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on Confederation of Independent States |
| By: | Alexander Rakviashvili (Department of Economics, Lomonosov Moscow State University) |
| Abstract: | The article is dedicated to the state’s concept evolution. Here is the author’s vision of the state as an abstract notion that describes specific governmental relations, formatted in a result of a long evolution process. The special attention is attracted to the Russian political system and features of the new stage of the state's evolution. |
| Keywords: | State, autocracy, democracy, morality. |
| JEL: | A10 P51 P00 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upa:wpaper:0005&r=cis |
| By: | Zaytsev, Alexander |
| Abstract: | The article is devoted to assessment and comparative analysis of industry efficiency in both country and (Russian) region levels. Also the analysis of perspective sources for technology borrowing is presented. On a country level I analyze efficiency of agriculture, using mainly (among other) output per worker and output per square of arable land indexes, and identify most probable sources for technology borrowing. In Russian region level I consider more specific industry - cereal cultivation – and estimate technology level of each region, using Solow residual methodology. The residuals (TFP) are extracted from the cross-sectional (averaged 2005-2009 data) model of cereal yield. The article differs from the existing works in the following aspects: broad coverage (17 countries and all Russian regions); more precise estimates of labor productivity (per hour and industry PPP); novelty of application of Solow methodology to Russia`s agriculture industry. |
| Keywords: | regional economic diagnostics, technology borrowing, labor productivity, Solow residuals, agriculture, cereal yield model, technological level ranking |
| JEL: | J24 O3 O47 O57 Q11 Q16 R30 |
| Date: | 2013–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:52840&r=cis |
| By: | Zaytsev, Alexander |
| Abstract: | The article presents estimates of perspective sources for technology borrowing in cereal cultivation industry for Russian regions. Estimates are based on technological ranking which is derived from cereal yield model using Solow residual methodology. The model uses cross-section averaged 2005-2009 data on Russian regions. Independent significant variables are mineral fertilizers, climate, soil quality and share of spring crops. The article differs from existing works in analysis of cereal yield factors on all- Russian regions level, but not on concrete region case; for the first time technological ranking of Russian regions in cereal industry is derived. |
| Keywords: | regional economic diagnostics, technology borrowing, Solow residuals , agriculture, cereal yield model, technological level ranking |
| JEL: | O14 O3 Q16 R3 |
| Date: | 2013–11–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:52835&r=cis |
| By: | G. Cornelis van Kooten |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with forest trade modelling from a theoretical, analytic and empirical perspective. An integrated dynamic log-lumber trade model is developed and then used to examine two trade issues, namely, a reduction of Russian taxes on log exports and removal of the taxes on Canadian lumber destined for the United States. To demonstrate the dynamic aspect of the model, both sets of taxes are lowered over a period of time. The trade model consists of five Canadian regions, three U.S. regions, New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Rest of Latin America, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Rest of Europe, Japan, China, Rest of Asia, and Rest of the World – a total of 20 regions. It concerns only coniferous logs and softwood lumber, ignoring hardwoods. The model is also calibrated on 2010 observed bi-lateral flows of logs and lumber using positive mathematical programming. The forest trade model is written using an Excel-GAMS interface, with input data retrieved by GAMS from Excel and GAMS output written to Excel, where final calculations are made. |
| Keywords: | log-lumber trade, spatial price equilibrium model, mathematical programming |
| JEL: | Q23 Q27 Q28 F17 Q21 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rep:wpaper:2013-04&r=cis |
| By: | Christoph Böhringer (Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre & ZenTra); Jared C. Carbone (University of Calgary and Resources for the Future, Department of Economics); Thomas F. Rutherford (University of Wisconsin, Madison) |
| Abstract: | Unilateral carbon policies are inefficient due to the fact that they generally involve emission reductions in countries with high marginal abatement costs and because they are subject to carbon leakage. In this paper, we ask whether the use of carbon tariffs—tariffs on the carbon embodied in imported goods—might lower the cost of achieving a given reduction in world emissions. Specifically, we explore the role tariffs might play as an inducement to unregulated countries adopting emission controls of their own. We use an applied general equilibrium model to generate the payoffs of a policy game. In the game, a coalition of countries regulates its own emissions and chooses whether or not to employ carbon tariffs against unregulated countries. Unregulated countries may respond by adopting emission regulations of their own, retaliating against the carbon tariffs by engaging in a trade war, or by pursuing no policy at all. In the unique Nash equilibrium produced by this game, the use of carbon tariffs by coalition countries is credible. China and Russia respond by adopting binding abatement targets to avoid being subjected to them. Other unregulated countries retaliate. Cooperation by China and Russia lowers the global welfare cost of achieving a 10% reduction in global emissions by half relative to the case where coalition countries undertake all of this abatement on their own. |
| Keywords: | climate policy, border tax adjustments, carbon leakage, strategic retaliation, applied general equilibrium model |
| JEL: | D58 H2 Q43 Q54 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zen:wpaper:26&r=cis |
| By: | Lehmbruch, B. |
