. Our findings highlight that the managerial efficiency of universities is strongly associated with the characteristics of the environment in which they operate

Using data from official manufacturing censuses, we compare labour productivity in Great Britain and the Russian Empire around 1908. We find that Russia’s labour productivity was at 81.9 per cent of the U.K. level. Russia’s productivity was on a par with France’s and significantly superior to Italy’s. We also find that the majority of Russian industries underperformed British ones. However, the industries that had been established or modernised during the state-induced industrialisation policies of the 1890s, such as the Southern metallurgy, performed on a par with their British counterparts. Russia’s alcohol, tobacco, and petrochemical sectors outperformed their British equivalents. Our findings suggest a revision of the view that, at the turn of the 20th century, Russian manufacturing was economically underdeveloped.

Since the beginning of 2020, the entire world is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of November 2020 this is an unfinished story and nobody knows when and how exactly this very dramatic threat to human health and life will be defeated. Meanwhile the pandemic has also had serious economic and social consequences. Below we discuss key dilemmas faced by economic policies in all countries affected by the pandemic.

In this paper we present evidence for the influence of religion on demand for the government intervention in Russia. We use a 2011 representative survey of Russian regions which includes about 33,200 respondents. We show that declared religiosity is positively related to the fact that respondent will not choose the “Western way” of economic development. Additionally, active participation in the life of the religious community is negatively connected to support the of redundant product safety audits. We validate our findings by using the density of different religious denominations in Russian regions in 1897 as an instrument. Overall, our results confirm that in Russia, declared religiosity affects political preferences. Moreover, the religious community acts as a club good, where adherence to attitudes and rituals leads to a substitution of government intervention

This paper describes an approach to measuring the gross domestic expenditures on the development of the digital economy. International attempts to define the digital economy and research expenditures on it are considered. As part of the methodology’s development, key definitions were presented: digital economy, digital technologies, and digital economy costs. Based on international experience, as well as on the specifics of Russian statistics, a methodology of measurement for the expenditures on the digital economy was proposed. The structure of the obtained indicator is multidimensional, which makes it possible to evaluate both the indicator as a whole and its sections. The proposed methodology involved making modifications to existing questionnaires and the first estimates based on them were made in 2020. The results of the study made it possible to estimate the domestic expenditures on the development the digital economy in comparison with the set goals approved by the national program «Digital Economy of the Russian Federation». In addition, the multidimensionality of the indicator revealed those areas of the digital economy that represented the «growth points» of the digital economy as a whole.