Effects Of Russia Research Articles

Monetary policy regimes in Russia: Guidelines for furtherquantitative studies

This paper analyzes the basic parameters of monetary policy in 2000-2015 in Russia. We provide the overview of tools and objectives of monetary policy of the Bank of Russia and identify the periods of homogeneity of monetary policy regimes: from money base targeting to exchange rate targeting and finally, to interest rates policy. On the basis of this research we develop the recommendations for further quantitative research aimed at estimation of monetary policy effects in Russia.

Loans in Agriculture: Living under New Rules

New rules are in effect in Russia since 1 January 2017, regulating the subsidization of bank loans to agricultural producers and agribusinesses. This is a major update to the loan subsidization procedure, introducing in particular a fixed rate for subsidies, a simplified procedure for agricultural soft loans, and a share of small businesses in subsidies. However, some problems have been left unresolved, and new ones have arisen.

Who Owns the Wealth in Tax Havens? Macroevidence and Implications for Global Inequality

Drawing on newly published macroeconomic statistics, this paper estimates the amount of household wealth owned by each country in offshore tax havens. The equivalent of 10% of world GDP is held in tax havens globally, but this average masks a great deal of heterogeneity - from a few percent of GDP in Scandinavia, to about 15% in Continental Europe, and 60% in Gulf countries and some Latin American economies. We use these estimates to construct revised series of top wealth shares in ten countries, which account for close to half of world GDP. Because offshore wealth is very concentrated at the top, accounting for it increases the top 0.01% wealth share substantially in Europe, even in countries that do not use tax havens extensively. It has considerable effects in Russia, where the vast majority of wealth at the top is held offshore. These results highlight the importance of looking beyond tax and survey data to study wealth accumulation among the very rich in a globalized world.

Health communication and rhetorical challenges for the anti-smoking policy in Russia

Smoking regulation constitutes a challenging issue for both developed and developing countries that aim to improve their state of public health and constituent wellbeing. Anti-smoking information and communication campaigns accompanying regulation acts can either enhance or sabotage national policy initiatives. This is especially salient in countries like Russia, where smoking is one of the top public health threats and causes of population decline. As such, critical analysis of the message effectiveness of Russia's anti-smoking campaign is warranted. This study employs frame analysis to examine the anti-smoking messages embedded in the sections of Federal Law No. 15 that regulate the information and communication campaigns. The study's results illustrate that in addition to the lack of a comprehensive, effective public relations campaign promoting smoking cessation, the rhetoric guiding the enforcement of the anti-smoking legislation enforcement is doomed to yield desired results. This study suggests recommendations for reframing existing messages to enable a more comprehensive and effective Russian anti-smoking.

Techniques and Technologies of Teaching Speaking: Dealing with Backwash Effect in Russia

This paper considers the problem of teaching school students spoken language, arising from the backwash effect of language tests on the classroom teaching agenda. The author presents the results of action research with a group of Russia's school leavers to explore how the efficiency of innovative technologies of teaching speaking would influence their oral performance. The first action research cycle was focused on developing teaching material for implementing the three organizational and pedagogical technologies “cognitive dissonance”, “information gap” and “logical impasse”. The publication presents organizational and pedagogical technologies such as “cognitive dissonance”, “information gap” and “logical impasse”.

The Claws of the Bear: Russia’s Targeted Killing Program

While there has been a good deal of attention and scholarly research on the use of targeted killings by Israel and the United States, there has surprisingly not been as much focus on the use of this strategy by the Russian government. In the interest of filling this gap, I provide the first, to my knowledge, quantitative examination of the effectiveness of Russia’s use of targeted killings. Building off of Morehouse (forthcoming), I model the impact of Chechen leadership losses from targeted killings on the later number and severity of Chechen militant attacks between 2004 and 2011. I find that at best, targeted killings had no significant impact, and at worst, they led to increases in the number and severity of militant operations.

Surrogate Investment System

The article addresses the crucial patterns of redistribution of earnings from effective businesses to ineffective ones, first of all to those closely affiliated with the federal government. The authors concentrate on analysing of what they call a “surrogate (Ersatz) investment system” build up in between the federal budget and big corporations and composed of financial institutions, specialized agencies, free economic zones, and some other elements. They argue that a deep understanding of surrogate investment system’s essence and features is one of the main prerequisites for advancement of the overall effectiveness of Russia’s national economy.

Tuberculosis in Russia. Its history and its status today.

The history of the Russian tuberculosis (TB) program, dating from the second part of the 19th century until today, is presented, and its achievements and failures are analyzed. The epidemiology of TB is described, and the effects of the TB program initiatives are described and analyzed. Multidrug-resistant TB and HIV coinfection represent severe threats to TB control effectiveness in Russia. New TB control strategies in the present-day epidemiological climate call for important shifts in TB facilities' networking, diagnosis, and treatment approaches.

The effect of beverage type on alcoholic psychoses rate in Russia.