| Abstract: | The paper analyses the mushrooming growth of quasi-independent public agencies in the public sector of post-communist states. What at first glance seems to be a faithful transfer of institutions from the arsenal of New Public Management upon closer analysis turns into a very distinct phenomenon of post-communist transition. In the course of the 1990s, the amorphous public-private mix that was the Soviet political economy became increasingly differentiated as ex-apparatchiki turned political entrepreneurs branched out to create new commercial, collective, and even quasi-state regulatory bodies. The dividing lines between these new forms of organization, however, often remained quite blurry. This problem was further exacerbated by the severe underfunding of executive agencies that had become a notorious problem in post-Soviet countries. As a result, many agencies were forced to resort to private and semi-private sources of funding, and to commercialize their activities in order to support their official operations. In the second decade of transition, post-Soviet governments have increasingly been trying to control the worst such excesses through various forms of public management reform, such as the introduction of Single Treasury Accounts or various forms of revenue and expenditure audits. However, such efforts have met many setbacks and reversals; in some cases – such as for instance in post-Rose Revolution Georgia – the very new managerialist arsenal designed to enhance cost efficiency and separation between policy, regulatory and services tasks have instead with the government’s tacit approval been used to camouflage continuing hybridization and ballooning public sector employment. In other cases, such as Russia’s, growing restrictions on one form of organization have simply stimulated a shift to different legal forms, in this case state unitary enterprises. |
| Keywords: | Georgia, New Public Management, Russia, agency reform, post-communist transition |
| Date: | 2012–04–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ems:euriss:32156&r=cis |
| By: | Paolo D. Farah (Edge Hill University, Department of Law & Criminology, UK, gLAWcal, Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development, UK); Riccardo Tremolada (Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale, Dipartimento di Studi per l’Impresa e il Territorio, Italy, EU Commission Marie Curie Fellow (2013), Chinese Research Academy on Environmental Sciences (CRAES), China, J.D. and LL.M. Università degli Studi di Milano, School of Law, Italy) |
| Abstract: | China is appraised to have the world's largest exploitable reserves of shale gas, although several legal, regulatory, environmental and investment-related issues will likely restrain its scope. China's capacity to successfully face these hurdles and produce commercial shale gas will have a crucial impact on the regional gas market and on China’s energy mix, as Beijing strives to decrease reliance on imported oil and coal, while attempting to meet growing energy demand and maintain a certain level of resource autonomy. The development of the unconventional natural gas extractive industry will also endow China with further negotiating power to obtain more advantageous prices from Russia and future liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers. This paper, adopting a comparative perspective, underlines the trends learned from unconventional fuel development in the United States, emphasizing their potential application to the Chinese context in light of recently signed production-sharing contracts between qualified foreign investors and China. The wide range of regulatory and enforcement problems in this matter are accrued by an extremely limited liberalization of gas prices, lack of technological development, and political hurdles curbing the opening of resource extraction to private investors. These issues are exacerbated by concerns related to the risk of water pollution deriving from mismanaged drilling and fracturing, absence of adequate regulation framework and industry standards, entailing consequences on social stability and environmental degradation. |
| Keywords: | Shale Gas, Unconventional Fuel, China, U.S.A., Health, Water, Environmental Risks |
| JEL: | A12 A13 D40 D62 D81 F10 F13 F18 H23 K32 K33 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q48 F1 F13 F40 L95 Q3 Q30 Q32 Q33 Q25 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2013.95&r=cis |
| By: | Sam COSAERT |
| Abstract: | When consumers do not only care for the intrinsic consumption component of commodities but also for the value of a commodity, it can be rational to purchase products as they become more expensive. Standard revealed preference conditions are however unable to take diamond effects into account. We develop a theoretical model and the associated revealed preference conditions to analyze commodities with different degrees of diamondness. On the basis of real consumer data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, we test the empirical performance of different models with and without diamond effects. It turns out that allowing for diamond effects improves the predictive success of the models. We also link the newly identified diamondness weights to the visibility of commodities. The results suggest that visible goods are more likely to induce diamond effects. |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces13.26&r=cis |
| By: | Ternovsky, Volodymyr; Mirzoeva, Olga |
| Abstract: | Cooperation of small horticultural producers and the effectiveness of this cooperation is a very important issue for the development of the agricultural sector in Ukraine. Therefore, the goals of this study are analysis of existing models of cooperation, and identification of cooperation models which show promise for effective application among small agricultural producers, within the current legal framework, in Ukraine. Additionally this study aims to identify the factors which act as obstacles to the effective development of cooperation among rural citizens. In the process of conducting the study, the following methods were used: dialectical reasoning, abstract logical reasoning and systematic analysis, theoretical and methodological generalization of cooperation theory, definition of the essence of cooperation and its organizational forms. For identification of the main factors inhibiting cooperation, a survey methodology was used. Surveys were conducted among small-scale and large-scale horticultural producers. This research is based on the fundamental provisions of economic theory, legal documents (e.g. laws, bylaws and regulations), academic publications of Ukrainian and international scholars in the area of cooperation, Ukrainian government statistics, and data from international development projects in Ukraine. As a result of the study of the main models of cooperation, and in light of socio-economic conditions and legal environment, the agricultural service cooperative was identified as the most applicable model. The main social, economic and legal road-blocks to the successful development of cooperation among agricultural producers were determined. Among the main economic barriers is poor access to financial resources for small producers, as available credit options have high interest rates. |
| Keywords: | cooperation, consolidation, horticulture, marketing, financial resources, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q13, |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubgc50:161810&r=cis |