Academic Economists Research Articles

Theoretical and Methodological Issues of Analyzing Digitization in Economic Management: The Case of The Late USSR

The article aims to test the new institutional theories of public choice and political markets for our analysis of the empirical evidence collected by the research literature on the realized and unrealized projects of the digital systems development for support of decision-making by the state management of the economy in the late USSR (mid-1950s – late 1980s.). We argue that their methodological instruments, developed on the basis of studies of economic and political phenomena of predominantly Western societies with market economy, can explain similar phenomena in industrial society of another type. Therefore the major contribution of the article is our interpretation of the economic history phenomena through the lens of the new institutional theories. We show how various forms of institutional competition led the way to development of departmental digital systems, while actually blocked the creation of nationwide ones. The following important factors of institutional interactions in the political market of the late USSR, which influenced the results of implementation of the digitization projects, are indicated. First, extra-expensive projects for creating national systems were largely a product of the technocratic thinking of the scientific and political elite of the late USSR, but institutional coalitions in favor of their development turned out to be unviable lacking explicit support at the highest levels of the state apparatus. Second, persistent disregard by the Soviet bureaucracy of the need for large-scale social changes, which inevitably accompany the change in technological structures. Third, technocracy of thinking by academic economists, who subjectively adhered to the principles of scientific rationality and maximization of public welfare, also hindered effectiveness of their interaction in the political market of the late USSR. We conclude that the new institutional theories of public choice and political market allow to adequately describe and analyze the practices of interaction between the political and economic spheres and the mechanisms of functioning of the centrally administered economy of the USSR, as a prerequisite for assessing possible influence of digital intelligent systems on management processes in the RF's economy.

Who Are the More Dismal Economists? Gender and Language in Academic Economics Research

Research in disciplines outside of economics has found that male-authored articles often exhibit a positivity bias in writing style and are more likely to portray their results as “novel” and “progressive” than female-authored articles. Such positively marketed research has also been found to garner more citations over time. The primary question this research asks is whether writing style in academic economics research differs by gender and, in particular, whether the positivity bias differs by gender. It appears that it does and that this does affect citation rates, to the detriment of articles with any level of female authorship.

Enacting Economic Resilience: A Synthesis of Economic and Communication Frameworks

This work examines three frameworks for responding to economic disruption: risk mitigation, systemic recovery, and economic resilience. Specifically, by reviewing the metatheoretical commitments, analytic contexts, and implications of two economic perspectives, represented by risk mitigation and systemic recovery, we argue that current approaches to understanding resilience in academic economics have failed to address ongoing and emergent disruptions in the economic and social world. In response, this work also reviews a possible synthesis of economic and communication frameworks. This review places the economic resilience framework, inspired by the communication theory of resilience, in conversation with extant literature in economics, communication studies, and other disciplines and concludes with an outline for further theoretical, methodological, and practical development.

Applied significance of Keynes “general theory” and the complexity of its understanding

Introduction. The book by the English scientist John Maynard Keynes “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” underlines an important area of economics, called Keynesianism. It is devoted to the problems of the essence, occurrence and overcoming of inflation. Thereby, it became a real bestseller among academic economists, and in the middle of the twentieth century received an unusually great applied value. At present, there is a need to provide assistance to a wide range of scholars in the sense of this book and thus contribute to the development strategy of economic growth of Ukraine, which is the relevance of the topic of this article. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the features of the statement “General Theory”, which can greatly facilitate the process of its comprehension. It is difficult for the younger generation of economists to comprehend it, which is due to the complexity, confusion, and sometimes even the negligence of the author in presentation of the content of the book. Therefore, it cannot take her worthy places among the most widely read works among economists and is unable to provide worthy influence on the course of economic development of Ukraine. Results. The result of the study was the identification of such features of the statement as: unconventional structure, lack of graphic illustrations of analytical analysis results; conclusions not confirmed evidence; conflicting definitions, lack of final conclusions. Conclusion. The article forms a preliminary idea of the book, which shows the moments that became the basis for the emergence of Keynesian theory economic growth and determined its applied value. Article prepares a specialist in the perception of conclusions that are not supported by evidence, conflicting definitions, lack of definitive conclusions.

