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on Confederation of Independent States |
| By: | Torbenko, Alexander |
| Abstract: | The paper considers the influence of federal government expenditures and transfers on interregional convergence in gross regional product (GRP) per capita and wages in Russia over 2005--2011. Such an influence is not found. The federal government's policy was reactive and was not focused on decreasing interregional inequality during this period. Wages growth depended more on GRP per capita growth than on federal government spendings and transfers per capita growth. The dependence between GRP per capita growth and federal government spendings and transfers per capita growth was very weak. Moreover, the paper shows that in this period inequality of Russian regions in GRP per capita and wages was diminishing. In the given period in Russian regions there existed unconditional $\beta$-convergence, poor regions grew faster than rich ones. This result confirms the prediction of neoclassical theory of regional growth and challenges a new economic geography prediction. Comparing our results to the results of previous research the process of interregional convergence in Russia can be seen. In the 1990s, with the state pressure having been eliminated, the differentiation between Russian regions began, while in the 2000s a natural process of (conditional or unconditional) convergence started. |
| Keywords: | convergence, federal expenditures and transfers, wages, Russia, regions, gross regional product |
| JEL: | H72 H77 R58 |
| Date: | 2014–01–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59076&r=cis |
| By: | Drobot, Elena |
| Abstract: | Since 1990s the problems of economical safety became of extreme importance especially for Russia. In this case the author of the research work is conducting analysis of fundamental threats towards economical safety of Russia. |
| Keywords: | Economical safety, threats, import, customs duty, WTO |
| JEL: | F13 F15 F52 |
| Date: | 2014–09–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58364&r=cis |
| By: | Didenko, Alexander ; Egorova, Tatiana |
| Abstract: | We study how innovations affect increase of regional total factor productivity (TFP) as a result of productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI), and confirm the presence of phenomenon in Russian data. TFP is modeled using data envelopment analysis (DEA) with the human capital, energy and capital as inputs, and the gross regional product as output. We develop innovations index for the regions of the RF, proxying for regional absorptive capacity, based on 17 variables, characterizing economic, social and infrastructural aspects of regional development. FDI variable accounts for spatial distribution of FDI flows. We confirm the presence of FDI spillovers in Russia and moderating role of innovations. |
| Keywords: | FDI, productivity spillovers, innovations, absorptive capacity, data envelopment analysis |
| JEL: | F21 O11 O30 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59346&r=cis |
| By: | Massimo Geloso Grosso ; Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås ; Frédéric Gonzales ; Iza Lejárraga ; Sébastien Miroudot ; Asako Ueno ; Dorothée Rouzet |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the services trade restrictiveness indices (STRIs) for the regulated professions of legal and accounting services. The STRIs are composite indices taking values between zero and one, zero representing an open market and one a market completely closed to foreign services providers. The indices are calculated for 40 countries, the 34 OECD members and Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa. This report presents the first vintage of indicators for legal and accounting services and captures de jure regulations in force in 2013. The STRI supports the view that legal and accounting services are subject to a relatively high level of regulation. Restrictiveness for legal services ranges from 0.11 to 0.73, with an average of 0.31. Accounting and auditing services show an average of 0.3 and STRI values ranging from 0.13 to 1. The results provide useful policy insights, particularly in order to identify priorities for reform at the national and international levels. Notably, in the case of legal and accounting services, easing a few prominent restrictions could result in a significantly more liberal and competitive market environment. |
| Keywords: | services trade, legal services, auditing services, services trade restrictions, regulation, accounting services |
| JEL: | F13 F14 K33 L84 |
| Date: | 2014–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:traaab:171-en&r=cis |
| By: | Asako Ueno ; Massimo Geloso Grosso ; Iza Lejárraga ; Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås ; Sébastien Miroudot ; Frederic Gonzales ; Dorothée Rouzet |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the services trade restrictiveness indices (STRIs) for distribution services. The STRIs are composite indices taking values between zero and one, zero representing an open market and one a market completely closed to foreign services providers. The indices are calculated for 40 countries, the 34 OECD members and Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa. The STRIs capture de jure restrictions. This report presents the first vintage of indicators for distribution services and captures regulations in force in 2013. The scores range between 0.02 and 0.40, with a sample average of 0.13. It is observed that the regulatory profile differs across countries. Restrictions on foreign ownership and other market entry conditions significantly contribute to the results for almost half of the countries covered by the STRI. The paper presents the list of measures included in the indices, the scoring and weighting system for calculating the indices and an analysis of the results. |
| Keywords: | services trade, distribution services, services trade restrictions, regulation |
| JEL: | F13 F14 K33 L81 |
| Date: | 2014–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:traaab:173-en&r=cis |
| By: | Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås ; Massimo Geloso Grosso ; Frédéric Gonzales ; Iza Lejárraga ; Sébastien Miroudot ; Asako Ueno ; Dorothée Rouzet |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the services trade restrictiveness indices (STRIs) for computer services. The STRIs are composite indices taking values between zero and one, zero representing an open market and one a market completely closed to foreign services providers. The indices are calculated for 40 countries, the 34 OECD members and Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa. The STRIs capture de jure restrictions. This report presents the first vintage of indicators for computer services and captures regulations in force in 2013. The scores range between 0.08 and 0.34, with a sample average of 0.18. Explicit barriers to trade in computer services are rare, but the sector is subject to a number of economy-wide restrictions facing all sectors. Among these, restrictions on movement of people (mode 4 in GATS terminology) make the largest contribution to the index value, followed by regulatory transparency issues. The paper presents the list of measures included in the indices, the scoring and weighting system for calculating the indices and an analysis of the results. |
