Global Trends in Museum Diplomacy traces the transformation of museums from publicly or privately funded heritage institutions into active players in the economic sector of culture. Exploring how this transformation reconfigured cultural diplomacy, the book argues that museums have become autonomous diplomatic players on the world stage. The book offers a comparative analysis across a range of case studies in order to demonstrate that museums have gone global in the era of neoliberal globalisation. Grincheva focuses first on the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, which is well known for its bold revolutionising strategies of global expansion: museum franchising and global corporatisation. The book then goes on to explore how these strategies were adopted across museums around the world and analyses two cases of post-Guggenheim developments in China and Russia: the K11 Art Mall in Hong Kong and the International Network of Foundations of the State Hermitage Museum in Russia. These cases from more authoritarian political regimes evidence the emergence of alternative avenues of museum diplomacy that no longer depend on government commissions to serve immediate geo-political interests. Global Trends in Museum Diplomacy will be a valuable resource for students, scholars and practitioners of contemporary museology and cultural diplomacy. Documenting new developments in museum diplomacy, the book will be particularly interesting to museum and heritage practitioners and policymakers involved in international exchanges or official programs of cultural diplomacy.

This book is an anthology of essays penned by distinguished experts from around the world to commemorate life time contribution of Sanjaya Baru to the discipline of Geo-economics in India and globally. Curated and published by CUTS International, the book contains 20 essays from 21 distinguished authors,who amongst others include, noted economist Jagdish Bhagwati, two former foreign Secretaries Shyam Saran and S Jaishankar, former US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill, Secretary General CUTS International Pradeep Mehta, Director NMML Shakti Sinha and former DG, WTO Pascal Lamy. In the current times when the world order is being rapidly reconfigured, this book is a useful resource for the government, think tanks, academia, civil society and all those interested in strategic affairs.

Language policy and usage in the post-communist region have continually attracted wide political, media, and expert attention since the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. How are these issues politicized in contemporary Estonia, Latvia, and Ukraine? This study presents a cross-cultural qualitative and quantitative analysis of publications in leading Russian-language blogs and news websites of these three post-Soviet states during the period of 2004–2017. The most notable difference observed between Ukraine and the two Baltic countries is that many Russian-writing users in Ukraine’s internet tend to support the position that the state language, i.e. Ukrainian, is discriminated against and needs special protection by the state, whereas the majority of the Russian-speaking commentators on selected Estonian and Latvian news websites advocate for introducing Russian as a second state language. Despite attempts of Ukraine’s government to Ukrainize public space, the position of Ukrainian is still perceived, even by many Russian-writing commentators and bloggers, as being ‘precarious’ and ‘vulnerable’. This became especially visible in debates after the Revolution of Dignity, when the number of supporters of the introduction of Russian as second state language significantly decreased. In the Russian-language sector of Estonian and Latvian news websites and blogs, in contrast, the majority of online users continually reproduce the image of ‘victims’ of nation-building. They often claim that their political, as well as economic rights, are significantly limited in comparison to ethnic Estonians and Latvians. The results of Maksimovtsova’s research illustrate that, notwithstanding differences between the Estonian as well as Latvian cases, on the one hand, and Ukraine, on the other, there is an ongoing process of convergence of debates in Ukraine to those held in the other two countries analyzed in terms of an increased degree of ‘discursive decommunization’ and ‘derussification’.

Is it possible for Russian energy companies to develop an effective business strategy based on the restrictions and rules of strategic documents of national scale? Today Russian Energy Strategy sets the benchmarks for business. The set of methods allows for the analysis of open sources and materials for the development of national and corporate strategies. Scenario conditions of development are one of the areas of analysis. The CGE model is used by the World Bank, IMF, OECD and the European Commission for studying economic scenarios, but it has not found applicaton in the Russian energy strategy. Other management technologies in demand by Russian companies are not used in the energy strategy either (e.g.balanced scorecard).

World experience confirms the possibility of adjusting corporate strategies for the benefit of society. Danish Energy Strategy prescribes a smooth transition to alternative energy sources and active implementation of smart energy resources. Experience of Norway in this area is also important. The third energy package of the EU defines the rules of the game in the European market influencing the business models, strategies and long-term deliveries of external counterparties.

Taking into account not only the world trends: slower growth in demand, diversifying energy structure, increasing competitiveness of renewable energy sources, increasing supply from developing countries, tightening climate norms, but also other factors (e.g. Russia being under sanctions, etc.) will allow the company to act as a partner of the state in some issues, and at the same time as an independent entity: its strategy is determined by the board of directors. Modern management technologies allow us to specify and quantify the characteristics of the national energy strategy, and to reflect the priorities in the development strategies of companies. The conditions of the state policy and the parameters of the companies' strategies will have more points of contact and reduce the risk of deviation from the declared goals. The adjustment of the restrictions and rules of the national energy strategy will reduce the risks of imbalance in the actions of society and business. Revision of the program document is possible due to organizational design and methodological support.