Is there a gender hiring gap in academic economics? Evidence from a network analysis.

We collect a network dataset of tenured economics faculty in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. We rank the 100 institutions included with a minimum violation ranking. This ranking is positively and significantly correlated with the Times Higher Education ranking of economics institutions. According to the network ranking, individuals on average go down about 23 ranks from their doctoral institution to their employing institution. While the share of females in our dataset is only 15%, we do not observe a significant gender hiring gap (a difference in rank changes between male and female faculty). We conduct a robustness check with the Handelsblatt and the Times Higher Education ranking. According to these rankings, individuals on average go down only about two ranks. We do not observe a significant gender hiring gap using these two rankings (although the dataset underlying this analysis is small and these estimates are likely to be noisy). Finally, we discuss the limitations of the network ranking in our context.

SUPPORT FOR CLUSTER INITIATIVES AND CLUSTER POLICY (CASE STUDY OF THE EUROREGION "THE LOWER DANUBE")

The purpose of the article is to investigate the essence and significance of the cluster initiative and the cluster policy as tools for strategic development and increasing of the economy competitiveness of the Euroregion “The Lower Danube” based on the analysis of factors providing state support for cluster initiatives in the context of the promotion of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region. The theoretical and methodological background is the works of Ukrainian and foreign academic economists studying general systems theory, systemic analysis, and also strategic planning methodology at enterprise, regional and national levels. The research is based on the fundamental provisions of economic theory, the theory of strategic planning, institutionalism, regional and global economics, cluster theory, the location theory, the growth pole theory, M. Porter’s competitive theory, networked economy theory, spatial economic agglomeration, as well as modern theoretical developments on the problems of formation and implementation of the Euroregional policy of the EU. The research hypothesis is the assumption that the cluster approach is the most effective mechanism for the development of international economic cooperation in modern conditions and, eventually, the meso-level of competitive cross-border integration systems and a necessary requirement for qualitative growth of Ukraine’s integration into the European Economic Area. The goal statement can be described as a meso-economic synthesis of concepts of the development of innovation clusters and international integration associations. Based on the analysis of problems of formation and development of clusters, the methods and tools of state support of cluster initiatives are explained, and the most important strategic directions of activity of executive bodies aimed at stimulating the processes of formation and development of clusters in the Euroregion “The Lower Danube” are formulated. Cluster policy aimed at stimulating cluster initiatives with a further formation of cross-border innovation clusters can be considered as one of the effective tools for intensifying innovation activity in the Euroregion “The Lower Danube”. The authors conclude that the creation of cross-border clusters in the Euroregion “The Lower Danube” with the participation of Odesa region of Ukraine is associated with the necessity to form a united cross-border area. At the same time, the state is given a leading role in ensuring a favorable cluster environment (including the reduction of barriers to trade) and stimulating international cooperation. It is proposed to develop meso-level integration processes within the Common Economic Space of Euroregions, with the active participation of Ukraine on the basis of a cluster approach, forming cross-border cluster systems based on competition, cross-border cooperation, virtualization of interinstitutional networks and formation of “clouds” of highly efficient intercluster interactions.

