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on Confederation of Independent States |
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Issue of 2021‒09‒06
nine papers chosen by |
| By: | Fantazzini, Dean; Kolesnikova, Anna |
| Abstract: | Using monthly data of 79 Russian regions from 2003 to 2017, we study the long-run relationship of the retail gasoline prices with the crude oil price and the nominal exchange rate. We find that models that were successfully applied to deal with asymmetries in other countries are not suitable for Russia without taking structural breaks into account. Once breaks are allowed, we find that there is no asymmetry in the long-run elasticities between the gasoline prices and the crude oil price, and no significant hysteresis. However, there is an asymmetric relation between the gasoline price and the exchange rate that has decreased over time. These results also hold after several robustness checks. The evidence reported in this work shows that the effects of the exchange rate on gasoline prices are much more difficult to control than the oil price, and they require a larger set of policy measures: the recent development of a plan to decrease the importance of hydrocarbons exports by producing clean hydrogen using electrolysis and pyrolysis and the potential future export of electricity generated using nuclear power and onshore wind farms may help to diversify the local economy and to shield it from new sanctions. |
| Keywords: | Gasoline market; Russia; Asymmetric cointegration; Panel cointegration; Hysteresis; Structural breaks |
| JEL: | C32 C33 C54 L71 Q28 Q38 Q43 Q48 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:109297&r= |
| By: | Zhelev, Paskal |
| Abstract: | While the Black Sea has historically been an area of significant geostrategic importance, this has not made it a vibrant zone of commerce, transport, energy, tourism, or cultural exchange. Rather, it has become a theatre of struggle for dominance and competing geopolitical and geo-economic interests. This situation has been exacerbated by conflict between Russia and countries in the region, like Ukraine and Georgia, that have sought closer ties with the West and aspire to NATO membership and EU integration. These developments have dire consequences for regional security and stability, disrupting political and economic ties in the area and beyond. A long-term solution to the region’s security issues could be based on intensifying trade relations and increasing economic interdependence between the states. This paper identifies major barriers to closer regional trade and economic cooperation and outlines ways to overcome them. |
| Keywords: | Black Sea region, regional integration, sub-regionalism, foreign trade |
| JEL: | F13 F15 F50 F51 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:109487&r= |
| By: | Evgeny N. Osin (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Elena Yu. Voevodina (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Vasily Yu. Kostenko (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Eudaimonia is theorized to be a more complex type of positive functioning than hedonia, associated with personality development and maturity. In this study, we aimed to find out whether ego development (ED), proposed as a measure of psychosocial maturity, is related to eudaimonic well-being and whether trait indicators of eudaimonic functioning can explain this association. Adult participants from a community sample (N = 357, age 18-80, 63% female) completed Russian versions of WUSCT, MLQ, HEMA-R, and MHC-SF. The results of structural equation modeling indicate that trait indicators of eudaimonic functioning can explain the association between ED and eudaimonic well-being, providing some support for the view of eudaimonia as a complex type of flourishing more easily attained by mature personalities |
| Keywords: | eudaimonia, ego development, well-being, mental health, structural equation modeling |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:125psy2021&r= |
| By: | Jakub Rybacki; Dobromił Serwa |
| Abstract: | This research analyzes factors affecting scientific success of central bankers. We combine data from the RePEc and EDIRC databases, which contain information about economic publications of authors from 182 central banks. We construct a dataset containing information about 3312 authors and almost 80 thousand scientific papers published between 1965 and 2020. Results from Poisson regressions of citation impact measure called h-index, on a number of research features suggest that economists from the US Federal Reserve Banks, international financial institutions, and some eurozone central banks are cited more frequently than economists with similar characteristics from central banks located in emerging markets. Researchers from some big emerging economies like Russia or Indonesia are cited particularly infrequently by the scientific community. Beyond these outcomes, we identify a significant positive relationship between research networking and publication success. Moreover, economists cooperating with highly cited scientists also obtain a high number of citations even after controlling for the size of their research networks. |
| Keywords: | RePEc, Scientific Success, h-index, Big data. |
| JEL: | E58 D02 I23 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgh:kaewps:2021065&r= |
| By: | Vsevolod Nikolaiev; Andrii Shcherbyna |
| Abstract: | The report reflects the authors' viewpoint in discussions concerning New Housing Policy Concept in Ukraine. The housing sector in Ukraine has the following specific features: residents of apartment buildings have received their flats mainly through free privatization: 99,2% of households owns a housing; 89% of households live in buildings constructed before 1990-th which are in need of expensive major repair; the financial sources of major financing are not identified; professional home management is only emerging and focused on current needs; joint shared ownership on building and unidentified land property rights are not effective. Such housing management system shows a conflict of interests between residents as consumers of services as well as homeowners. The vast majority of Ukrainian households are insolvent in paying for utilities. Government subsidies have increased from UAH 19 billion in 2015 to UAH 74 billion in 2018 and must be reduced to UAH 39 billion in 2021. The population housing utilities debt remains still UAH 66 billion at the end of 2020 (73% of the national monthly wages fund). The provision of massive housing subsidies to almost half of the households contradicts with their real property value and leaves the problem of financing the renovation of the housing stock unresolved. The Government of Ukraine should develop and approve a New Housing Policy Concept. We have proposed to take into account the following recommendations for improving housing management in the document. The state, as well as the local government bodies must participate in the financing of the first major repair of houses constructed before 1990, in a proportion to be determined according to the age and