This edited volume examines the relationship between economic ideas, economic policies and development institutions, analysing the cases of 11 peripheral countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

It sheds light on the obstacles that have prevented the sustained economic growth of these countries and examines the origins of national and regional approaches to development. The chapters present a fascinating insight into the ideas and visions in the different locations, with the overarching categories of economic nationalism and economic liberalism and how they have influenced development outcomes.

This book will be valuable reading for advanced students and researchers of development economics, the history of economic thought and economic history.

The coursebook is aimed at systematization and generalization of students ' knowledge in the field of English grammar. It consists of 14 chapters, including theoretical information on the main grammatical topics and training exercises.

This coursebook designed for 1-2 year students of the academic bachelor level of English language proficiency at level A1–B1 (Elementary – Intermediate), students in areas of training 01.03.01 Mathematics, 01.03.02 "Applied mathematics and Informatics", 09.03.04 Software engineering, 38.03.01 "Economics", 38.03.02 "Management of business", 38.03.05 "Business-Informatics", 40.03.01 "Jurisprudence", 45.03.01 "Philology", 45.03.03 "Fundamental and applied linguistics", the level of higher education – bachelor's degree (qualification: academic/applied BA).

As a tribute to their academic teacher and to further his interests, the students of Prof. Dr. Laurent Waelkens collected fifteen scholarly contributions on ius commune graeco-romanum, written by academics from eleven different countries, mainly but not exclusively from Eastern Europe. The book consists of three main parts. In the first part, four authors focus on the Graeco-Roman law in the Roman Empire itself. In the second part, five contributions concern the influence of Graeco-Roman law outside of the Byzantine Empire. The six contributions of the third and final part study the impact of the Western ius commune tradition on Eastern European countries. Thus, the volume highlights the continued importance of the study of Roman law for the understanding of our common pan-European legal heritage.

This book is the result of the 5th edition of the Seminar on International and Comparative Labour Law, organized, under my direction, by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the International Society for Labour and Social Security Law in Venice (7-11 May 2018). The Seminar was entirely dedicated to the topic “The Role of the State and Industrial Relations” and during the Young Scholars Session organized at the conclusion of the Seminar, chaired by Prof. Stefano Bellomo, several young Phd Students and Research Fellows, which actively participated to the call for paper launched by the ISLSSL, came from all over the world to discuss about the industrial relations system and about the role of the State, adopting different perspectives: national, European and supranational.

In America today, two communities with sub-Saharan African genetic origins exist side by side, though they have differing histories and positions within society. This book explores the relationship between African Americans, descendants of those Africans brought to America as slaves, and migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, who have come to the United States of America voluntarily, mainly since the 1990s. Members of these groups have both a great deal in common and much that separates them, largely hidden in their assumptions about, and attitudes towards, each other. In a work grounded in extensive fieldwork Bondarenko and his research team interviewed African Americans, and migrants from twenty-three African States and five Caribbean nations, as well as non-black Americans involved with African Americans and African migrants. Seeking a wide range of perspectives, from different ages, classes and levels of education, they explored the historically rooted mutual images of African Americans and contemporary African migrants, so as to understand how these images influence the relationship between them. In particular, they examined conceptions of ‘black history’ as a common history of all people and nations with roots in Africa. What emerges is a complex picture. While collective historical memory of oppression forges solidarity, lack of knowledge of each other’s history can create distance between communities. African migrants tend to define their identities not by race, but on the basis of multiple layers of national, ethnic, religious and linguistic affinities (of which African Americans are often unaware). For African Americans, however, although national and regional identities are important, it is above all race that is the defining factor. While drawing on wider themes from anthropology and African studies, this in-depth study on a little-researched subject allows valuable new understandings of contemporary American society.

Contributors to this volume discuss a variety of ways the African past (African history) influences the present-day of Africans on the continent and in diaspora: cultural (historical) memory as a factor of public (mass) consciousness; the impact of the historical past on contemporary political, social, and cultural processes in Africa and African diaspora.

This volume is an output of a research project implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE).

Urban population is growing worldwide. Our societies are facing grand challenges like climate change and growing inequalities between people. There is an increasing need to develop cities that are environmentally and socially sustainable, functional and supporting well-being of their inhabitants. When striving towards these goals, transportation and mobility play a crucial role. Easy and environmentally sustainable mobility options are called for in most cities. For these to attract users, they need to be safe and pleasant, providing positive experiences and well-being in addition to efficiency in time or cost.

NECTAR conference is organized with a title “Towards Human Scale Cities – Open and Happy” to reflect the new requirements of urban transportation. This 15th NECTAR conference, organized in Helsinki 5th - 7th June 2019, provides presentations by world-class keynotes Mikael Colville-Andersen and Professor Tim Schwanen, who approach human scale mobility from the viewpoints of a designer and a researcher. More than 140 scientific presentations explore advancements in the field of transport, communication and mobility, with a particular focus on good quality mobility options for people. The focus of the conference is urban transportation and the new possibilities that open data and digital technologies provide for mobility solutions and their research. Presentations provide food for thought concerning mobility choices and quality, new mobility solutions like MaaS, and policies that are implemented to support them.