To test the hypothesis of beverage-specific effect in Russia on the incidence rate of alcoholic psychoses (a known indicator of a population's alcohol-related problems). Time series analytical modeling techniques (ARIMA) were used to examine the relation between the sales of different alcoholic beverages (vodka, wine, beer) and alcoholic psychoses incidence rate between 1970 and 2013. The analysis suggests that of the three beverages vodka alone was associated with alcoholic psychoses incidence rate. The estimated effect of vodka sales on the alcohol psychoses rate is statistically significant: a 1 l per person per year increase in vodka sales would result in a 23.4% increase in the alcoholic psychoses incidence rate. The incidence of alcoholic psychoses is more responsive to changes in vodka sales per capita than wine or beer sales.

КАК ОЗДОРОВИТЬ РОССИЙСКИЙ БЮДЖЕТ?

This article discusses ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Russia's budget. Particular attention is paid to anti-crisis budget measures, including the inadmissibility of shifting gravity of the crisis on the poor, especially pensioners. Proposed measures to overcome the recession and stagnation in the activation of fiscal policy.

Ввоз и вывоз капитала: эффекты для России

In recent years Russian Federation has become one of the leading exporters and importers of capital in the world. The article reviews Russia’s place in the cross-border capital movement, the dynamics and structure of incoming and outgoing foreign direct investment (FDI), and of other types of investment, such as portfolio investment, bank and other loans, international reserves. The main effects of Russia’s capital exchange with the world on domestic economy are estimated. It is stressed that FDI somewhat contributed to the economic growth, diversification of production and productivity. At the same time, the advantages of FDI for modernization of industry were substantially underutilized. The private capital outflow reflects the intention of Russian leading companies to become global international corporations and to participate in the global value chains. However, this slows capital accumulation inside the country, therefore, preventing technological modernization of production and, as a consequence, an increase of enterprises’ competitiveness. Significant portion of capital export is illegal or “grey”. The authors conclude that the optimal model of capital exports and imports can be achieved only by crucial improvement of investment climate in this country. Special attention is paid to institutional changes carried out in recent years to improve business and investment climate in Russia. At the same time, it is shown that even if there is no radical change in business environment, the government and the companies are able to make extra investment inside the country. The article outlines the main directions and barriers for further development of capital movement components.

RUSSIAN SOFT POWER: ORIGINS, INSTITUTIONS, EFFECTIVENESS

Purpose: The paper examines conceptual and institutional aspects ofRussia’s soft power strategy over the last decade. Methodology: research is made on the basis of the institutional approach which requires the analysis of both configuration and internal structure of the object. The study of an institution’s behavior and its interaction with the external environment is an integral part of this approach as well. Results: The sources of Moscow's interest in the soft power strategy are explained. Various methods, techniques and institutional mechanisms that are used by Moscow to exercise its soft power in its geopolitical neighborhood are explored. The effectiveness of Russia’s soft power politics is evaluated. Practical implications: the results of this research can be taken into consideration by the Russian governmental agencies responsible for the soft power strategies (e.g. the Rossotrudnichestvo and ‘Russian world’).

At the Crossroads: Putin's Third Presidential Term and Russia's Institutions

In 2013, Russia's economy entered a phase of stagnation, with a rate of gross domestic product (GDP) growth much lower than that of other emerging economies. This article argues that economic stagnation is linked to the dysfunctional system of informal institutions that permeates every level of political decision making in the country. By discussing four recent books on the topic, the article shows the negative effect of Russia's informal institutions on economic development, as well as how their emergence and persistence is linked to the political system built by Vladimir Putin. The article then outlines different scenarios of institutional reform to show how Russia stands very much at a crossroads between different paths of political, economic and institutional development.

Effects of Russia's WTO accession on agricultural trade and production

The paper explores the benefits and challenges facing agriculture as the most sensitive sector of the Russian economy after a two years long membership in the WTO. The key parts of the paper investigate current effects that the new trade rules have brought to Russian agriculture, and subsequently to its major trading partners. It has been found that both groups of effects are very different, and in some segments totally opposite to forecasts and expectations. The sectors that have had the best chance to benefit from trade liberalization show a significant drop in exports, while the weakest ones record a growth in production. The research seeks to explain how the expected negative effects have been avoided, which would provide useful lessons for the future WTO members. The unexpected results, as research shows, come from the measures taken by Russia prior to admission to the WTO, then the advantages it agreed on during the negotiations and finally practical moves during the implementation of the new rules.

Assessing the prospects for the development of the poultry market in Russia in the context of the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization

An attempt to assess the effects of Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the domestic poultry market is made. The measures of public control over the national poultry market are outlined, a simple model for assessing the effect of import duties on the domestic market is developed, and the midterm prospects of Russia’s poultry market in the context of the country’s accession to the WTO are predicted.

