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on Confederation of Independent States |
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Issue of 2015‒05‒22
fifteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Vernikov, Andrei |
| Abstract: | We use statistical data for the period 2000-2013 to compare the macro-level architecture and institutional features of the banking systems in China and Russia. Both countries have a hierarchical multi-tier banking system headed by a few core state-controlled banks that combine commercial activities with the activity of a development institution. We highlight selected aspects of the Chinese experience such as: conservatism in approving new banking licences; parallel evolution of various types of banking institutions operating in different market niches; care about systemically important institutions; enhancement of competition without a free market access for foreign banks; relevance of commercial bank loans for the fixed assets investment performed by non-financial companies. |
| Keywords: | China; Russia; banks; government |
| JEL: | G21 G28 P34 P52 |
| Date: | 2014–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:64339&r=cis |
| By: | Maria Anikina (Lomonosov Moscow State University) |
| Abstract: | Proposed paper is based on results of empirical studies of Russian journalists realized within the frames of two projects – “Journalism in Change - Professional Journalistic Cultures in Poland, Russia and Sweden” (2011-2014) and “Media Systems in Flux: The Challenge of the BRICS Countries” (2012-2016) – searching journalism doctrines in last decades. Sociological studies let to discuss the potential of social dialogue from media perspective, to formulate assumptions about the readiness of journalistic community to organize and support citizen activity. The quantitative survey of 500 journalists from different Russian regions in “Journalism in change…” project clarifies that such factors as the chance to hold social service, to supply social demand are valued relatively low when respondents reflecting the roles of journalism in society and the choice of a working place. Factor analysis shows that integrated factor related to social development is weaker than the factor related to creative growth of a journalist (the indicators are 3,7 and 3,83 out of 5 – respectively). Results show that Russian journalists do not give high estimations to such social functions as public opinion formation, social mobilization of people etc. Moderate orientation to citizen participation differentiates journalistic culture in Russia from professional cultures in European countries. The qualitative study of 48 journalists working in traditional and online media located Moscow region in “Media Systems in Flux…” project allows to stress that metropolitan journalists stay quite passive in civic life. Only few respondents are the members of NGOs, parties or social movements what indirectly confirms weak inclination to realize any social activity except information one. Since 83% of respondents from online media 54% of traditional ones have positive attitude to citizen activity and protests, general attitude to social movements of last years in Russia among journalists is moderate: “If we speak about protests of 2011-2012 I am tolerant” (male, old media). Discussion about the protests represents the opposition that exists in journalistic culture. The differentiation between political positions, personal and professional viewpoints is obvious: “We understand that politics is superficial issue. There are things fastening us stronger” (male respondent, traditional media). Often people describe the protests from professional point, stress professional aspect of journalist’s participation in citizen movements.The paper argues that in current context in Russia journalists form specific type of professional culture combining the tendency to creative development with peculiar civic positions what in certain sense impedes social dialogue in Russian public sphere. |
| Keywords: | journalistic culture, social dialogue, social roles of media, empirical studies, participation |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:1003878&r=cis |
| By: | Maxim Ananiev (UCLA); Sergei Guriev (Département d'économie) |
| Abstract: | This paper draws on a natural experiment to identify the relationship between income and trust. We use a unique panel dataset on Russia where GDP experienced an 8 percent drop in 2009. The effect of the crisis had been very uneven among Russian regions because of their differences in industrial structure inherited from the Soviet times. We find that the regions that specialize in producing capital goods, as well as those depending on oil and gas, had a more substantial income decline during the crisis. The variation in the industrial structure allows creating an instrument for the change in income. After instrumenting average regional income, we find that the effect of income on generalized social trust (the share of respondents saying that most people can be trusted) is statistically and economically significant. Controlling for conventional determinants of trust, we show that 10 percent decrease in income is associated with 5 percentage point decrease in trust. Given that the average level of trust in Russia is 25%, this magnitude is substantial. We also find that post-crisis economic recovery did not restore pre-crisis trust level. Trust recovered only in those regions where the 2009 decline in trust was small. In the regions with the large decline in trust during the crisis, trust in 2014 was still 10 percentage points below its pre-crisis level. |
