Ideas and Ideals

This article is devoted to a review of G.I. Khanin’s new book, which presents the author’s assessment of the course and results of the first five-year plan. The article is not a summary of this book, but an attempt to re-think the process of implementing the principles of planning and directive management of the economy and social sphere in Soviet Russia. G.I. Khanin’s book presents and substantiates alternative assessments of the economic development of the country and it shows that the annual plans were not implemented and control figures of the five-year plan as a whole were not achieved contrary to the claims of the states’ leadership. The book concludes that industrialization has a high cost. This review paper explains the high relevance of this book, since the ideas of transition to a mobilization economy and the recreation of a centralized planning system in one form or another to accelerate economic growth and, more broadly, to modernize the economy and society have become widespread in current scientific literature and journalism. Based on the content of the book under discussion, the author of this review paper examines the problem of the correlation between modernization and economic growth. He shows that during the years of the first five-year plan, against a background of significant economic growth and serious efforts to expand education and the network of scientific institutions, the processes of archaization of the society took place as well as new mechanisms of social stratification were formed. The discussed monograph draws an important conclusion that domestic statistics during the first five-year plan falsified not only monetary, but also natural indicators. The book shows that the so-called ten-year plans resulted in the disorganization of economic life, disproportions and, according to G.I. Khanin, the transition from economic fantasy to “bacchanal planning”. The author of the review paper also shows that the historical and economic study of the USSR is far from being completed, and he concludes that quantitative estimates and especially qualitative conclusions need to be adjusted as new information sources are discovered and involved in the scientific turnover, as well as the previously obtained data should be compared and reconsidered.

The article considers the issue of the relationship between higher education and financial behavior of citizens of the Russian Federation. The points of view formed in the scientific literature on the factors determining the rationality of financial behavior. In addition, the role of education and training as a tool for the formation of responsible financial behavior of the population are presented. The observed manifestation of financial behavior was the demand for financial services provided by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, as well as data on the availability of higher education, which were reflected in the All-Russian Population Census of 2020. As a result of the study, five groups of indicators were formed: accounts of individuals; placement of funds by individuals; loans /loans of individuals; payment services; insurance. The calculations were carried out in the context of the Federal Districts of the Russian Federation and allowed us to identify the following connections: strong direct (fixed for all groups of indicators), average direct (all except insurance), feedback (placement of funds by individuals; loans/loans of individuals) and weak communication (accounts of individuals; placement of funds by individuals; loans/loans of individuals). The presence of higher education shows a noticeable connection with the consumption by households and individuals of such services as: remote service and non-cash payments, exchange investments, deposits in banks, insurance protection. The level of involvement in interaction with the banking system, loans and overdue debts in non-bank financial organizations are at a comparable level in all federal districts. The higher the level of education, the lower the interest in such services as: placement of funds in micro-credit organizations and credit consumer cooperatives, loans that are small in volume and time taken in credit consumer cooperatives without the use of remote technologies. The assumption that higher education helps residents of Russia to make long-term decisions, avoid mistakes and follow models of responsible financial behavior has been empirically confirmed.

The author of this paper analyses the book by A. Markevich and M. Harrison, “Great War, Civil War, and Recovery: Russia’s National Income, 1913 to 1928”. He highlights the fact that the authors’ (A. Markevich and M. Harrison) calculations introduced in this article significantly expand and clarify the economic situation in Russia and the USSR in 1913-1928 from an economics point of view. For the first time, M. Harrison and A. Markevich evaluate the dynamics of national income and production of individual economic sectors, including the service industry, and compare the economies of Russia and the USSR with other countries in the same period.

The calculations show a more successful development of the economy of Russia than other warring countries during the First World War. In addition, the article analyzes the decline in Russia’s share in the world economy in 1928 compared to 1913. Thereby, the authors make a reasonable conclusion about the decrease in the efficiency of the USSR economy in 1928 compared to the pre-revolutionary period. Estimates of the national income, the personal consumption fund, and the population allowed evaluating the entire economic development of pre-revolutionary Russia, the USSR, and post-Soviet Russia. Finally, the authors reveal the consequences of the economic crises of the 20th century in Russia.

