Ideas and Ideals

The paper is concerned with the issues of economic policy improvement of Russia, vulnerable to adverse effects associated with its high raw export orientation. Main features of «Dutch Disease» for the Russian economy are identified. It demonstrates the spiral nature of the "Dutch disease" in the Russian economy and the threat of its transition to the active open form. Particular attention is paid to assessing the impact of decreasing of world oil prices with sharp tightening of financial conditions under the influence of the sanctions in 2014 for the Russian economy. It also identifies the main obstacles to the remission of the "Dutch disease" in the Russian economy in the conditions of falling oil prices of 2008-2009 and 2014-2016 years. Analysis of the system limitations of socio-economic development and threat for reindustrialization posed by introduced against Russia sectoral sanctions is another point of this study. The necessity of active structural policy in the Russian economy, accompanied by an enabling sectoral credit policy of the Central Bank of Russia, is shown. Recommendations for the Russian economic policy allowing to accelerate structural modernization of the Russian economy under the circumstances are also given in the study.

In the interview Professor S. D. Valentey talks about the importance and perpetual exigency of Marxism as a major scientific direction. He also speaks about the loss of our Marxist school and the related to this loss issues in economic science and economic education. The author analyzes the problems of thrifty production, the new quality of economic growth, sociology of population. He also points out the importance of the conducted studies in this field during the Soviet period and characterizes the specifics of Russian capitalism. The interview also touches upon the issue of the pseudo-education and purchase of diplomas. Professor highlights the necessity of a new generation of economists coming to office, free from neo-liberal and other clichés. S. D. Valentey argues that economic science cannot be based on the reading of books and journal articles only, though it is also very important, without it there is no science. Economics is based on field studies. The task today is a field research of the specific real economy, real economic processes.

The published material is an interview of the famous Russian economist, Professor G.I. Khanin, to the journalist D. Peretolchin. It is based on the discussion of the monograph "Economic History of Russia in Modern Times" (in 3 vol.), published in 2008-2014 by the NSTU. The author shows a deep disappointment with the course of economic reforms in the 90-ies of the last century and insists on the necessity of finding alternatives. The main novelty of the monograph is to rethink the economic development in the Soviet period, based on alternative macroeconomic and sectoral assessments. To obtain the most objective and reliable picture of the economic results of the country since the 30-ies of the last century to modern times, the author used a combination of economic and socio-political analysis, a variety of sources, from economic and historical literature, statistical guides to memoirs and media publications. Estimates of national income growth from 1928 to 1989 made by G.I. Khanin are at odds with the official ones in more than 10 times: instead of the 90 times growth there was the 6.9 times growth. In the post-Soviet period the value of assets was significantly distorted, much more, than during the Soviet period. The recovery value of fixed assets, in current prices, at the beginning of the 21st century almost 8 times exceeded the registered value. These distortions result in the distortions of many other macroeconomic indicators. G.I. Khanin evaluates the current situation in the Russian economy as tragic due to the gradual exhaustion of physical and human capital. He also gives a somewhat paradoxical positive assessment of the command system in the Soviet Union due to the impressive economic performance, particularly in the 50-ies.

The paper analyzes the practical experience, features and problems of trustees in bankruptcy (TB) training in the Russian Federation. It is noted that from the perspective of the Ministry of Education officials, training and education programs of trustees in bankruptcy are programs of additional education and must meet the requirements for such programs. Thus, the integrated training program of trustees in bankruptcy should be viewed as a program of professional retraining with a "package" of a number of competences, passing a dozen of tests and examinations and giving out diplomas, issued by the university itself as an outcome of professional retraining. However, these actions completely violate the requirements of the Federal Legislation on the training of trustees in bankruptcy, which a university has to abide, having signed the corresponding Agreement with Rosreestr. And the actual implementation of these actions is very problematic, as there is no demand on such type of diploma on the market. Using the multiple-factor analysis, the authors revealed the fundamental laws of the market demand curve for the training service of TB on the example of a concrete University Center. They also made conclusions and recommendations for successful activities in the field of anti-crisis business education.