Helsinki offers an interesting environment for the 2019 NECTAR conference. It is the home of the busiest passenger harbor in Europe with a twin-city development with Tallinn across the bay, and a major air transportation hub between Europe and Asia. It is one of the fastest growing capital regions in Europe, with large densification developments taking place in old logistic centers: harbor areas of Jätkäsaari and Kalasatama and a train depot in Pasila. Public transportation is valued high by citizens, as well as politicians and planners making investment decisions for the future. First robotized buses are in operation and MaaS solutions are emerging. New bike sharing system is one of the most used in the world and has expanded to cover most of the city region. As everywhere in Europe, new forms of micromobility from electronic scooters to electric longboards are appearing on the streets making planners and police puzzled. The city has profiled itself as an open city: large amounts of open data about the region have been made available and the region of Helsinki is committed to open and transparent decision 

and policy making. This supports also research in the major universities: University of Helsinki and Aalto University, the local organizers of the conference.

We anticipate that the conference days will forward our thinking on how to make cities more sustainable, functional and pleasant for people, and how to study them scientifically in a meaningful and transparent manner.

This book gathers the outcomes of several scientific events that were organized and conducted by the Institute of Scientific Communications (Volgograd, Russia) and the leading universities of the Volgograd region. The contributing authors include more than 700 scholars from various cities and regions of Russia. 124 works were selected out of 3,000 papers on the preconditions of formation, transformation, and legal provision of social institutes, topics that are in high demand in connection with a core aspect of digital modernization – the Internet of Things. The book is intended for a broad target audience, including scholars of various generations and various disciplines. These include young researchers (undergraduates and postgraduates) and recognized scholars (professors and lecturers) who study the socioeconomic and legal consequences of the emergence and dissemination of digital technologies, including the Internet of Things. In addition, the book will benefit all those who are interested in the development of the information society, information and telecommunication, and digital technologies. The content is divided into three logical parts, the first of which is devoted to the essence of the process of institutionalization and legal regulation of the information society.

Based on the synthesis of a large empirical and theoretical literature on centre-region relations in China and Russia, Federalism in China and Russia is one of the first attempts to integrate this literature from different disciplines into a coherent common framework. Libman and Rochlitz argue that the divergence in growth performance between Russia and China can be – at least partially – explained by a number of features of the Chinese system of centre-regional relations.The authors offer a comparative analysis of the development of centre-region relations in Russia and in China and explore several dimensions of these relations: fiscal ties and incentives; bureaucratic practices; flows of information; and local government practices, while addressing the determinants of divergence between both countries. They also examine how the Chinese system has recently started to change, by adopting several features of the Russian model, which might be one of the reasons for China’s declining growth performance in recent years.Federalism in China and Russia should be read by scholars in public economics, political economy and comparative politics, as well as by students and policy analysts. For scholars, the book serves as a point of reference in studying the comparative evolution of the two countries. It will enrich the discussion on fiscal federalism, centre-region relations and sub-national political regimes, and could potentially become an important part of syllabi in political economy, public economics and comparative politics courses. For policy analysts, the book offers a comprehensive survey of the evolution of centre-periphery relations of the two countries and the differences between them, which is important to better understand the overall development of Russia and China.

The pocket data book contains main indicators characterizing S&T and innovation potential of the Russian Federation. There are the information about intellectual property, S&T output, data of international comparisons given.

The data book includes information of the Federal State Statistics Service, Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Eurostat, UNESCO, World Intellectual Property Organisation, national statistical services of foreign countries, and results of own methodological and analytical studies of the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge.

On 15 March 2019, the first “Connecting Eurasia Dialogue: From the Atlantic to the Pacific” was held in Brussels, at Europe’s political heart. The event was organized by the Roscongress Foundation and the Conoscere Eurasia Association with the support of the Association of European Businesses and the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce. Amid the current political cooldown, this was a unique gathering, enabling a high-level dialogue on trade, economic, and integration issues among stakeholders from the wider Eurasian space, including the European Union (EU), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and China. The focus of high-level policy makers and top business executives attended the Dialogue was on challenges and opportunities of the EU’s engagement with the EAEU, harmonization of soft infrastructure to enhance trans-Eurasian connectivity, and the EAEU’s single pharmaceutical market. This IIASA discussion paper provides a summary of the deliberations, supported by research from inside and outside the Institute.

The book contains 19 national reports and a comparative legal analysis of the legal regulations on the procedure of genome editing on the human germline. It is worked out which shared values ​​the different legal systems connect and which differences exist. On this basis, it is examined whether an international regulation of the topic is possible and how it could be designed. In addition, it will be examined to what extent the regulations of other countries can serve as a model for German legislation.

The book pursues the following three aims:

• First and foremost, we want to help conceptualize the Arctic as a multifaceted region within a changing global context, which is both affected by it and affecting it.

