• R. Kaplinsky - Spreading the Gains of Globalization: What Can Be Learned from Value Chain Analysis
• V. Ivanenko - On the Prospects for Foreign Direct Investments after Russia's WTO accession

• N. Pakhomova, K. Richter - Economic Analysis of Environmental Law
• O. Osipenko - The Modern Corporate Conflict (Nature, Boundaries, Types, Methods of Regulation)
• I. Dezhina, I. Leonov - Economic and Legal Support for Commercialization of Intellectual Property in Russia

• P. Kadochnikov, S. Sinel'nikov-Murylev, I. Trunin,
  S. Chetverikov - Redistribution of Regional Incomes within the Framework of the System of Interbudgetary Relations in Russia
• A. Chernyavsky, K. Vartapetov - Finacial Decentralization and Local Self governance in the Period of Reforms

• A. Bykov - Regional Policy in the Field of Natural Resources Management in the Far North

• C. Gasratyan - Problems of the Cultural Sphere Development in Russia
• M. Toksanbaeva - What Are the "Targets" of the Targeted Aid to the Poor

• A. Granberg, V. Saveliev - To the Birth Centenary of
  A.E. Probst

• S. Kirdina - The Institute of Land Ownership in Russia

• Evstignev V.R. Portfolio Investments in the World and in Russia: The Choice of Strategy

     In recent years globalisation has been associated with growing inequality both among countries and inside their borders as well as with increasing number of people living in poverty. Among those participating in globalisational processes losers can also be found. The article discusses ways to provide under such conditions stable income growth of poor people and poor countries. It is essential to determine means of design and production of goods including internal company structure and relations among companies as well as possibilities of interaction of poor producers and poor countries with producers and consumers in the world economy. Value chain analysis covering the complete cycle of economic activity – from producing the product to its consuming and recycling – is an adequate instrument for assessing the effectiveness of private and public enterprises. Moreover, it helps to deeper understand the political tasks which arise before private and public sectors. Basic theories of value chain concept are considered in the article and specific examples of its implementation are given.

     This paper addresses two sets of questions. First, it discusses the claim that foreign direct investments (FDIs) play a positive role in economic development and concludes that there is insufficient evidence to support this claim. Second, the paper investigates a potential link between the volume of FDIs and WTO membership. It finds that the impact of WTO membership on the volume of FDIs is insignificant statistically. In spite of negative findings, the paper supports the continuation of WTO negotiations. It attracts attention to the fact that the negotiations stimulate the creation of favorable investment climate in Russia on the one hand and prevents politically powerful companies from obtaining individual concessions on the other.

     The basic concepts and the application potential of the new scientific direction – "law and environmental economics" – are considered in the paper. This area is closely related to the broader scientific discipline "law and economics". The authors study the results reached by the main scientific schools in that area: the Chicago school of law and economics, the school of law reformism and neo-institutional economics, and discuss the possibilities of their use in the ecological sphere. Special attention is paid to the field of social monitoring and control of the implementation of the state ecological policy by the civil society.

     In the author’s opinion, the inner factor of the corporate conflict is the dual essence of the joint-stock property. It generates the contradiction between the property right given by the share of the company and administrative rights of the shareholder fixed in the mechanism of joint-stock relations. Basic kinds of corporate conflicts are considered, they are classified according to the purposes pursued by the conflicting parties, and also according to the subjects of conflict. The author notes that one of the problems of the solving corporate conflicts is the "deficit" of the state the presence of which should render stabilizing influence on corporations.

     The article is devoted to the analysis of the changes in economic and legal context for commercial application of intellectual property created under federal budgetary financing. Special attention is given to the role of the state and to comparison of key elements of mechanisms for commercial application of intellectual property that are currently under implementation in Russia and in the West. A number of practical suggestions are presented aimed at improving government stimuli to commercialization of intellectual property created at budgetary expense.

     The authors analyze the equalization properties of the present system of resource allocation among budgets of different levels in Russia (allocation of tax revenue and intergovernmental transfers). They consider the actual impact of the following federal fiscal instruments on the regional income distribution: the system of intergovernmental transfers, the system of federal tax revenue sharing between federal and regional budgets and the federal net tax on the region.

     This paper reviews Russian municipal budget revenues and expenditures reforms in 1992–2002. Recent tax reforms have resulted in the decrease of local fiscal autonomy. Municipal budget revenues have dropped sharply in relative as well as absolute terms. Despite significant formal expenditure powers Russian municipalities are completely financially dependent on higher-level governments. Within regions regional governments have continued to increasingly finance municipal social expenditures. The examination of possible scenarios of development after the enactment of the draft law"On the General Principles of the Organization of Local Self-governance in the Russian Federation" shows that the fiscal centralization trend will continue.

     According to the legal norms of the Russian Federation in the ownership, usage and disposal of natural resources the author analyses interaction between natural resources users and local authorities. The interaction is based upon ecological and economic factors, which cause the peculiarities of requirements put before natural resource users in the Far North. The strategic directions of resource saving economic development of these regions are considered.

     The paper examines actual economic problems of the cultural sphere development in Russia. It considers processes of adaptation of cultural organizations to new market conditions, problems of government regulation and cultural policy. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the system of non-profit cultural organizations financing and tax benefits for them as well as to means of attracting potential private sponsors.

     The targeted aid to the poor in Russia is based on both federal and regional approaches. The federal one resting on budget equalization is realized in the case of subsidies for children. The regional approach based on using regional budget resources is applied in cases of housing compensations and welfare. Both approaches contradict to targeting because of considerable difference in economic development across the regions and urban localities. It is impossible to eliminate this difference by means of social policy therefore measures of economic policy are needed.