Drawing on personal and other researchers’ calculations, the authors criticize the opinion about the national income growth in 1928 in comparison with 1913 as exaggerated. Its significant drop during the civil war was caused by war communism as well as by the rupture of economic ties.

The development of new digital technologies and their active application has an impact on the relationship of credit institutions with customers in the field of availability of products and methods of services provided. Currently, the activity of banks in creating and releasing products for customers is reaching a new level thanks to the development of technologies and innovations in this area.

The research and analysis of the current directions of development in the field of development and formation of modern banking products is carried out. The object of the study is the variety of products of commercial banks, the subject of the study is the global trends of their development. Purpose of the work: analysis of trends in the development of modern and innovative banking products in Russia and abroad. Based on the purpose of the work, the main types of banking innovation processes in the world were identified, such as a banking product in new market segments, innovations such as the development of activities in new areas of the financial market, modified financial intermediation services aimed at effective asset and liability management, new methods of cash management and the use of new information technologies, new products in traditional segments of loan capital.

The line of common banking products considered in the article, as well as the study of products of a new digital and remote format, allowed us to conclude that it is necessary to develop and disseminate the existing classification of banking products. Due to the increasing number of bank product developments, their classification becomes an integral stage in their formation and subsequent release. A number of classification features and distinctions were investigated, which helped to systematize the existing groups of banking products and identify areas for their development. The perspective of the banking sector is the transformation of the bank’s products. There is automation in many banking processes and, as a result, there are modernized products and services of the bank, which have not been considered in the theoretical aspect earlier in scientific and practical works and publications.

The relevance of the study of problems in the field of innovation activity in the Novosibirsk region is due to the low susceptibility of the region to the introduction of new technologies, the complexity of choosing a strategy for the development of innovative companies, the lack of an effective method of finding business models for innovative products and the complex relationship of industrial partners with innovators.

All these problems are a consequence of the cultural characteristics of the Russian Federation, and without proper study of them we cannot present a complete picture of the development of the innovative sphere of the region.

The article discusses the concepts of “innovative susceptibility of the region” and “startups”. It is proposed to supplement the generally accepted characteristics of a startup by adding an institutional affiliation to them, dividing startups into three categories: park, academic and non-academic. Each of these categories has its own characteristics that must be taken into account when creating a development strategy and entering the market. It should be noted that the institutional affiliation of a startup, taking into account the cultural characteristics of the Russian Federation, has been studied superficially by modern economists.

The problem of distortion of statistical data when calculating the innovation activity of the regions of the Russian Federation on the example of the Omsk, Tomsk and Novosibirsk regions is indicated.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the influence of various economic aspects of the development of Russian statehood in the IX – XVI centuries. The authors consider the most important sectors of the Russian economy in the pre-Roman period, such as agriculture, crafts and trade. They also show the role of trade in the formation of regional markets and their integration into a single national market. The article discloses the significance of trade routes and partners, the structure of exports and imports, the functions of the state in regulating foreign economic relations. A separate part of the article is a chronological analysis of the dynamics of trade development. The following stages are distinguished: 1) IX - XI: the emergence and flourishing of Old Russian trade, 2) the middle of the XII - XIII centuries: a recession in trade against the backdrop of feudal fragmentation, the beginning of the flourishing of foreign trade in Novgorod, 3) XIII - XIV centuries: the destruction of trade relations in the southern and northeastern principalities, the flourishing of Novgorod trade, merchants, 4) the end of the XIV and the first half of the XVI century: the rise of Moscow merchants, positive dynamics in the development of trade, the development of new trade routes, access to new ports, the development of foreign trade with European countries, 5) the second half of the XVI - early XVII centuries: the crisis of trade and economic relations, the decline of agriculture, the decline in imports and exports.