| Keywords: | social capital; trust; business cycle |
| JEL: | O10 P10 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/8lt2edmul9geov3cf3fqf7h92&r=cis |
| By: | International Water Management Institute (IWMI). |
| Keywords: | Strategy planning; Research institutes; Research programmes; Institutional development; Water security; Water management; Land management; Food security |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwt:bosers:h046742&r=cis |
| By: | Albert Park (Department of Economics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Institute for Emerging Market Studies, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | Prof. Albert Park, Director of HKUST IEMS, Chair Professor at HKUST's Division of Social Science, and Professor at HKUST's Department of Economics, reviews the efficacy of minimum wage policies across BRICS countries–i.e. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa–highlighting their success or lackthereof as related to critical factors such as labor market coverage, policy enforcement, minimum wage level as compared to mean wages, and others. Prof. Park notes that while minimum wage policies in BRICS countries generally increase wages at the bottom end of the wage distribution, their impact on employment and wealth inequality is less defined. The impact of such minimum wage policies closely tied to the levels of policy compliance and enforcement in each country. For example, in China, India, and South Africa–where enforcement is relatively high–minimum wages have had marked positive effects on labor markets (serving as a sort of "lighthouse effect")–while in Russia and Brazil such regulations may have increased employment in informal labor markets. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage policy, emerging markets, China, Russia, South Africa, Brazil, India, BRICS, minimum wage enforcement, minimum wage compliance |
| JEL: | E24 J31 J41 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hku:briefs:201507&r=cis |
| By: | Pawel Bukowski |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the long-lasting effects of institutions imposed by the three Empires: Austro-Hungary, Prussia and Russia during the Partition of Poland on the performance of Polish students. Using the two-dimensional geographical Regression Discontinuity Design I show that the Habsburg Empire had a long-lasting positive effect on the performance of students compared to the Russian Empire. The magnitude of the effect is similar to the performance gap between white and black students in the US. At the same time however, there is no difference between the Prussian and Russian Empires. I argue that the main channels of influence are the role of ethnic tolerance and the political purpose of education. The Austrian and Prussian educational systems were very similar as the former was practically copied from the latter. However, the attitudes toward the Polish population and the role of education in this respect widely differed. While in the Prussian Empire education was the main tool of Germanization, in the Habsburg Empire it was seen as a tool to spread modern national identities. The alternative explanations are also discussed. These include migration-based self selection of people, urbanization patterns and other features of the Austrian and Prussian education systems. |
| Date: | 2015–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ceu:econwp:2015_3&r=cis |
| By: | 岩﨑, 一郎 |
| Abstract: | 本稿は，ロシア連邦全域で実施した独自聞き取り調査に基礎付けられた工業企業のパネル データを用いて，世界金融危機を挟む2005～09年の期間における企業統治システム の構造変化とその影響因子の実証分析を試みた。その結果，ロシアでは，当該期間を通じ て，経営監督体制の質的な改善が進んだことが確認された。更に本稿の実証結果は，外部 株主所有比率と取締役会構成との間の相関関係及び取締役会社外役員比率の内部監査体制 への影響に関する仮説を強く支持した。その一方，世界金融危機は，取締役会の独立性を 向上する一方，内部監査体制のそれを劣化させたという意味で，非対称的な構造変動をも たらした可能性が高く，世界金融危機の企業統治規律効果に関する理論的な予測を，一部 否定する実証結果も同時に提示された。 |
| Keywords: | global financial crisis, ownership change, corporate governance evolution, board composition, internal audit system, Russia |
| JEL: | D22 G01 G34 M42 P34 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hituec:624&r=cis |
| By: | Veronika Vynaryk (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Aoife Hanley (Christian-Albrechts-University) |
