THEORETICAL GROUNDS
OF ECONOMIC POLICY

• L. Evstigneeva, R. Evstigneev — Transformation Risks of the Russian Economy

• A. Leijonhufvud — Episodes in a Century of Macroeconomics
• L. Grebnev — From "Man in Economy" to "Economy in Man"?
• I. Boldyrev — Economic Methodology and Postmodernism

• A. Rubinstein — "Groups and Their Interests": The Point for Discussion (Foreword by R. Grinberg)

• I. Wallerstein — The Ecology and the Economy: What is Rational?
• O. Veklich — Ecological Rent: Essence, Varieties, Forms
• A. Galashev, A. Galasheva — Problems of Ecological Policy

• R. Simonyan — Baltic States in the European Union
• K. Arystanbekov — Kazakhstan’s Economic Growth in the Context of the World Economy

• S. Lysenko — Depopulation in Russia (The Case of the Central Federal Region)
• S. Il’in — Quoting of Jobs for the Disabled in Moscow Labor Market

Abstracts

The authors believe the roots of the main risks of the Russian economy lie in the macro-level economy; the latter does not mean an aggregated market. Within the framework of the synergetic paradigm, it is an independent phenomenon based on financial capital. The article analyzes in detail the risks in both primary and mature macroeconomic markets, as well as the most essential contradictions, which take place in the process of their forming. The authors warn against the reiteration of the traditional path to macroeconomic market.

The author considers some episodes in the development of macroeconomic theory in the last century. Special attention is paid to the conceptions, which from the author’s point of view constitute an alternative to the neoclassical mainstream. The author explores the state of modern macroeconomics analyzing its advantages and drawbacks and trying to formulate the main directions for the future research.

The changing proportion of science and education in the works of A. Smith, J. Mill, A. Marshall and P. Samuelson is considered in the article. The accent is also made on the shift of the economists’ attention from "the life of things" to the life of people and to the problem of its adequate reflection in the textbooks. The author makes some assumptions on the further evolution of beginner’s textbooks on the economic theory.

The article is devoted to the interconnections between postmodern tendencies in the today’s culture (and in the philosophy of science in particular) and the modern economic methodology. The author shows that the relativist views, which are the distinctive feature of postmodernist theories, are justified by the current state of economic theory, fragmented and heterogeneous as it is. The article analyzes the genesis of postmodernist ideas, their advantages and drawbacks.

The author analyzes modern theories of public interests and involves into the debate on the topic with A. Nekipelov. The article examines the special meaning and existence of public interests and describes contradictions emerging in the modern economic theory when trying to construct the relation between individual and public preferences. The author reveals similarities and differences between the advocated approach ("economic sociodynamics") and the point of view of A. Nekipelov.

The article considers the problem of the global environmental change and its consequences. The author puts the environmentalists’ goals into the context of the geopolitical situation in the world-system and the structural features of the capitalist society. He suggests a complex view of coping with ecological difficulties, trying to combine intellectual, moral and political aspects of solving the said problems.

The essence of ecological rent as an economic category has been considered. The modern forms of its realization (absolute, monopolistic, differential I, II and III) are revealed and defined. The varieties of ecological rent are examined in connection with other components of economic rent.

Concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is increasing due to all growing anthropogenous emissions. It influences the climate more and more strongly. Economic approaches should improve economic efficiency of investments. Gradual increase of the carbon tax regulates distribution of the rights of generations to emissions of greenhouse gases. The market of carbon dioxide, in which Russia plays one of the basic roles, begins to form in Europe. The statutory acts regulating emissions and absorption of greenhouse gases should be accepted in Russia.

The article analyzes social and economic changes, which have occurred in the Baltic states after their EU accession. It reveals new tendencies in the development of this new region of the united Europe that plays a significant geostrategic role for Russia.

Kazakhstan’s economic policy results in 1995—2005 are considered in the article. In particular, the analysis of the relationship between economic growth and some indicators of nation states — population, territory, direct access to the World Ocean, and extraction of crude petroleum — is presented. Basic problems in the sphere of economic policy in Kazakhstan are formulated.