• Secondly, we aim to describe the major drivers of these GlobalArctic dynamics; namely, ecological changes, changes in resources extraction practices and corresponding infrastructure development, including urbanization, as well as changes in geopolitical configurations, and changes in Arctic economies, societies and cultures.

• Thirdly, we aim to define, analyze, and discuss concrete ways to address these changes in the GlobalArctic, including mitigation, adaptation, and resiliencebuilding. The purpose is to offer the relevant GlobalArctic stakeholders innovative approaches, methods, best practices, and solutions to address these unprecedented dynamics. Here the GlobalArctic is a (new) geopolitical context.

The paper deals with fertility levels in some republics of the North Caucasus (Dagestan and Karachay-Cherkessia) where, as in some other post-Soviet regions, there has been a serious intensification of religiosity and at the same time weakening of the traditional family unit in recent decades. The goal of the paper is to ascertain whether these trends affect fertility, whose decrease is apparently stalling in the North Caucasus over the last decade. One reason to turn to this question is that in some regions of the North Caucasus the fertility level has been considerably higher since the pronatalist state policy was implemented in 2007 than in Russia as a whole. This raises the question as to whether higher fertility in the North Caucasus is mainly related to a higher demand for the state financial support granted to parents following the birth of the second (or a subsequent) child or if it can be rather accounted for by the specific cultural characteristics of that part of Russia. Our field survey held in the two republics of the North Caucasus in 2016 showed that the religiosity of respondents is related to higher fertility regardless of family policy issues. The relation between religiosity and higher fertility is arguably independent from the observance of traditional family norms which impose gender hierarchies. This suggests that an Islamic revival within a given society can support fertility whether or not traditional norms of family organization are preserved there. The conclusion for state pronatalist policy is that its outcome may be related to the cultural characteristics of the population among which such measures are implemented, apart from economic parameters that drive the demand among some families for financial support after childbirth.

This paper examines relations between doctoral students’ employment and graduation outcomes at a research-intensive university in Russia. Since most doctoral students lack financial support, they find employment and work full-time. This study addresses two questions: first, how the employment status is related to graduation outcomes (defending a thesis) and, second, how characteristics of student employment decrease the chances of defence of a thesis. The research is based on a longitudinal dataset of doctoral students that were enrolled in doctoral programmes between 2008 and 2017. The dataset combines survey data collected during the doctoral training and administrative data about the students’ graduation outcomes gathered in 2018. The results show that on-campus employment increases the chances to defend the thesis and off-campus employment is negatively associated with the completion. The findings may help define the groups of students that are at risk of attrition and should be provided with appropriate support.

Commentary on the article by Nemtsov et al.(2019, this issue)

The paper examines the content of ABC-books published for Russian-speaking children in Latvia, Estonia and Poland in 1920’s, and explicates the nexus between socio-cultural context and representation of social environment and child’s interactions to explore strategies of adaptation offered to children. The textbooks were quantified using a target codifier. The results are embedded in the context of theories of intergenerational cultural transmission and integration of minorities. The textbooks published for Russian-speaking children in Poland and Estonia exemplify a classical post-figurative type of intergenerational transmission to ensure group cohesion protecting from assimilation. The model of transmission in ABC-books published in Latvia is based on encouraging a child to establish values and guidelines independently. Thus, Latvian ABC-books allow a child to join a network of tenuous relationships for integration into a dominant culture. So, the study provides a retrospection to strategies of the Russian-speaking minorities’ consolidation and integration into the dominant societies.

This article was born while I was working on my contribution to the Second Moscow International Conference on Opposition to Anti-Semitism, Racism and Xenophobia (October 29-30, 2018). The subject of the conference suggested greater emphasis on antisemitism among other outcrops of xenophobia. The article is based on the materials of the Levada Center 2018: reports on quantitative and qualitative studies of the state and dynamics of public opinion carried out on order of the Russian Jewish Congress to be quoted at the conference. What is even more important is the fact that I completely agree with the theoretical approaches used in the studies mentioned above and the definitions of xenophobia and anti-Semitism found in the reports of the Levada Center. At the same time, “forecasting trends and crises” (which is one of the three aims of the conference) might provide far from identical results; this depends on specific scientific approaches.

The article carries out macro-analysis that takes into account the impact of historically long stages or cycles of ethno-political processes on the dynamics of xenophobia. This analysis allows me to specify assessments based on sociological polls that cover comparatively short historical periods. I have arrived at a comprehensive interpretation of the results of sociological ranking of different ethnic phobias of Russians based on my analysis of the fundamental changes of ethnopolitical situation in Russia in the 1990s vs. the early 2000s. This article covers the ethnopolitical trends that cropped up in Russia and that are connected with the global processes we can observe here and now in the age of populism, to use one of popular definitions. I have also analyzed the essence of populism and its impact on the dynamics of xenophobia.