| Keywords: | services trade, services trade restrictions, computer services, regulation |
| JEL: | F13 F14 K33 L86 |
| Date: | 2014–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:traaab:169-en&r=cis |
| By: | Frédéric Branger (AgroParistech ENGREF and CIRED (France) ); Philippe Quirion (CIRED and CNRS (France) ) |
| Abstract: | We develop a stochastic model to rank different policies (tax, fixed cap and relative cap) according to their expected total social costs. Three types of uncertainties are taken into account: uncertainty about abatement costs, business-as-usual (BAU) emissions and future economic output (the two latter being correlated). Two parameters: the ratio of slopes of marginal benefits and marginal costs, and the above-mentioned correlation, are crucial to determine which instrument is preferred. When marginal benefits are relatively flatter than marginal costs, prices are preferred over fixed caps (Weitzman’s result). When the former correlation is higher than a parameter- dependent threshold, relative caps are preferred to fixed caps. An intermediate condition is found to compare the tax instrument and the relative cap. The model is then empirically tested for seven different regions (China, the United States, Europe, India, Russia, Brazil and Japan). We find that tax is preferred to caps (absolute or relative) in all cases, and that relative caps are preferred to fixed caps in the US and emerging countries (except Brazil where it is ambiguous), whereas fixed cap are preferred to relative cap in Europe and Japan. |
| Keywords: | Instrument, Price, Quantity, Intensity Target, Regulation, post-Kyoto, Uncertainty, Climate Policy |
| JEL: | Q5 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.85&r=cis |
| By: | Bouoiyour, jamal ; Selmi, Refk |
| Abstract: | The core focus of this paper is to analyze the dynamic interactions between changes in exchange rate (nominal and real terms) and exports to GDP ratio in Russia. To this end, we apply a new approach based on a time varying dynamic coherence function, called, evolutionary co-spectral analysis. Our results put in evidence that coherence pattern differs over time, suggesting that nonlinearities are an important issue when assessing the focal relationship. These observed outcomes change substantially in terms of magnitude when subtracting energy, while differential price stills the major player. We can attribute these findings to the limited effectiveness of exchange rate policy and the inefficiency of sterilization coupled with a lack of competitiveness of banking sector. |
| Keywords: | Exchange rate; exports; time varying dynamic coherence function; Russia. |
| JEL: | C6 F14 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59368&r=cis |
| By: | Afanasyev, Dmitriy ; Fedorova, Elena ; Popov, Viktor |
| Abstract: | The price-demand relationship in the electricity market is a complicated phenomenon. In order to thoroughly investigate the peculiarities of this relationship, a multi-scale correlation analysis of electricity price and demand is carried out in this research. Using a modified method of socalled time-dependent intrinsic correlation (TDIC) (Chen et al., 2010), based on the complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN) (Torres et al., 2011), and bootstrapping, we investigate the problems of dynamic interconnection between electricity demand and prices over different time scales (i.e. its fine structure). We formulate and test three hypotheses on the type and strength of correlations between them in the short-, medium- and long-runs. In this research we analyze the data from two largest price zones of Russian wholesale electricity market: Europe-Ural and Siberia. These two zones differ from each other by the structures of electricity generation and consumption. It is shown that these two price zones significantly differ in internal price-demand correlation structure over the comparable time scales, and not each of the theoretically formulated hypotheses is true for each of the price zones. This allows us to conclude that the answer to the question whether it is necessary to take into account the influence of demand-side on electricity spot prices over different time scales, is significantly dependent on the structure of electricity generation and consumption on the corresponding market. |
| Keywords: | electricity spot price, electricity demand, price-demand correlation, empirical mode decomposition, time-dependent intrinsic correlation, trend estimation |
| JEL: | C14 C40 C65 L94 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58827&r=cis |
| By: | Roman Horváth (Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University ); Ayaz Zeynalov |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of natural resource abundance on economic performance during the 1996–2011 period in the 15 independent countries that formerly comprised the Soviet Union. These countries were a largely homogeneous group with respect to institutional development, liberalization and economic performance; however, these countries began to demonstrate marked differences from one another with respect to these factors during the transition, which has resulted in unique cross-section and time variation. Using several panel regression models that address the endogeneity issues, our results suggest that natural resources crowd out manufacturing sector unless the quality of domestic institutions is sufficiently high. Conversely, trade policies do not help convert the natural resource curse into a blessing. |
| Keywords: | natural resource curse, institutions, manufacturing, post-Soviet countries |
| JEL: | O11 O13 Q30 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ost:wpaper:341&r=cis |
| By: | Estrada, Fernando |
| Abstract: | This paper work assesses the key aspects of a framework for research on revolutions. Our approach includes a heuristic based on an idea suggested by Marx in the 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte: “The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the livingâ€. From this maxim of Marx advance on conventional interpretations by postulating that the language and metaphors are a challenge in several respects: (1) The brain is a physical basis for understanding key political revolutions, (2) advances in neuroscience and language (Lakoff/Johnson/Narayanan) have allowed the reconstruction of conceptual frameworks in various fields, including philosophy, mathematics and politics (3) The language expressed in songs, text, flags, emblems, illustrations, slogans, speeches and rumors is key to represent and demonstrate loyalty to the idea of revolution and, more crucially, to “make†the revolution, (4) Metaphors are a powerful rational action in revolutionary processes. One interpretation of these can contribute to decipher, for example, how the brain are activated in neural systems that link past and present, how to operate the symbolic frameworks of language to influence political opinion, how metaphors interact with processes artificial simulation or how metaphors evolve in a revolution from simple metaphors. |
| Keywords: | Revolutions, French Revolution, Iran Revolution, Russian Revolutions, Language, Neural Theory |
| JEL: | B2 B24 B31 B41 D87 F51 F52 N10 P2 P26 P31 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58527&r=cis |