| Abstract: | Here is an analysis of the effect of the ISO 9000 certification on the economical results of Russian companies through the use of the propensity score matching (PSM) method, a method which had proven itself reliable at dealing with the selection problems that were highly likely to arise in this research. Informational dataset is built on the basis of a sample of the Industrial companies competitiveness monitoring project, conducted in 2009 by the Institute for Industrial and Market Studies at HSE. The empirical study methodology is given: hypothesis, informational dataset and model of effects evaluation. The main finding of the paper is that holding the ISO 9001 certificate by a Russian manufacturing company stimulates its profitability and reduces costs, but does not lead to sales and asset turnover rises |
| Keywords: | quality management system, ISO 9000 certification effect, manufacturing companies |
| JEL: | C31 L15 P23 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:39man2015&r=cis |
| By: | Daniel Alexandrov (National Research University Higher School of Economics.); Ksenia Tenisheva (National Research University Higher School of Economics.); Svetlana Savelyeva (National Research University Higher School of Economics.) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the professional college system as a social mobility channel providing maximum benefit with minimum risk. The analysis of institutional features and changes forming this channel in Russia in the last 15 years has been conducted. An institutional context for the emergence of a social group using “university after the college” pathway is described. Group members take an intermediate position between students reproducing a professional worker status and students reproducing a highly qualified professional status. They also have average school results. An analysis of parents’ and students’ perceptions of the motives of the choice, benefits, costs, and risks of the educational pathway demonstrates the importance of local context. An alternative educational pathway is less typical for the rural population because of structural constraints; compared to metropolises, in rural areas this choice is typical for higher status groups. A comparison of technical college systems in different countries confirmed that technical colleges in Germany provide social reproduction whereas in Russia and the USA, they operate as a channel of upward social mobility |
| Keywords: | persistent inequality, vocational education, institutional context, mobility, relative risk aversion. |
| JEL: | I21 D81 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:27edu2015&r=cis |
| By: | Timo Gschwind (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany); Stefan Irnich (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany); Isabel Podlinski (Zalando SE, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Trukhanov et al. [Trukhanov S, Balasubramaniam C, Balasundaram B, Butenko S (2013) Algorithms for detecting optimal hereditary structures in graphs, with application to clique relaxations. Comp. Opt. and Appl., 56(1), 113–130] used the Russian Doll Search (RDS) principle to effectively find maximum hereditary structures in graphs. Prominent examples of such hereditary structures are cliques and some clique relaxations intensely discussed and studied in network analysis. The effectiveness of the tailored RDS by Trukhanov et al. for s-plex and s-defective clique can be attributed to their cleverly designed incremental verification procedures used to distinguish feasible from infeasible structures. In this short note, we clarify the incompletely presented verification procedure for s-plex and present a new and simpler incremental verification procedure for s-defective cliques with a better worst-case runtime. Furthermore, we develop an incremental verification for s-bundle, giving rise to the first exact algorithm for solving the maximum cardinality and maximum weight s-bundle problems. |
| Keywords: | Relaxed clique, Russian Doll Search, Optimal hereditary structures, Maximum weight problem |
| Date: | 2015–05–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1504&r=cis |
| By: | Jan Kregel |
| Abstract: | The developed world's policy response to the recent financial crisis has produced complaints from Brazil of "currency wars" and calls from India for increased policy coordination and cooperation. Chinese officials have echoed the "exorbitant privilege" noted by de Gaulle in the 1960s, and Russia has joined China as a proponent of replacing the dollar with Special Drawing Rights. However, none of the proposed remedies are adequate to achieve the emerging market economies' objective of joining the ranks of industrialized, developed countries. |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:levyop:op_48&r=cis |
| By: | Angelika, Lavrinenko |
| Abstract: | Due to the deterioration of the Russian economy on the background of instability in the ruble exchange rate and the fall in oil prices, according to the anti-crisis plan, the decision was made on the annual budget spending cuts. Despite the fact that within the framework of the plan expenditure on social services, including health sector should remain at the same level, in practice, there are some changes, in which the author is important to understand. |