In the 2000s, the ethnopolitical situation in Russia started changing: the relationships between the ethnic territories and the center as well as ethnic separatism of the autochthonous colonized peoples and anti-Semitism were pushed aside by new problems created by migrants and other isolated ethnic minorities (Gypsies, for example). The rise of national-populism as one of the political movements in Russia and in other countries of the global North is explained by the changes in the basic characteristics of ethno-political situation and the resultant dynamics of xenophobia. I have relied on Russian examples to show that populism has many faces and that its impact on the dynamics of xenophobia is highly ambiguous. National-populism may be responsible for the growth of xenophobia while social populism might transform ethnic, racial and religious phobias into civic protests.

The visual system can represent multiple objects in a compressed form of ensemble summary statistics (such as object numerosity, mean, and variance of their features). Yet, the relationships between the different types of visual statistics remains relatively unclear. Here, we tested whether two summaries (mean and numerosity – Experiment 1, and mean and variance – Experiment 2) are calculated independently from each other and in parallel, that is, without cost of dividing attention. Our participants performed dual tasks requiring report about two summaries in each trial, and single tasks requiring report about only one of the summaries. Observers were briefly shown sample sets of circles of various sizes. At test, they had to report the number of circles, their mean size, or the variance of sizes using the adjustment method. The relative difference between an adjusted value and a correct answer was used as a measure of precision. We estimated trial-by-trial correlations between the precision of reports in dual task separately for each observer, as well as correlations between averaged errors in reporting summaries in different conditions across all observers. Both analyses showed (1) the absence of correlations between different types of ensemble statistics suggesting their independence, (2) strong auto-correlations of same-type statistics in different tasks (dual vs. single) suggesting good between-test consistency. We also found no decrement (except that related to the order of report explained by memory retrieval) in performance in dual compared to single tasks, which suggests that two statistics of one ensemble can be processed in parallel. In an additional experiment, we found that the precision of variance reports did not change even when mean size and spatial density changed substantially between sample and adjustment sets. This finding also says for independence between the ensemble statistics.

Experts code latent quantities for many influential political science datasets. Although scholars are aware of the importance of accounting for variation in expert reliability when aggregating such data, they have not systematically explored either the factors affecting expert reliability or the degree to which these factors influence estimates of latent concepts. Here we provide a template for examining potential correlates of expert reliability, using coder-level data for six randomly selected variables from a cross-national panel dataset. We aggregate these data with an ordinal item response theory model that parameterizes expert reliability, and regress the resulting reliability estimates on both expert demographic characteristics and measures of their coding behavior. We find little evidence of a consistent substantial relationship between most expert characteristics and reliability, and these null results extend to potentially problematic sources of bias in estimates, such as gender. The exceptions to these results are intuitive, and provide baseline guidance for expert recruitment and retention in future expert coding projects: attentive and confident experts who have contextual knowledge tend to be more reliable. Taken as a whole, these findings reinforce arguments that item response theory models are a relatively safe method for aggregating expert-coded data.

Field experiments have provided ample evidence of ethnic and racial discrimination in the labour market. Less is known about how discrimination varies in multi-ethnic societies, where the ethnic composition of populations is different across locations. Inter-group contact and institutional arrangements for ethnic minorities can mitigate the sense of group threat and reduce discrimination. To provide empirical evidence of this, we conduct a field experiment of ethnic discrimination in Russia with a sample of over 9,000 job applications. We compare ethnically homogeneous cities and cities with ethnically mixed populations and privileged institutional status of ethnic minorities. We find strong discrimination against visible minorities in the former but much weaker discrimination in the latter. These findings demonstrate how institutions and historical contexts of inter-group relations can affect ethnic prejudice and discrimination.

Purpose: This study examines the role and influence of online reviewers’ cultural traits and perceived experience on online review ratings of Russian hotels by taking a direct measurement approach.

Design/methodology/approach: We adopt an Explanatory Sequential Research Design consisting of two stages. In the first stage, based on an a sample of almost 75,000 Booking.com online reviews covering hotels located in Moscow (Russia) we examine quantitatively to what extent the cultural traits of online reviewers and hotel guests’ perceived experience in online reviewing affect online ratings using also censored regressions. In the second stage, we interpret the results in light of semi-structured interviews conducted with a convenience sample of managers.

Findings: Each of the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (namely individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and power distance) exerts a significantly negative influence on the hotel online ratings. More specifically, the higher the levels of individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and power distance, the lower hotel online ratings. Reviewers’ perceived experience in online reviewing is negatively related to online ratings.

Research limitations/implications: The findings bear relevant managerial implications for hotel managers and online platform managers in countries that are not typically covered by online consumer behavior studies in hospitality such as Russia. From a theoretical viewpoint, we contribute to cultural studies in hospitality management and marketing with a further development of the nascent research stream taking a direct measurement approach to the study of cultural influences on consumers’ behaviors. Furthermore, we contribute to a better understanding of the role of cultural traits on eWOM, as well as international market segmentation theory in online settings.

