Ideas and Ideals

The article is devoted to some aspects of card games, and the evolution of casinos in modern Russia. It is shown that in connection with criminalization and other negative phenomena, the gambling business was equated with “alcoholization of the population”. The problem of criminalization could not be solved, since casinos and slot machines migrated largely underground. The internet has become another loophole.

In the mid-2000s, the loss of income from casinos to the state budget was a drop in the ocean. After 15 years, the situation has changed. Budget deficits of municipalities have become almost the norm, many subjects of the Federation have become chronic debtors. New non-trivial sources of state and municipal revenues are required. If, taking into account the pros and cons, it turns out to be possible to legalize the gambling business in the country, it should be based on new principles. Among them, locations far from cities, in regional centers, strict state control, a special (but not stifling) tax regime, no credits to players, and wide scale restrictions.

The level of innovation activity has not changed for a large number of years, despite the measures taken by the state. Based on empirical data, the article examines the dynamics of the following components of companies’ innovative activity in high-tech and low-tech sectors of the manufacturing industry: introduction of product and other types of innovations; activities to improve the qualifications of personnel; purchase of licensed foreign technologies and intangible assets. We also tested the statistical significance of differences in the levels of innovation activity of high-tech and low-tech companies in different economic conditions using the t-criterion.

The analysis showed a decrease in the share of companies engaged in any kind of innovative activity. During the period of economic growth, both high-tech and low-tech companies made equal use of opportunities to increase innovation activity. It was found that the level of innovation activity among high-tech companies declines to a lesser extent than among low-tech companies during the crisis. In these conditions, high-tech companies are more actively using "internal reserves": they are working more to improve the skill level of staff and implementing innovation processes. During periods of high and low rates of economic growth, high-tech companies often buy new technology, but it does not lead to greater innovation activity; companies are only updating their technological base. During the period of weak economic growth, companies in both sectors continued to reduce their innovative activity in all areas. The resumption of growth trends in innovative activities is possible only when companies see the prospects from the implementation of innovative activities.

Based on the statistics, because of the survey of Novosibirsk region residents, we studied data on personal readiness for activity in work, to flexibility, to adaptability. Employees should be able to assess the real situation, and should be able to be creative. Businesses are moving to a flexible organization, flexible working conditions. It is increasingly worrying workers and businesses. The article takes on special relevance in the context of the search and activation of new sources of economic development with the introduction of a new methodology for the management of Agile. The assessment was satisfactory. Self-assessment of the potential of workers has been reasonable. The level of independence was adequate. The desire to participate in a new type of economy with commercialization is unsatisfactory. The desire to participate in scientific developments, discoveries, inventions is unsatisfactory. The validity of the study's findings is based on self-assessments of ability, preparedness (competence) and desire (motivation) activities, mainly for work and continuous education.

The article presents a comparative analysis of the dynamics of indicators of living standards of the population in the Novosibirsk region, the Siberian Federal District and the Russian Federation as a whole. The aim of the study is to determine how the indicators of the standard of living of the population of the Novosibirsk region relate to similar indicators for the Russian Federation and the Siberian Federal District and to identify the presence of general and special trends, patterns in changes during the period under review. Data from the Federal State Statistics Service, including data from its territorial bodies and data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation were used as an information base. At the initial stage of the study, the authors calculated the share of the population with monetary incomes below the subsistence level for the Siberian Federal District, since Rosstat does not consider this indicator for the level of federal districts, and a number of nominal indicators adjusted for real prices. The growth rate of all the indicators under consideration for the study period was then calculated. The work used a dynamics analysis and an approach based on a combination of statistical, systemic and comparative analysis methods. Based on the study, we can say that most indicators of the standard of living of the population for the Novosibirsk region correspond to the trends observed in the Russian Federation and the Siberian Federal District. In the case of some indicators, such as the level of employment, the incidence per 1000 people, etc., it can be stated that the growth rate is multi-directional compared to the Russian Federation and the Siberian Federal district. In general, the authors did not see any patterns in the dynamics of changes in indicators for NSOs. The study covers 2011-2018, with few exceptions.