| Keywords: | Mandatory Medical Insurance, Federal Mandatory Health Insurance Fund, anti-crisis plan, Health |
| JEL: | H40 |
| Date: | 2015–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:64449&r=cis |
| By: | Dmitry S. Grigoryev (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This article describes the construction and testing of a theoretical model of the socio-economic adaptation (SEA) of immigrants, considering psychological factors as basic. In the analysis of previous studies, acculturation attitudes of immigrants were identified as key psychological factors of SEA for the construction of a theoretical model; the length of stay in the host country and language skills were used as control variables; ethnic and religious identification were used as predictors of acculturation attitudes. A survey of Russian-speaking immigrants in Belgium was carried out and path analysis was used to test the model. We found that (1) acculturation attitudes of immigrants is associated with their level of SEA independently, i.e. regardless of length of stay in the host country or language skills; (2) a high level of SEA is positively associated with orientation toward the host society (integration and assimilation), and negatively associated with orientation toward their own ethnic group (separation); (3) strong ethnic and religious identification may facilitate the orientation of immigrants to their ethnic group, and strong ethnic identification prevents assimilation |
| Keywords: | socio-economic adaptation, acculturation attitudes, ethnic identification, religious identification, acculturation of immigrants, immigration. |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:37psy2015&r=cis |
| By: | Klimczuk, Andrzej; Klimczuk-Kochańska, Magdalena; Plawgo, Bogusław |
| Abstract: | Polish Abstract: W niniejszej publikacji zawarto wyniki przeprowadzonych badań przedsiębiorstw oraz eksperckie analizy na temat wpływu współpracy transgranicznej na konkurencyjność małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw, a przez to wzmocnienie procesów rozwojowych w regionach peryferyjnych. Badania były prowadzone w ramach projektu „Rozwój transgra-nicznej współpracy gospodarczej Podregionu białostocko-suwalskiego i Obwodu grodzieńskiego na Białorusi oraz Podregionu krośnieńsko-przemyskiego i Obwodu Zakarpackiego na Ukrainie" współfinansowanego ze środków Unii Europejskiej w ramach Programu Współpracy Transgranicznej Polska-Białoruś-Ukraina 2007-2013. Projekt był realizowany przez Białostocką Fundację Kształcenia Kadr we współpracy z Partnerem z Białorusi, Państwowym Uniwersytetem im. Janki Kupały w Grodnie oraz z Partnerem z Ukrainy, Fundacją Rozwoju Współpracy Transgranicznej z Użhorodu. English Abstract: This publication contains the results of the research companies and expert analysis on the impact of cross-border cooperation on the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, thereby strengthening development processes in the peripheral regions. The research was conducted within the framework of the project "Development of cross-border economic co-operation subregion Bialystok-Suwalki and Grodno region of Belarus and subregion Przemysl and Krosno with Transcarpathian Oblast in Ukraine" co-financed by the European Union under the Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2007-2013. Bialystok Personnel Training Foundation implemented the project in cooperation with a partner from Belarus State University in Grodno and partner of Ukraine, Foundation for the Development of Cross-Border Cooperation of Uzhhorod. |
| Keywords: | cross-border cooperation, peripheral regions, regional development, regional policy |
| JEL: | F23 P48 R58 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:64240&r=cis |
| By: | Mammadov, Fuad; Shaig Adigozalov, Shaiq |
| Abstract: | This paper has attempted to construct leading indicator systems and based on that to predict future contraction period of the Azerbaijan non-oil economy using more than 100 publicly available economic and financial data. Our results show plausible and significant performance of composite leading indicator system with average leading time of 7.2 months. We found that between January of 2000 and May of 2014, there were 6 turning points in Azerbaijan non-oil economy, consisting of three peaks and three troughs corresponding three expansion and four contraction periods. It turns out that the average duration of expansion and contraction phases is 43 and 10 month, respectively. Based on selected leading indicators we constructed composite indicator is found to be able to predict all the six turning points. Using dynamic probit model we estimated contraction probability of non-oil output gap for the future period. Out-of-sample as well as in-sample forecast performance suggest that the leading indicator systems have significant predictive power and could be used as a useful tool for economic forecasting. |
| Keywords: | Business cycles, Dating, Turning points, Forecasting, Probit Model |
| JEL: | C25 C53 E32 |
| Date: | 2014–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:64367&r=cis |