Practical implications: The analysis conducted helps managers in the hospitality sector as well as platform managers and software developers to make sense of multiple individual reviewers’ features including cultural traits, and perceived experience in online ratings.

Originality/value: The conjoint exploration of the effects of cultural differences and perceived experience in online reviewing adds to the nascent research stream taking a direct measurement approach to the study of the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions on online consumers’ behaviors. We make multiple theoretical and methodological contributions, highlighting that online hospitality customers cannot be considered as one homogeneous mass. Instead, the application of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions allows identifying distinctively different online behaviors across international online customers: different online customer groups can be clustered into segments as they display different online behaviors and give different online evaluations.

Why are there various personality traits and why are those traits revealed in widely-acclaimed models such as the Big Five?  The Three-Dimensional Trait System (3D-TRASY) states that any personality trait can be defined in terms of three basic sources.  The first source represents traits’ variability with regard to the brain’s functioning in terms of bottom-up and top-down processes.  The second source connects to positive (rewards) and negative (punishments) social reinforcements of the trait.  The third source reflects a multitude of situations in which a trait may unfold.  Thus, Extraversion can be defined as a proximate bottom-up positive while Conscientiousness is a distal top-down positive.  3D-TRASY provides a framework for formal, non-tautological definitions of traits; it provides explanations for various phenomena in trait research including the super-traits of Stability and Plasticity and the maturity principle of lifespan development.  3D-TRASY presumes that some traits can occasionally closely correlate and thus establish an amalgam, which exemplifies itself in Eysenckian Psychoticism and the Big-Five’s Agreeableness.  In the history of trait research, this amalgamation may explain controversies that would have facilitated emergence of novel models such as the Big Five or HEXACO.  The paper contains empirical demonstrations on how 3D-TRASY can explain apparently empirical artifacts.

We consider fair allocation of indivisible items under additive utilities. When the utilities can be negative, the existence and complexity of an allocation that satisfies Pareto optimality and proportionality up to one item (PROP1) is an open problem. We show that there exists a strongly polynomial-time algorithm that always computes an allocation satisfying Pareto optimality and proportionality up to one item even if the utilities are mixed and the agents have asymmetric weights. We point out that the result does not hold if either of Pareto optimality or PROP1 is replaced with slightly stronger concepts.

A set of objects, some goods and some bads, is to be divided fairly among agents with different tastes, modeled by additive utility-functions. If the objects cannot be shared, so that each of them must be entirely allocated to a single agent, then fair division may not exist. What is the smallest number of objects that must be shared between two or more agents in order to attain a fair division? We focus on Pareto-optimal, envy-free and/or proportional allocations. We show that, for a generic instance of the problem --- all instances except of a zero-measure set of degenerate problems --- a fair and Pareto-optimal division with the smallest possible number of shared objects can be found in polynomial time, assuming that the number of agents is fixed. The problem becomes computationally hard for degenerate instances, where the agents' valuations are aligned for many objects.

We study the problem of allocating divisible bads (chores) among multiple agents with additive utilities, when money transfers are not allowed. The competitive rule is known to be the best mechanism for goods with additive utilities and was recently extended to chores by Bogomolnaia et al (2017). For both goods and chores, the rule produces Pareto optimal and envy-free allocations. In the case of goods, the outcome of the competitive rule can be easily computed. Competitive allocations solve the Eisenberg-Gale convex program; hence the outcome is unique and can be approximately found by standard gradient methods. An exact algorithm that runs in polynomial time in the number of agents and goods was given by Orlin. In the case of chores, the competitive rule does not solve any convex optimization problem; instead, competitive allocations correspond to local minima, local maxima, and saddle points of the Nash Social Welfare on the Pareto frontier of the set of feasible utilities. The rule becomes multivalued and none of the standard methods can be applied to compute its outcome. In this paper, we show that all the outcomes of the competitive rule for chores can be computed in strongly polynomial time if either the number of agents or the number of chores is fixed. The approach is based on a combination of three ideas: all consumption graphs of Pareto optimal allocations can be listed in polynomial time; for a given consumption graph, a candidate for a competitive allocation can be constructed via explicit formula; and a given allocation can be checked for being competitive using a maximum flow computation as in Devanur et al (2002). Our algorithm immediately gives an approximately-fair allocation of indivisible chores by the rounding technique of Barman and Krishnamurthy (2018).