The article presents methodological approaches to the formation of a criteria of assessing the level of consumer services sphere development on the territory of an urban agglomeration, taking into account the determination of the indicative supply rate of companies providing services. The semantic basis of the category "complectarity" is formulated and the significance of this category in the approach of assessing the actual state of the development level of the consumer services sphere is shown, taking into account the actual set of services provided by enterprises in relation to the set of services, which serve as a measure of their number. The application of this methodology allows us to reveal the unevenness of the supply of consumer services relative to real demand of this services and to explain the formation of pricing policy of companies, providing services in conditions of deviation from the equilibrium of supply and demand, which fully meets the principles of the theory of pricing formation by formulating a coherent strategy of the consumer services sphere development. Research carried out on the basis of using methodology of complectarity makes it possible to more accurately determine the species and quantitative disparities in supply in any territory of an urban agglomeration, taking into account the size of the population living in it. Evaluation of the supply of consumer services relative to their real demand based on the application of the bundling methodology allows us to determine the specific and quantitative disproportions of the supply of consumer services in any territory of an urban agglomeration relative to the number of people living there, which corresponds to the theory of pricing, explains the possibility of forming an equilibrium price, subject to the presence or absence of a package offer of consumer services, including specific and quantitative indicators. Thus, a program or strategy for the development of consumer services should be aimed at bringing the indicator of integral completeness to one. It is with this meaning that economic equilibrium and the absolute achievement of the goals of strategic development of the consumer services sector take place. This condition corresponds to the concepts of "set", "ideal completeness" and serves as a criterion for assessing the level of development of consumer services in the territory under consideration.

The article is timed to the 60^th anniversary of the XXII CPSU Congress, which has become an important milestone in the history of the late Soviet period. The 3^rd programme of the CPSU was adopted on the Congress, which proclaimed that "the current generation of Soviet people will live under communism." The strategy for achieving this goal was justified as well. This article is devoted to the analysis of its economic aspects. The paper has four sections. In the first, the authors substantiate the need to identify the doctrinal continuity of the economic policy of late Stalinism and the time of Khrushchev’s “Thaw”. In the second section of the article, the authors note that traditional methodological approaches have many limitations in studies of this kind. Their non-critical use makes it difficult to find a response to the question of why the Khrushchev leadership failed to realise its ambitious plans. The authors see the solution of this issue in a comprehensive comparative analysis of the promotional ideologemes and practical policy. The main section outlines the results of the study. They are based on a detailed comparison of the main directions of creating a “material and technical basis” of communism contained in the Stalinist projects of the 3^rd party programme and in Khrushchev’s version. As underlined, they are determined by a variety of dominant political myths and ideologemes in the public consciousness. At the same time, the practical policy was guided by completely different ideas and interests. In conclusion, it is stipulated that, with all the nuances, the economic “visions” that were reflected in the 3^rd party programme were designed in accordance with patterns of the "Communist projections", formulated in Stalin’s epoch. They promised to build a society of universal benefits in the foreseeable future. However, in practice, the development of the economy, as before, was primarily focused on the expansion of military-industrial might. All other needs could be satisfied only in accordance with the "residual principle." This turned into a gap between the declarations of "steady increase of material well-being" of the population and reality. As a result, the strategy of the “communist construction” was discredited, and the authority of those in power was undermined.

Free time is an important economic resource for a resident of a big city. The availability and rational use of free time is determined by the conditions of a particular urban environment. The problem of time is connected with the theme of quality and standard of living of the modern citizen. This problem allows us to identify promising areas of development of the service sector. The article presents the results of a sociological survey – a study of socio-economic aspects of the situation of personal time deficit. 82 people took part in the survey, among them 50 % (41 people) are constantly experiencing a lack of personal time, 38 % (31 people) have such a situation regularly. It is established that respondents with middle and high income are people with high professional employment. They are forced to systematically resort to paid services to achieve an individual level of comfort. The use of such services is the way to receive personal time for rest and hobbies. An affordable price is a decisive factor in the choice of specific services for the majority of respondents. The article defines the actual level of demand for services at the present time. The authors have identified the types of household chores that citizens are willing to give up. The results of the survey of consumers of the market of services in Novosibirsk show a steady interest of respondents to entrepreneurship. The authors identified the most popular segments of the urban service sector - cooking healthy food, minor repairs of equipment, repair of premises, improvement of housing. The value of consumer services is the ability to form a stable level of comfort. Comfort is an important category of life in urban agglomeration. The desire for comfort cannot be accidental. Small business allows you to effectively and efficiently combine work and achieve most of the personal goals of the person. The development of the consumer services sector in a large city is a strategic priority.