The article provides a rationale for the fact that trade played an important role in the spatial development of the state, as it contributed to the formation of cities, the resettlement of people and the integration of various segments of the population. Trade routes (‘from Varangians to Greeks’, Volga, Danube) penetrated the territory of the East European Plain, inhabited by tribal unions of the Slavs. Trade and defensive posts were formed along the banks of the rivers, which developed into large centers of trade, crafts, agriculture, military power, which formed the basis of the power of local princes and leaders. As a result, cities acquired not only trade and economic, but also administrative and strategic importance. The economic dependence of the tribes on cities, which were markets for agricultural products, handicrafts, precious metals, as well as the need to ensure security, became prerequisites for the formation and development of Russian statehood.

The article shows the origin of the system of law in Rus’, the regulation of trade and economic relations, as well as the importance of various forms of management and cooperation (merchant guilds), which contributed to the unification of the Russian state. One guild could unite merchants from different cities, which facilitated and accelerated the process of annexing territories. Thus, unity was ensured not only by military force, but also by economic integration.

Since the peasantry was the main element in the system of division of labor, the production of goods for foreign trade and material goods for domestic consumption, it can be considered a key factor influencing the development of trade and the main resource for the development of the economy. The historical transformation of the peasantry is closely correlated with the dynamics of the development of trade, so we can talk about the relationship of these elements.

The study of national economic and financial security in the context of sanctions and import substitution revealed the lack of a unified methodology in the economic block of the Russian Federation, manifested in the form of discrepancies in the methodological approaches of regulatory institutions of the ministerial level.

The presence of such theoretical and methodological discrepancies in the work of the regulatory institutions of Russia indicates the lack of a unified national state ideology for the formation of the development strategy of individual territories and the country as a whole. Effective and stable development of the country is impossible without strong science, the results of which are implemented in public practice.

Declaring a serious large-scale import substitution project, there is actually no task to develop an appropriate theoretical and methodological basis for it, to define a paradigm that is designed to reflect national interests. The presence of developed theories and methodology as the basis of the scientific foundation in the country’s economy, including economic security as an integral part of Russia’s national security, allows us to develop effective strategies that constitute a unique intellectual base for the development of the country’s economic sectors. If import substitution is based only on the initial level, without a scientific basis that takes into account the national interests of Russia, the preservation of the country’s sovereignty turns out to be an impossible task.

To verify the assertions made, letters were sent containing questions about the use by institutions of domestic or foreign theoretical and methodological tools in their work. The correspondence covered 7 ministries and the Bank of Russia, which form the economic bloc of the RF Government.

The analysis of the responses allows us to conclude: import substitution in Russia is defined narrowly, only in relation to groups of goods, technology and equipment without taking into account scientific domestic developments in theory and methodology; it is not clear what domestic/foreign tools are used in the economic block of Russia; there is no constructive interaction between representatives of the scientific and educational community and managerial practitioners.

Import substitution in Russia should start from the theoretical and methodological level, where the strategy is defined and the integrity in the activities of the institution and the relevant sector of the economy of the country is set.

The paper considers financial technologies that were used in the time of Peter the Great to organize non-cash payments abroad. The sources for the study were legislative documents, letters of Peter the Great’s contemporaries and mentions of historians about financial calculations in Peter the Great’s time. The author considers the use of promissory notes and bills of exchange that were used in the time of Peter the Great to organize non-cash payments abroad. Russian merchants used them in trade settlements in Arkhangelsk long before Peter I. During the reforms of the first quarter of the XVIII century notes and bills settlements were carried out by Russian people on the territory of Europe already. This explains the wider use of the notes and bills in both interstate and private settlements, including the purposes of obtaining scholarships for young people sent abroad by Peter to study. Peter himself and his pets used all the means of payment available at that time in Europe – both cash (gold and silver coins) and non-cash means (promissory notes and bills of exchange). An important issuer of bills of exchange for Russians was the Amsterdam bank, since Amsterdam was the center for the sale of Russian goods. Not only trade transactions, but also the payment of royal orders in different countries, and the issuance of stipends to scholarship holders, took place by transferring bills of exchange from the Amsterdam bank or Amsterdam merchants accepted to other European cities of Europe. In addition to mastering the ‘basic’ profession, those staying abroad needed to show some financial literacy (which could not be obtained at home), skills in handling modern (for that time) securities, and visit banks from time to time. Russian students were prevented from studying not only by the possible temptations and pastime of a beautiful life abroad, but also by serious life difficulties that arose in connection with the financial crisis in France in 1720-21.