Theoretical literature states that intra-industry trade (IIT) should be divided into horizontal and vertical flows (or trade in products with homogeneous and heterogeneous quality) that are influenced by different factors. Yet, the economists are still not sure about the proportion between horizontal and vertical IIT. Traditional approach relies on unit value as an indicator of product quality. However, it is associated with a number of problems such as arbitrariness of the threshold used to separate the types of trade. We propose the two alternative approaches to dissecting IIT: first, applying another product quality indicator (PRODY – per capita GDP associated with exporting a product) and, second, relying on countries’ product-level differences in the revealed comparative advantage (RCA). We also argue in favor of the new continuous treatment of the index-based unit value approach (in the spirit of the overlap calculation of the IIT itself) that finally helps to get rid of the arbitrary thresholds problem. However, then we reject the PRODY- and RCA-based approaches due to an undesirable behavior (low correlation with the share of exports to other EU countries, low shares of horizontal IIT for homogeneous products and other features), while the performance of the continuous form of the index-based unit value approach is found to be in line with the traditional unit value approach. We also argue that the two index-based modifications are preferable to the traditional unit value approach due to the higher shares of horizontal IIT for homogeneous products. We conclude that the median share of horizontal IIT for EU countries is still unknown due to fundamental uncertainty about the dissecting approach. At the same time, relative positions of countries for all forms of the unit value approach are quite stable, so there is much less uncertainty concerning the cross-country differences.

We propose a decomposition of weighted Theil index of export concentration into the quantity- and quality-driven terms and calculate the proposed components for 5038 product groups and 120 countries. We link our findings to the debate on the role of quality upgrading in structural transformation. The results do not support the idea that climbing quality ladders (or quality upgrading within the actually exported products) is the best way to proceed with structural transformation: for most countries, the share of the quality-driven component of weighted Theil index doesn’t exceed 20 per cent.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce applications of RUSMOD—a microsimulation model for fiscal incidence analysis in the Russian Federation. RUSMOD combines household survey micro-data and fiscal policy rules to simulate the Russian tax-benefit system: the size and distribution of taxes collected and benefits paid, and the impact of the system on different population groups. Microsimulation models, such as RUSMOD, are habitually used in developed countries, and can be versatile budgetary policy tools. Using this model, the current tax-benefit system in Russia is examined. The impact of the system is measured across the income distribution, age groups, family types, localities, as well as across time. One of the applications of RUSMOD this paper aims to assess is the role of the tax-benefit system in explaining the incidence of informal employment in Russia. The paper investigates whether the existing system creates disincentives for formalization in terms of reducing disposable incomes and increasing poverty and inequality, and whether a hypothetical tax reform would be able to reduce the opportunity costs of formalization for informal workers, improve distributional outcomes, and increase fiscal revenues.

We analyze multisector models with endogenous product variety and derive general results on the magnitude of welfare changes due to sector-specific price shocks. Intersectoral linkages magnify or dampen these shocks, depending on complementarity or substitutability in consumers’ preferences. Under the widely used combination of Cobb-Douglas-CES utilities and monopolistic competition, intersectoral linkages disappear. This does not hold with more general preferences or market structures, where sector-specific price shocks that are a priori welfare improving can turn out to be welfare worsening economy-wide. We illustrate this result with several examples, in particular where one sector is ‘granular’ and the other is monopolistically competitive.

Whether short-term learning of new words can induce rapid changes in cortical areas involved in distributed neural representation of the lexicon is a hotly debated topic. To answer this question, we examined magnetoencephalographic phase-locked responses elicited in the cerebral cortex by passive presentation of eight novel pseudowords before and immediately after an operant conditioning task. This procedure forced participants to perform an active search for unique meaning of four word-forms that referred to movements of their own body parts. While familiarization with novel word-forms led to bilateral repetition suppression of cortical responses to all eight pseudowords, these reduced responses became more selectively tuned towards newly learned action words in the left hemisphere. Our results suggest that stimulus repetition and active learning of semantic association have separable effects on cortical activity. They also evidence rapid plastic changes in cortical representations of meaningful auditory word-forms after active learning.

The paper presents the Business Climate Indicator (BCI) in the Russian manufacturing including the medium and high-tech (MHT) manufacturing industries. The authors explain the feasibility of a new alternative measure that summarizes common information of business tendency surveys cleared up of specific fluctuations in individual variables, and give arguments to prove its effectiveness. The resulting BCI reflects the quantitative changes in manufacturing growth more accurately and with a lead compared to the traditional confidence indicator. Identification of the BCI cyclic profile and its visualization through a tracer demonstrate all significant waves of manufacturers’ optimism and pessimism for the period from January 2005 to January 2019. To construct BCI-MHT, the units of observation and the input information are divided into three groups according to the technological level of industries. The dynamics of BCI-MHT is close to those of BCI; however, during the protracted recession in 2016-2018, the sentiments of manufacturers of medium- and high-tech products were less pessimistic compared with the sentiments of all manufacturers.

This article investigates issues related to a unique experiment carried out in Russia in unifying the collection of all obligatory payments. It analyzes the legal aspects of this approach and presents the variety of methods for collecting such payments. Notions of budget revenue and sources of revenue are considered. Special attention is paid to the forms and practices of tax farming and other obligatory payments. The article concludes that the budget legislation actually specifies various fiscal charges as sources of budget revenue. The real source of public revenue are the assets and resources making up the national wealth. Historical examples show that despite the generally accepted denial, tax farming is a normal method and can be applied along with the state monopoly and tax administration. The cases when tax farming is transformed into a state monopoly or excise and vice versa are not rare. Tax farming, which has continued to this day, is also referred to as parafiscal charges or quasi taxes.