technical condition of the house. To retain ownership of the home, another share must be funded by the home co-owners. This provides for the right to determine the ownership or use of land and to include in the management of the homes of a reasonable component for further repairs. Alternatively, the possibility of denying homeowners the rights to own a house that will pass to the community or other efficient private owners is offered. In order to carry out the functions of building management and facilities management, it is proposed to consolidate the co-owners' organizations in the associations, to create a fund for capital repairs and to use it for the gradual financing of buildings renovation. To manage the real estate assets of co-owners, it is proposed to introduce and support by the managers the services of insurance, loans and other asset operations. In addition, it is necessary to establish requirements for the capitalization of housing companies as assets managers, enhancing their role in providing payment for housing and communal services using financial instruments of asset management. As a large number of apartment buildings do not have the necessary documentation, it is suggested that inventory and periodic inspection of the buildings to be carried out digitally by managers. At the same time, it is planned to develop information models of typical houses, reuse projects of their repair. For developers and house managers the implementation of life cycle costing and revenue accounting are planned and their reporting to data bases. In order to withdraw the rental housing market from the shadows, it is suggested to introduce accounting and reporting of owners for renting apartments (premises) and monitoring by the managers of the use of the premises of the house. In addition, to keep the control of uninhabited housing and determine the rules for its maintenance. In the implementation of these proposals, management companies, in the case of investing their own funds in major repairs, modernization and reconstruction of buildings can acquire, in the long term, into the ownership of the houses under their management. |
| Keywords: | Financing; Ownership; Policy; repair |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2021–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2021_50&r= |
| By: | Arun, Thankom; Girardone, Claudia; Piserà, Stefano |
| Abstract: | We explore the most relevant forces impacting the shift towards more ESG-related strategies in emerging markets. These include the challenges of climate change, social inequalities, and stakeholder-oriented corporate governance. We focus on banks’ role in BRICS countries that are the biggest and fastest growing emerging markets economies over 2009-2020. We also discuss how the ESG agenda has been pushed by the United Nations (UN) and by regulators. Our evidence shows that banks’ specific adoption of international sustainability frameworks and agreements such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) are significant drivers of ESG engagement. Moreover, we find that a stronger ESG regulatory approach enhances banks’ sustainability practices in BRICS countries, especially for those that have lower average ESG scores. Two main implications can be drawn from our study: (i) banks should be encouraged to adopt international frameworks which provide universal minimum standards for corporate responsibility; and (ii) to improve the overall ESG information environment, mandatory disclosure rules should be introduced at country level. |
| Keywords: | ESG Ratings; Environmental, Social and Governance Performance; Emerging Markets; BRICS Countries; Sustainable Practices Regulation |
| Date: | 2021–08–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esy:uefcwp:30947&r= |
| By: | Jaanika Meriküll; Maryna Tverdostup (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw) |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the gender wage gap throughout the transition from communism to capitalism and throughout a time of rapid economic convergence. The case of Estonia is used, and micro data from the Labour Force Survey from 1989 to 2020 are employed. The communist regimes had highly regulated wage setting and high levels of educational attainment and labour market participation for women. Although the regime was formally egalitarian, the gender attitudes were conservative and the raw gender wage gap was as large as 41% at the end of the communist period in Estonia. The large gender wage gap under communist rule narrowed quickly during the first years of economic transition, but the further decline in the gap has been slow. The paper has two main messages. The first is that there is strong inertia in the gender wage gap persisting through the communist period and economic convergence. None of the known long-run cultural drivers of gender attitudes can explain this. The second is that the decline in the gap is related to the overall decline in wage inequality, the rise in minimum wages, and more egalitarian gender attitudes. The gender attitudes are responsible for a smaller effect than wage inequality is. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, wage distribution, decomposition, post-communist economies, wage inequality, minimum wages, gender attitudes |
| JEL: | J31 J71 P23 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:wpaper:206&r= |
| By: | International Monetary Fund |
| Abstract: | With a demonstrated resilience to the crisis and the recovery gaining strength, macroeconomic policies should aim at preserving stability and complementing structural reforms that address long-standing challenges. A medium-term plan to rebuild buffers, support potential growth, and target pockets of vulnerability would help address pre-existing disparities and poverty. Sustained productivity growth, supported by the implementation of politically difficult but needed structural reforms, is the only way to support high wage growth and convergence with Western Europe. Failure to do so could jeopardize Lithuania’s hard-earned competitiveness gains. |
| Date: | 2021–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfscr:2021/192&r= |
| By: | Vallois, Nicolas |
| Abstract: | In the early twentieth century, an economic doctrine known as “non-proletarianization theory” became influential among left-wing Zionists in Russia. According to this theory, Jewish workers were unable to “proletarianize”—that is, to integrate large-scale industry; hence, Jewish territorial autonomy was required, whether in Palestine or elsewhere. This article analyzes this theory’s historical development, focusing on the works of three authors: Khaim Dov Horovitz, Yakov Leshchinsky, and Ber Borochov. I claim that discussions of Jewish non-proletarianization can be considered a specific and coherent intellectual tradition in the history of economic thought. I also discuss these theories’ relation to the anti-sweatshop campaign of the Progressive Era, particularly John R. Commons’s writings on Jewish immigrants that were recently debated in this journal. |
| Date: | 2021–08–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:796f2&r= |