The article summarizes the methodological foundations of pricing in the housing sector (with the allocation of prices of services for the management of apartment buildings). 

During the historical analysis of methodological approaches to pricing in the housing sector, the authors identified a directive and market approach. The directive approach describes the procedure for setting prices and its problems, manifested in the fact that attempts to centralize the pricing process on the part of the state have led to overestimation of the cost of services by management companies. Modern approaches with manifestations of a directive approach are described: sequential and compensatory-targeted. 

The pricing mechanism within the framework of the market approach and its problems are described. The main problem is that high transaction costs create unequal conditions for market participants, which leads to the absorption of small and medium-sized management companies with the subsequent formation of an oligopoly or monopoly in the market. 

The market approach also has a number of disadvantages in terms of the influence of individual consumer interests on the price. Housing services for the management of apartment buildings in the assessment of consumers of services have different utility, but the assessment of the usefulness of services by an individual consumer is suppressed by a collective assessment of utility.

The process approach to the management of the organization and the cluster approach to the organization of housing and communal services are considered as ways to reduce the cost of providing services for the management of apartment buildings.  It is proven that the process approach is applied in practice in the case of hotels, while the cluster approach remains a theoretical construct. 

A set of tools for online and offline marketing communication is offered for increasing the income of management companies (by increasing the number of houses they serve): development of the management company’s website and mobile application, creation of social networks and using messengers, launch of targeted advertising, introduction of autonomous communications. 

The authors substantiate the necessity of further specialized research and development of a methodological approach to pricing adapted to the modern conditions of the housing services market in Russia, based on standards, laws of production organization, marketing, firm economics, financial management and marginalism.

The article is devoted to the scientific expertise of human development projects in the North in the late Soviet and early post-Soviet periods of the institutional transformation of Russian society. Despite the fact that its official goal was the further development of the Soviet project among the peoples of the North, in essence, the researchers, in alliance with the authorities, searched for a balance between the mobilization (planned) and market strategies for the development of the Arctic and the North. The purpose of the article is to introduce into wide scientific circulation the results of research in the circumpolar zone of the RSFSR, carried out by ethnosociologists of the Novosibirsk Scientific Center (NSC) from 1982 to 1991 and later.

The relevance of this work is brought to life by the desire of the state that emerged in 2010 to use market institutions in the implementation of plans for the development of the polar zone of the Russian Federation. This paper presents materials on the activities of the Regional Interdepartmental Commission for the Coordination of Comprehensive Socio-Economic, Medical, Biological and Linguistic Research on the Problems of the Development of the Peoples of the North, established in 1981 on the basis of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

The tasks and functions of the Commission are described in detail. Among the key issues of its activities were the problems of labor and employment of the peoples of Siberia, the preservation of the traditional economy and native language, mass education and access to social benefits, the development of transport infrastructure and quality housing. Although the focus of the Commission’s work remained the study of the situation of the indigenous peoples of the North and Siberia, these problems were considered in a wide range of issues of developing the national economy, gaining access to the social benefits of late socialism in the paradigm of ‘the flourishing and rapprochement of nations’.

With the liquidation of the Commission in the early post-Soviet period, researchers focused on studying the consequences of radical market reforms in the interethnic communities of the North of Siberia: the archaization of everyday practices, the decline in the living standards of the population, and the revitalization of ethnic self-organization structures. It is concluded that in future ‘northern’ projects, it is necessary to combine the mobilization and market strategies for the development of the Arctic.