The analysis of statistical data shows that in reality quite often in the bankruptcy of organizations there are signs of its premeditation. However, the subjects are brought to responsibility for this offense in isolated cases. According to most researchers, this situation is largely due to the imperfection of methods for identifying signs of deliberate bankruptcy of organizations. In turn, the methodological basis for identifying signs of deliberate bankruptcy of organizations, predicting the probability of bankruptcy and deliberate bankruptcy of organizations depend on the understanding of the nature of bankruptcy and deliberate bankruptcy of organizations. The concepts of bankruptcy and deliberate bankruptcy of organizations are enshrined in a number of legislative documents. In the economic aspect, the concept of bankruptcy of the organization in the Russian scientific and periodic literature is widely covered. The majority of researchers in their works consider the concepts of deliberate bankruptcy of the organization from the position of the legal aspect. The economic aspect of the concept of deliberate bankruptcy of the organization is mentioned in a few papers, which indicates underdevelopment of scientific research of the economic aspect of the phenomenon of intentional bankruptcies of organizations. The article puts forward and proves the hypothesis that on the basis of semantic analysis and definitions of the semantic core of the concepts “bankruptcy of the organization” and “deliberate bankruptcy of organizations”, it is possible to formulate the key characteristics of bankruptcy, deliberate bankruptcy of organizations, revealing the essence of these phenomena. According to the results of the semantic analysis and semantic core definition of the concept of “deliberate bankruptcy of the organization” the article suggests a definition of the concept of deliberate bankruptcy of the organization from the position of the subjects of demand for information in the market.

The paper deals with social-cultural aspects of catching up modernisation in the newly industrialising countries (NICs) of East and South-East Asia in the 1960s-90s. The author treats this modernisation as a kind of conservative modernisation because it combined the local traditions and several elements of modernity, the “family-centred” attitudes of the East with the “self-centred” individualism of the West. In this connection, the author considers the role of Confucianism in East Asian modernisation and discusses the problem of compatibility of the Confucian doctrine with “the spirit of capitalism”. As it is known, Max Weber wrote about their incompatibility with each other but the practice of the last third of the XX Century disapproved the conception of Weber. This apparent paradox has been explained by the profound changes in capitalism since the times when Weber elaborated his conception. When the countries under scrutiny approached to their modernisation, they borrowed and implemented the model of managerial capitalism with the developmental state and economic bureaucracy. The state and its officialdom played the leading role in development of these countries, being much more important for modernisation than “the spirit of capitalism” with private initiatives. Meanwhile, the developmental state’s activity corresponded to some principles of the Confucian doctrine, so Confucianism that glorified the harmony and strong order appeared as well compatible with fast modernisation, particularly in Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. However, the Confucian heritage and the relics of communalism became the obstacles to transition towards a knowledge-based economy. A focus on learning instead of studying in education according to the old Confucian traditions restrains the students’ creativity and oppresses an endeavour to express individuality. Thus, the practice of conservative modernisation, which was very effective at the stage of imitative, catching up industrial development, succeeds in a blind alley because does not enable to begin implementing a knowledge-based, innovative model of development that presupposes a free creative activity of individuals. At the same time, liberalisation of economy, particularly after the Asian financial-economic crisis of 1997-1998, leads to deepening social differentiation and erodes the base of the previous developmental state. In the changing conditions, a set of the so-called “Asian values” has been used not for further modernisation but for justifying the conservative, authoritarian tendencies in politics and ideology. The main conclusion the author makes from his consideration concerns the debates about the global shift of the world economy’s core to the East (including China): in the nearest decades neither China nor East Asia as a whole will become the world economic hegemon. The West with the US domination will remain the global scientific-technological and, therefore, economic leader in the world.

The paper considers a concept of poverty in socio-economic, historical and institutional aspects, individual and social causes of poverty, and key factors determining the level of poverty. The author shows that poverty is a social problem, and its level is an indicator of the quality of institutions and government policy. Poverty assessment is not only an economic and statistical problem, but also a political one. Specifically, the methodology for determining the poverty level based on the assessment of the minimum subsistence level has considerable potential for manipulation. Based on the research of a few authors, it is shown that the most important factor of property stratification is inflation, and the hypothesis that the current income differentiation observed in Russia is largely due to inflation and extremely low rates of economic growth in the post-Soviet period. The author discusses the specifics of poverty in Russia and concludes that it is poorly dependent on the level of education and skills of workers and – to a greater extent than in other countries - on their place of work, economic sector, region, size of settlements, etc. It is shown that the government policy on incomes of certain categories of the population could result in an increase in inequality both regionally and between different social groups. The methods and tools of the government policy for overcoming poverty briefly considered in the paper are limited, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, they could have possible negative consequences of income equalization policy. At the same time, the author agrees with the opinion that more equal distribution of income makes society not only fairer, but also more efficient due to higher regional, social and professional mobility and greater efficiency of market institutions. In conclusion, the author discusses the strategy how to modernize the Russian economy and achieve the national goal on reducing poverty by half.