Wheat export restrictions and domestic market effects in Russia and Ukraine during the food crisis

Studies investigating the effects of wheat export controls on the domestic market in the exporting country itself are scarce. This paper analyses the domestic market impact of wheat export controls in Russia and Ukraine during the 2007/2008 global food crisis within a spatial price transmission approach. Using a Markov-switching vector error-correction model, we contrast our estimation for Russia and Ukraine with Germany and the USA, two countries that did not intervene in their wheat export markets. An explicit “crisis” regime during times of export controls is exclusively identified for Russia and Ukraine. We find that export restrictions temporarily reduced the degree of integration of Russian and Ukrainian domestic markets in world wheat markets, which pushed the growers prices below their long-run equilibrium level. Further, domestic markets were disconnected from their equilibrium and market instability increased. These effects were even more pronounced and long lasting in Ukraine (export quota) than in Russia (export tax). The negative market effects discouraged private investors, thereby preventing Russia and Ukraine from maximizing their grain potential and contributing to global food security.

Актуальные проблемы генетической токсикологии

The review deals with current issues of genetic toxicology and aims to develop this science at the contemporary stage. We study general approaches to assessing the genotoxic and mutagenic activity of environmental factors; to constructing a regulatory system of chemical compounds that considers the mutagenic effect in Russia and abroad; and to determining modem methods for assessing the organ specificity of mutagens, alternative methods of genetic toxicology, the mutagenic action of various factors in the survey of population, and the abilities of toxicogenomics to identify the mutagenic properties of the environment.

Геоэкономические риски Украины и России в условиях разобщенности

The low effectiveness of Russia's and Ukraine's dissociated integration into the global economic space is ascertained. The necessity of joining Russian and Ukrainian efforts to restore the indivisible economic complex as the only acceptable way of countering the globalization challenges is educed.

Россия в Таможенном союзе и ВТО: новое в торговой политике

The creation of Custom Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, as well as Russia's upcoming accession to the WTO, poses a number of questions that the author attempts to answer in this article. These include: what restrictions on the national trade policy are imposed by the membership in these organizations; what are the effects of Russia's participation in the WTO on the foreign trade management; what regulatory instruments and supportive measures Russia can use without violating its new international obligations?

Age-adjusted disability rates and regional effects in Russia

Abstract We provide three measures of age-standardized disability rates for each Russian region and show that most, though not all, of the regional patterns in disability prevalence disappear with standardization. Disability prevalence remains unusually high for women in St Petersburg and Belgorod but the remote but healthy pattern is nearly gone. We conclude that differences in age structure largely account for the differences in disability prevalence across regions of Russia. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.) 1. Introduction The prevalence of disability in transition nations is high, reflecting a combination of high prevalence of chronic disease, poor work-place safety practices, and relatively generous social safety net provisions (Andreev, 2008; Seitenova and Becker, 2008; Becker and Urzhumova, 1998). This high prevalence has attracted considerable discussion, and the presence of detailed data has made it possible to explore the characteristics of those receiving disability payments in far more detail than is practical for most other middle-income countries. One of the superficially surprising characteristics concerns regional patterns of disability. Previous research has found that disability prevalence is lowest in Russia's Far East and far north while highest in St Petersburg, Moscow, and the Central federal district. This is a counterintuitive finding, since the high prevalence regions are more prosperous and have better health care and social services. Based on anecdotal evidence, the discrepancies in disability prevalence across regions have been attributed to differences in the generosity of benefits, ease of access to the disability screening process or the prevalence of corruption or fraud. However, by incorporating the age structure of Russian regions, we conclude that almost all of the differences in disability prevalence can be attributed to differences in age structure, and that non-medical explanations are likely to be fairly unimportant. Due to recent migration out of the Russian north and Far East, the population distribution in these regions is undoubtedly a product of self-selection on the basis of health and employment opportunity, which heavily correlate with age. Crude comparisons of disability prevalence rates across the regions of Russia may therefore be biased. A more appropriate method of comparison of disability rates would adjust for age. Such ageadjusted rates are already used in a number of applications, including mortality rates, incidence of cancer, and the like. This paper estimates age-adjusted disability rates on the basis of survey data of Russian households. In addition, the paper explores two other methods of capturing regional effects on disability prevalence using regression analysis. With standardization, the remote but healthy advantage that appears to characterize Siberia, the Far East, and the northernmost regions almost disappears. A few significant gender differences in disability prevalence in some regions do remain. Even after standardization, for example, disability rates for women in St Petersburg and Belgorod Oblast remain unusually high. The remainder of this paper proceeds as follows: the next section summarizes the structure of the Russian disability system as well as some of the recent literature on this subject. Section 3 provides the methodology for estimating age-adjusted disability rates from survey data and for capturing regional effects using regression models. Section 4 presents the results of the age-adjustment computations and regional effect regression analysis. A final section offers conclusions and ideas for further study. 2. The Russian disability system Disability in Russia is governed by the 24 November 1995 Federal law On the Social Protection of Disabled Individuals in the Russian Federation. The law defines as disabled an individual who has a health impairment with a continued disruption of bodily functions caused by illness, the results of trauma, or [anatomical] defects, leading to limited capacity for life and requiring social protection (Russian Federation, 1995). …