ОЦЕНКА ВЗАИМОСВЯЗИ ПРОМЫШЛЕННОГО ПРОИЗВОДСТВА И ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО ПРОФИЛЯ РЕГИОНА

The relevance of the research is conditioned by the necessity to strengthen the control over the state of ecological space of regions, which is caused by the significant growth of the load on the environment of the regions, the priority of which is industrial growth within the framework of following the state policy of import substitution in the conditions of strict sanctions restrictions of the Western countries. In this connection the task of formation of ecological profile of the region and analysis of interrelation between the growth of industrial production and environmental load of the region is of particular urgency and practical importance. To solve this problem, in this article the author investigates the processes of the regional spatial and sectoral structure development in terms of correlation between the dynamics of industrial production and the changes of the regional ecological profile (using the example of the Perm Region), in order to identify and assess the relationship between the dynamics of industrial production and the changes in the ecological profile of the region. The subject of the study is the relationship between the dynamics of industrial production and changes in the ecological profile of the region. The goal of the study is to establish and assess the relationship between the dynamics of industrial production and changes in the ecological profile of the region. The ecological profile of the region in the framework of this study is understood as a system of indicators, which characterize the ecological situation on the territory of the region and make it possible to assess the ecological burden on the environment of the region. The formation of the system of indicators, constituting the ecological profile of the region, will allow to carry out an objective analysis of the technogenic load on the ecological system of the region. Thus, the formation of the system of indicators seems to be the primary task in achieving the goal of the study. Research objectives are the following: - to perform a theoretical review of scientific research in the field of analysis and assessment of the environment state and environmental safety of industrial regions; - to consider the existing methodological approaches to the assessment of the environmental component of the territories’ development and ratings of the regions’ environment state; - to form a system of indicators revealing the ecological profile of the region (on the example of the Perm Region); - to develop a methodology for assessing the dynamics of the region's environmental profile; - to identify and assess the relationship between the dynamics of industrial production and the ecological profile of the region. The following research methods have become the basis of the study: analysis, synthesis, synthesis, grouping, systematization and classification. To solve individual problems, methods of comparative and statistical analysis, tabular and graphical representation of data, organizational and economic modeling, integral and correlation analysis have been used. The materials of the study are the scientific works of leading Russian academic economists dealing with the problems of the impact of intensification of territorial development, including industrial complex on the environment of the regions, as well as the official statistical data of state statistics agencies and the results of studies of various rating agencies. In the article an author's definition of the concept of "ecological profile of the region" and a system of indicators is offered, which disclose its content and make it possible to conduct an objective analysis of the technogenic burden on the environment of the region. To establish and assess the relationship between the dynamics of industrial production and changes in the ecological profile of the region the authors have developed an author's methodology of the ecological profile state estimation which includes calculation of integral indices of positive and negative impact on the environment and evaluation of dependence of the calculated indices on the index of regional industrial production by correlation method. The proposed methodological approach has been approbated using the Perm Territory as an example and as a result direct correlation between intensification of industrial production and growth of environmental load expressed in deterioration of the region's ecological profile has been revealed. The results obtained confirm the determining role of industrial production in the ecological profile of the Perm Territory and the need to intensify the processes of ecologization of production in view of increasing pressure on the environment

Small and medium-sized entrepreneurship of Kazakhstan in times of crisis: current condition, problems, recommendations

The global crisis had an impact on all countries, including Kazakhstan, by influencing political, social, economic situation of the countries. Ultimately, macroeconomic indicators, the level of well-being of the population, production output in some industries, supply and demand, the contribution and development of small and medium-sized Kazakhstani entrepreneurship were affected by it. This article examines the current state of entrepreneurship, its main indicators and external factors, presents recommendations for further development of entrepreneurship in various sectors of the economy of Kazakhstan, which affect the productive activities of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship (SME) in the context of overload and the global crisis, caused by СOVID-19. The study took into account the opinion of prominent academic economists on the basis of a theoretical review of the topic of this study. Moreover, the given research determines peculiarities of entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan, defines factors which affect the activities of SMEs, deepens the understanding of the subjects of entrepreneurship and its role in the system of economic relations. For that purpose statistical methods, comparative analysis, vertical and horizontal analysis, and synthesis were used in the research. Thus, as a result of the study, recommendations for further enhancement of the activities of entrepreneurial structures in risky conditions have been proposed.

Changes in Quality of Economic Planning in the Late USSR: Technological and Institutional Dynamics

