MODERN INSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL MECHANISMS OF FISCAL FEDERALISM: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The article analyzes the tools and mechanisms of the Russian budget system used in the context of the global economic crisis and pandemic. A synchronous comparative analysis applied to the mechanisms and institutions of state-territorial administration in foreign federations was used as a research method. Under normal circumstances, ensuring a high degree of vertical coordination of the budget process implies special attention to its constitutional, legal and administrative aspects. However, in extreme circumstances, the need for quick decisions and urgent measures exacerbates the problems of vertical coordination and can subsequently result in deterioration in the quality of public services provided. Based on the study of actual data and analytical studies, general and special problems of the budget process in the federal states are identified. The necessary institutional and legal changes are identified to address such socio-economic problems as reorganization of health care and overcoming social poverty. The ways of solving these problems in the framework of various models of the budget process federal management are considered. The relevance of a comparative analysis of budget federalism mechanisms is due to the fact that centralized methods of the budget process prevail in the Russian budget system today, with obvious asymmetry in the subjects' economic development. The economic crisis has increased the imbalance between the donor and recipient regions. That is why at present, improving the mechanisms for inter-budgetary alignment, the search for optimal institutions of administrative and economic management, taking into account the lessons of the crisis and the experience of foreign countries, attract the attention of researchers from different countries. By comparing traditional institutions and innovations, it is possible to draw conclusions about the specifics of the budget mechanism in the Russian Federation and the goals of its economic policy. When implementing anti-crisis measures, it is of great importance to establish an optimal balance between vertical and horizontal alignment of regional budgets as a strategy for further development of the federation. The analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of decentralized and centralized management makes it possible to identify the most effective institutional and legal mechanisms for influencing socio-economic relations. For present-day Russian economy, the task of increasing the role of regions in the budget policy of the state, taking into accounts their specifics and opportunities for stimulating the economic growth, remains urgent.