Previous studies have found that the increase in the proportion of youth in adult population can lead to an increased risk of political violence. However, studies of the influence of the ‘youth bulges’ on the intensity of non-violent protest activity have hardly been conducted. We hypothesize that ‘youth bulges’ could influence the rise of non-violent protests as well. We find that though in the absence of controls, there is a statistically significant negative correlation between the proportion of young people in the total adult population and the intensity of non-violent protests this correlation turns out to be positive after the introduction of controls for per capita GDP, urbanization, non-autocratic political regime and the proliferation of education. 

This paper examines the impact of the 34% increase in pensions in Russia at the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 on the labor market participation of pensioners. Several particular features of the pension system in Russia allow us to estimate the net effect of income from such a reform. For evaluation, we used a method combining difference-in-difference and regression discontinuity methods. The results showed that real pension growth by a third reduced labor force participation rate by 6–7.1% for men and by 6–6.4% for women. The heterogeneity of the impact of this reform was also investigated. Estimates showed that the effect was lower for more educated people or those living in villages and was completely absent among those who rated their health as poor or very bad.

The spread of digital technologies changes production processes and business models, which has important effects for diversification of the economy. The fourth industrial revolution and the Industrial Internet of Things open up new opportunities for the introduction of technologies, having a significant impact on the production cycle, starting with highly automated production lines and ending with the large-scale implementation of technological solutions designed to improve productivity, optimize costs, quality and reliability. Defining digital transformations, primarily in the manufacturing industry as a strategic imperative for the entire economy, for the first time, based on opinions and intentions of entrepreneurs (short and medium-term), key aspects of the digitalization process in Russian medium, high-tech and low-tech manufacturing industries are revealed. A set of tendencies in the development of digital technologies by their main types is presented, the level of industry participation in digital transformation is shown, as well as many other important digital transformation processes in enterprises that are not measured by quantitative statistics. For all the studied industries, factors hindering digital transformation are identified and ranked.

Education systems across the world are experiencing significant transformations. Grassroots innovators play an important role in these changes. To stimulate the development of grassroots innovations it is important to understand the mechanisms that underlie their creation. This paper investigates the motivation of individuals who initialize innovative projects in education. The approach to measuring motivation was adopted from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) initially developed for social and commercial entrepreneurs. The Russian version of the methodology was elaborated and validated to study educational innovators. The sample consists of 437 participants of the Competition for Innovation in Education (KIVO). Four types of motivation are identified: social, self-realization, status, financial. They are explained within the self-determination theory (SDT) and grassroots innovations. The social and self-realization motives are inherent in all the actors, while the other two vary among innovators. This motivational structure allows the authors to differentiate between specific types of innovators – social entrepreneurs and ‘non-entrepreneurs’. The discussion, following the conclusion in this article, focuses on which environment would be favorable for developing innovations, considering the personal motives for innovative activity. The results can be valuable for education policy.

This paper considers three hypotheses about the strategic origin of price dispersion in homogeneous product online sales. The first two are the $\varepsilon$-equilibrium and the quantal-response equilibrium (QRE) in a pure Bertrand setting involving the boundedly rational behavior of sellers. The third introduces the share of loyal consumers into the model of competition. These hypotheses were supported by estimations on experimental lab data. We test the hypotheses on a set of real prices for 30 models of household appliances collected from the largest Russian online marketplace Market.Yandex.ru. In contrast to the previously reported experimental data, we found very limited support for any of these explanations. QRE showed the best performance on the data. For most of the products it accurately predicts central tendency, i.e. the mean and the median. However, the shape of the observed price distributions is not explained well by any of the models. These results pose new challenges for theoretical explanations of observed Internet prices.

Larger cities typically give rise to two opposite effects: tougher competition among firms and higher production costs. Using an urban model with substitutability of production factors and pro-competitive effects, I study the response of the market outcome to city size, land-use regulations, and commuting costs. For industries with low input shares of land, larger cities host more firms setting lower prices whereas for sectors with intermediate land shares larger cities accommodate more firms charging higher prices. Softer land-use regulations and/or lower commuting costs reinforce pro-competitive effects, making larger cities more attractive for residents via lower prices and broader product diversity.

Using Monte Carlo simulation experiments, this paper examines the performance of popular SEM goodness-of-fit indices, namely CFI, TLI, RMSEA, and SRMR, with respect to a specific task of measurement invariance testing with categorical data and many groups (10-50 groups). Study factors include the number of groups, the level of non-invariance in the data, and the absence/presence of model misspecifications other than non-invariance. In sum, the study design yields a total of 81 conditions. All simulated data sets are analyzed using two popular SEM estimators, MLR and WLSMV. The main contribution of this paper to the methodological literature on cross-cultural survey research is that it produces revised guidelines for evaluating the goodness of fit of invariance MGCFA models with many groups.