Introduction. Studying the Soviet economic performance is important in searching for arguments in the ongoing debate on the possibilities of routine and strategic planning application for economic development of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the article is to identify the dynamics of the planning quality of the Soviet economy in the framework of the institutional approach to economic history. Materials and Methods. The author constructed a data set filled with available information on key growth indicators (national income, production volume and labor productivity, capital investment) targeted in five-year and annual plans, which passed their way from initial drafts proposed by academic economists and employees of the State Planning Commission to approved legal documents, and to the further implementation, presented in branch (industry, agriculture, retail) and spatial (union republics) breakdown. The archival data on the growing activity of the State Planning Commission for revising the approved planned indicators is of our primary contribution. Results. The author highlights the factors underlying the deviations for key planned aggregated indicators that arose at various stages of their preparation, adoption and revision, between their approved figures and actual performance. The results of the data analysis basically confirmed our hypothesis that the technological improvement of the planning process was largely offset by the deterioration of institutional interactions between its subjects. Discussion and Conclusion. While there were signs of an increase in the role of scientists in the process of drafting five-year plans from the second half of the 1950s to the mid-1970s, then from the second half of the 1970s we find less and less evidence that they played a meaningful role in the short and medium term planning processes. On the other hand, our analysis revealed a significantly higher level of fulfillment in annual breakdown compared to five-year one. This confirms the view that just annual plans performed more operational functions, as compared to the motivational ones, in managing the Soviet economy.

Effective Use of Human Capital in the Context of Sustainable Development of the Region

Introduction. Sustainable development is Russia's strategic goal at the national and regional levels. Currently, its key factor is innovation, which, in turn, is determined by the availability of sufficient amount of human capital, it being a set of knowledge, skills and abilities, including the ability of a person to generate ideas, create innovations, and bring them to production. Although Russia has a fairly large amount of human capital, its economy is experiencing difficulties in shifting to the innovation-driven model. Based on the conducted research, the article evaluates effectiveness of the use of human capital and analyzes the causes of the existing contradiction. Materials and Methods. The theoretical foundations of the study include the works of Russian and foreign academic economists, generalization and critical analysis of which made it possible to show the indirect impact of human capital on sustainable development. Based on data from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, its territorial offices and the Analytical Center under the Government of the Russian Federation, the efficiency of the use of human capital by Russian regions was calculated employing the index method and it was compared with the level of the socio-economic development. Results. The level of innovation activity in Russia’s regions remains low. Innovation has not become a driving force for sustainable development. One of the reasons for this is low effectiveness of the use of human capital. Calculations of this indicator, carried out according to the adopted methodology, make it possible to conclude that Russia’s regions use slightly more than half of the accumulated human capital. Consequently, there are reserves for boosting innovation activity. Indirectly, this is evidenced by the comparison of the level of socio-economic development of the region and the index of effectiveness of the use of human capital. Discussion and Conclusion. The conducted research makes it possible to conclude that increasing effectiveness of the use of human capital will contribute to the growth of innovation in the economy of the regions and thereby facilitate the transition to the model of sustainable development.

The Inverted Yield Curve, Austrian Business Cycle Theory, and the True Money Supply

Ever since Campbell Harvey’s (1986) doctoral dissertation, academic economists have studied the ability of an inverted yield curve to “predict” an impending recession with impressive accuracy given suitable specifications. Many economists (including Campbell) explain the correlation by neoclassical “consumption smoothing,” while others attribute the connection to monetary policy’s ability to affect the business cycle. We agree with Cwik (2004 and 2005) that the Misesian circulation credit theory of the trade cycle, relying on both monetary and “real” (capital structural) elements, is superior to both flavors of mainstream explanation. In this paper, our contribution is to show that the growth rate of the Rothbard-Salerno measure of the “true money supply” tracks movements in Treasury bond spreads remarkably well. This provides additional support for our claim that the Austrian theory of the business cycle explains the “predictive power” of the yield curve better than the mainstream approach.

Pure-Blood and Muggle Marxian Approaches in the Theory of Value and Price

This article argues that to make progress in the theory of value and price we must incorporate in the debate of the transformation problem the methodological discussion about how Marxian economics relates to non-Marxian economics. Two alternative approaches to deal with that relationship are presented in a stylized form, called the “pure-blood Marxian approach” and the “muggle Marxian approach.” Two examples of the “muggle Marxian approach,” represented by two of the most influential communists working in the field of academic economics in the West in the 20th century, Piero Sraffa and Oskar Lange, are presented to show the superiority of this approach over the “pure-blood Marxian approach.”