The Input-Output (IO) analysis is a powerful analytical tool. The problems of construction and use of the IO models are widely discussed by researchers. The national IO models have been developed in many ways to cover more aspects of economic, social, ecological and other fields. The use of the IO models at the regional level has become topical, as the IO analysis still has a good explanatory potential. Improving the methods of regionalization of national input-output tables (IOTs) continues to be a topic of debates. Different types of models are based on the IOTs. Regional dynamic input-output models can be a usefultool for economic growth analysis and forecasting. Single-region and multi-regional models are used for analysis of different intraregional economic effects as well as interrelationships between regions. The article discusses some problems related to construction and use of IOTs and IO models. The authors review some publications discussing the use of interindustry models for the regional analysis and forecasting. The regionalization methods of national IOTs and several different types of interindustry models including some commercial IO models are also reviewed in the article as well as national and foreign experience in developing and applying these models.

Concept of megaregion Siberia suggests the observation of this enormous territory from the Urals up to the Pacific Ocean as the genuine entity of its basic characteristics, i.e. space, history and culture. The offered approach allows us anew to build up the geopolitical strategy of Russia towards the countries of Asian-Pacific Region. Resource abundance of megaregion Siberia and its close proximity to emerging powers of Asian-Pacific Region create the premises for fruitful economic cooperation and bring benefits for geopolitical strategy of Russia. The realization of national interests chiefly depends on several factors such as quickness of intervention, market scale, dynamics of investments and ability to set up multi-sector coalitions. Energy sustainability allows Russia to use the dynamics of rapidly changing energy world, i.e. constraints of fossil fuel supply from the Middle East, globalization of gas supply, issues of climate change, etc. All these give an opportunity to provide security for our country, give an impulse to the Russian economy to catch up with the wave of growth, and preserve the unique nature of megaregion Siberia.

The paper analyzes issues of how regional studies and allied disciplines react upon each other, and what are the main objectives and principles of economic zoning and classifying regions of various sizes accepted in economic science. From the economic point of view, regions are classified mostly proceeding from the purposes of management and analytics. The paper discusses the reasons of economic imperialism, i.e. invasion of economists into the adjacent fields of science. The major feature of an economic approach in historical - economic studies and regional ones is application of economic models, quantitative methods, and their own definitions. The paper presents a brief analysis of the studies concerning Siberia and its regions made by the Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science in the Soviet and post-Soviet time. Siberia has been an object of cross-disciplinary research at least for two hundred years. The paper also compares the key ideas and approaches of the recent Siberia case-studies carried out by specialists of various sciences. The concept of megaregion from the point of view of economical science is discussed, and the corresponding directions of further research of Siberia are set.

At the moment, we can observe that the systemic economic crisis is still far from its ending. In place of Keynesianism the neo-liberal doctrine came and has become a standard policy in the UK called Thatcherism and Reaganomics in the United States. The policy was based on the free operation of the market mechanism, deregulation, the limited role of state, low taxes and liberalized labour market. However, do these fundamental megatrends in the global economy should not be reviewed in the aftermath of fi nancial crises and world economy fi nancialization? This article takes a signifi cant development dilemma. The authors believe that the omnipotent bureaucratic state is just as unacceptable as a completely free market. But the state, in particular periods of crises must develop an industrial policy and sectoral policy, in order to prevent such negative phenomena as unemployment or social exclusion. In the discussions of the last time a lot of attention is paid to the social consequences of the ongoing economic crisis. This article will address the social aspects of economic policy, and in particular the social consequences of the neoliberal model of the policy, especially in the fi eld of employment and distribution of national income will be discussed.

The article deals with the economic culture of the Old Believers, known as «chasovennye», who live in North and South America. The interviews and observations, collected during the expeditions to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Canada; as well as previously published works became the material for the generalizations. The first part outlines the nature of the activities and the economic culture of the Old Believers in America, and the second part deals with the Old Believers’ choice of the place of residence and their main activity; finally, the third part reveals the phenomenon of the dialectics of escape from the world and earthly success. A comparative overview of the economic life of a community of Old Believers named “chasovennye” shows the intensity of movements and the voluntariness in choosing the place of residence. In terms of theory, the article shows the dialectical logic of economic and religious choice. Economic success, followed by the loss of traditional ways of life and the language, provoked searching for the new places of residence. Like medieval monasteries and mendicant orders, the Old Believers, who had consciously chosen isolation and escapism, often found themselves in even more advantageous economic conditions, as it can be seen in Alaska and the Canadian Alberta.

In this article, firstly, the approach of the United Nations to development through such programs as "Millennium development goals" (2000) and "Sustainable development goals" (2015) is provided. The first place in literal sense is won by poverty problem. The problem of poverty is considered as an obstacle which slows down development of each certain person, each country and world in general. Secondly, the indicators of monitoring of process of the solution of the tasks providing goal achievement number one on the example of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union are analysed.