RURAL ECONOMY: DIRECTIONS OF NEW THEORIZATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF BEST EUROPEAN FINANCIAL REGULATION PRACTICES

RURAL ECONOMY: DIRECTIONS OF NEW THEORIZATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF BEST EUROPEAN FINANCIAL REGULATION PRACTICES

Gender, coauthorship, and academic outcomes in economics

AbstractWe examine determinants of coauthorship behavior and how coauthorship relates to research productivity and other career outcomes for academic economists. We supplement a unique dataset containing economics Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) graduates' demographic, PhD program, advisor, and other characteristics with measures of their coauthorship behavior and research productivity. Significant gender differences in the formation and effects of coauthorship are found. Students with female advisors and women from lower‐ranked programs had a higher propensity to coauthor, and coauthorship is associated with more research output and more publications in top economics journals. However, women received less credit toward tenure when coauthoring with men or advisors.

China's new research evaluation policy: Evidence from economics faculty of Elite Chinese universities

In 2020, China's government implemented a new research evaluation policy that requires Chinese scholars to both publish at least one third of their works in Chinese journals and continue engaging with the international research community. This policy may challenge how universities have evaluated the respective worth of faculty who have gained their qualifications in China and abroad. To theorize on and assist practitioners in confronting this possibility, we compare the contributions made to China's journals by academic economists with foreign qualifications (Returnees) and by their peers with Chinese degrees (Domestics) across a fifteen-year period. We find that Returnees publish higher quality papers than Domestics, that the concentration of Returnees in academic departments impacts the research quality of both Domestic and Returnee faculty, and that the spillover effect is pronounced where intradepartmental collaboration is encouraged. On this basis, we advise that university administrators charged with determining their institution's talent management policy should continue to prioritize the appointment of Returnees and actively strive to promote research collaboration within departments.

“If You Compete with us, We Shan’T Marry You”The (Mary Paley and) Alfred Marshall Lecture

AbstractAlfred Marshall and Mary Paley Marshall are often described as the first academic economist couple. Both studied at the University of Cambridge, where Paley became one of the first women to take the Tripos exam and the first female lecturer in economics, with Marshall’s encouragement. But in later life, Marshall opposed granting Cambridge degrees to women and their participation in academic economics. This paper recounts Alfred Marshall’s use of gender norms, born out of a separate spheres ideology, to promote and ingrain women’s exclusion in academic economics and beyond. We demonstrate the persistence of this ideology and resultant norms, drawing parallels between gendered inequities in labor market outcomes for Cambridge graduates in the UK post-Industrial Revolution and those apparent in cross-country data today. We argue that the persistence of the norms produced by separate spheres ideologies is likely to reflect, at least in part, the rents associated with preferential access to better paid, high-skilled labor market opportunities. In doing so, we ask who benefits from gender norms, who enforces them, and suggest relevant policy work and areas for future research.

Законодательные новеллы регулирования инвестиционных сделок, совершаемых с использованием финансовой платформы: оценка эффективности

Introduction: the relevance of the paper is justified by the fact that the civil doctrine regarding the study of the topics of investment transactions made using the financial platform is in the stage of gradual formation. While academic economists are quite actively developing issues of forming new approaches to the remote provision of financial services to a wide range of consumers. The purpose of the study: the paper provides a detailed analysis of Federal Law of July 20, 2020, No. 211-FZ “On Making Financial Transactions Using the Financial Platform”, which entered into force in 2020 and regulates the activities of special legal entities – operators providing investment services to individuals. The aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of the provisions enshrined in Federal Law No. 211-FZ of July 20, 2020, “On Making Financial Transactions Using the Financial Platform”. Analyzing the provisions of the newly adopted document, the author answers the question of whether they facilitate, accelerate and simplify the execution of transactions by a private investor made using the financial platform. The Rules of the financial platform are also analyzed as a legal regulatory basis for the entrepreneurial activity of the operator of the financial platform. Research methods: based on the materialistic worldview, the author uses a combination of general scientific and specific scientific methods. The main research methods are the logical and system-structural methods, the methods of induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, as well as the formal legal method. Conclusions: it is concluded that the activity of recording data on financial transactions, which the repository (the registrar of financial transactions) must carry out according to Federal Law No. 211-FZ of 20.07.2020, is very cumbersome, complex, and costly, is subject to the risks of improper execution and improper preservation of personal data of consumers of financial services. It is proposed to use the depository and registration platform, which functions as a special electronic service on the website of the Bank of Russia, to record data on financial transactions using the financial platform. It is recommended to record the facts of financial transactions made in the system of a polysubject jurisdictional blockchain. The recommended scheme of polysubject blockchain interaction of entities operating on the territory of the Russian Federation has been developed, which allows each participant of the blockchain to simultaneously receive complete and reliable information on each stage of a financial transaction in the online mode and exclude irrational data transfer related to financial transactions and their participants, reduce the risk of improper storage of personal data of consumers of financial services, etc. It is proved that in Federal Law No. 211-FZ of 20.07.2020 the legislator has created a legal business scheme that is beneficial, first of all, for the operator of the financial platform – an intermediary organization. The amendments and additions to Federal Law No. 211-FZ of 20.07.2020 are proposed. The expediency of borrowing and integrating into the unified federal law “On Making Investment Transactions by Consumers in the Information and Telecommunications Network “Internet” all viable legislative provisions developed in Federal Law No. 211-FZ of 20.07.2020 is justified. This document also proposes to fix a set of rules for regulating remote digital transactions of investment in traditional financial assets, securities, digital financial assets, and derivative financial assets made by retail private investors (individuals) in the Internet information and telecommunications network.

ИНВЕСТИЦИИ В УСТОЙЧИВОЕ РАЗВИТИЕ: АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ МИРОВЫЕ ТРЕНДЫ

The study is devoted to the analysis of global trends in investment in sustainable development. It is based on a literature review. The qualitative and quantitative indicators provide an assessment of the current conditions of the sustainable investment market and a forecast of its further development. Particular attention is paid to the prerequisites for the emergence of the market, assessment of its participants, as well as an overview of the main forms of sustainable investments. The paper concludes with an assessment of the Russian sustainable investment market and a forecast of its further trends. The conclusions drawn may be useful both for academic economists engaged in sustainable development issues and for top managers of companies planning to enter international capital markets.

Statistical Parables

In the early 1960s, the agricultural economist Theodore W. Schultz issued a critical assessment of the prevailing tenets of development economics in Transforming Traditional Agriculture. Aimed at educated bureaucrats rather than academic economists, he proposed no new development theories. Instead, he drew inferences from statistics in case studies to argue that no special economic theory was required in the development space. He packaged these studies as statistical parables to provoke skepticism of development theory among those involved in direct technical assistance in developing countries. Drawing partly on their long experience with US and Soviet agricultural modernization, Schultz and members of his agricultural economics group at the University of Chicago used suggestive empirical evidence to stress the importance of investment in human capital in economic growth. By appealing to government administrators in both the United States and developing countries, Schultz helped shift development policies toward state-supported technical assistance, public education, and market-oriented policies for the agricultural sectors in the global South.

Prospects for the development of electronic commerce in Russia in the conditions of digital economy

E-commerce is a form of running business using information and communication technologies. E-commerce objects include not only traditional types of services and goods, but also informational ones. In general, the trends in e-commerce development in Russia can be regarded as positive. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic affects everything, including spending money and interaction of firms in the marketplace. Current trends indicate an acceleration in digitalization, both in the private and public sectors. Therefore, in the future, only the online seller will have success whose business will be digitized and optimized as much as possible. At the same time, the transition of firms and consumers to the electronic segment is associated with certain costs and risks. This aspect requires serious attention from both academic economists and authorities; competent, but not excessive, intervention is required. In this article, the authors reveal both the positive and negative aspects of running e-business from the point of view of sellers and buyers, and also offer their own views on the e-commerce market development in the context of mass digitalization accelerated due to the coronavirus crisis. Provided that the rate of Internet penetration in the regions remains at the same level, e-commerce in Russia will be able to maintain the current growth rate and realize its potential as an important trading platform for both domestic and foreign economic agents.