• E. Yasin, M. Snegovaya — Institutional and Cultural Limitations of Catching-up Countries

• I. Pospelov — Modeling Russian Economy in the Crisis Period

• J.-B. Rosser, Jr. — The Nature and Future of Econophysics
• A. Leonidov — Physicist’s Point of View on the Way to Equilibrium and Efficiency of Stock Market
• V. Burlachkov — Turbulence of Economic Processes: Theoretical Aspects

• A. Rubinstein — Meritorics and Economic Sociodynamics: Debates with R. Musgrave

• P. Kryuchkova — The System of Technical Regulation in Russia: The Possible and Expected Impact on Competition
• S. Migin — Conformity Assessment in Technical Regulation: Market Features and Its Influence on Competitiveness of Russian Enterprises
• S. Avdasheva — Demand for Certification: Theory and Evidence on Modernization of Russian Enterprises

• The First Congress on Econophysics in Russia

Abstracts

The research comprised two areas: expert survey (we interviewed 223 experts from 51 countries) and in-depth analysis of the official documents related to the decisions and discussions of the G20 process. The authors put forward their own approaches to solving problems that strongly influence interests of the developing world. The current economic meltdown in our opinion can lead to a more destructive civilization crisis in the medium term. The study focuses on origins and consequences of this crisis. The problems of future global currency system formation have also been considered.

In the article the global crisis of 2008—2009 is considered as superposition of a few regional crises that occurred simultaneously but for different reasons. However, they have something in common: developed countries tend to maintain a strong level of social security without increasing the real production output. On the one hand, this policy has resulted in trade deficit and partial destruction of market mechanisms. On the other hand, it has clashed with the desire of several oil and gas exporting countries to receive an exclusive price for their energy resources.

Following the issue of innovational potential of catching-up countries the authors consider the peculiarities of China, India and Brazil’s institutions and culture. According to their opinion, these peculiarities can limit innovational development of the said countries. For each of them the limitations have their specifics, but when positive factors are exhausted they can become the brake to development. This issue is also important for Russia because it has its own limitations.

The article considers peculiarities of the current global economic crisis with respect to the principles of mathematical model-building. The formal structure and substantial features, preliminary results of calculations for the new model of Russian economy are described as well as its development in the period of 2004—2009. Special attention is paid to the meaning and role of the recently discovered strong turnpike effect: economic system tends to have "universally optimal" trajectories which reflect a reasonable result under different scenarios of distant future.

The article presents an overview of econophysics, its main issues, history and possible paths of future development. Descriptions of the subject, problems and methodology are provided. The questions are raised such as what the contribution of the new discipline to the core issues in economics is and whether the new methods and approaches could be applied in physics. The role of the interdisciplinary research which tends to become the main engine of development in econophysics is discussed in detail.

The article provides a new method for testing the efficient market hypothesis in its weak form. A special model of stock market is built to estimate correlation functions. The main result is that the dynamics of share prices is close to the random walk but could be better described by a more sophisticated law of distribution. The market processes new information with a certain lag but its reaction is fast enough. Share prices reflect exogenous shocks much quicker than endogenous ones.

The article discusses turbulence of economic processes as a result of relative velocities of economic system elements. It is underlined that turbulence is the property of macroeconomic dynamics. The main reason of turbulence in economic system is the discrepancy between the velocity of deals contracting and the velocity of obligations executing. The process approach to the analysis of economic system as a set of processes is proposed. Using Lorentz transformations for turbulence analysis is discussed.

The article is a part of a new book by the author — "The Birth of the Theory. Conversations with Prominent Economists" and is devoted to the polemics with R. Musgrave. The main topics of the discussion are public goods theory, irreducible needs of society, methodological individualism and the role of the state in the modern market economy.

The article considers the development of the technical regulation reform in Russian Federation and the potential impact of technical regulation on competition and competitiveness of industries and the Russian economy as a whole. It concludes that the reform has been actually reduced, and it is demanded for in the framework of the modernization scenario of Russia’s economy development.

Application of technical regulation measures frequently leads to excessive administrative pressure in the conformity assessment sphere. This pressure negatively affects economic agents’ activities and business environment which, in its turn, influences external and internal competitiveness of Russian enterprises. The article treats conformity assessment as one of major parameters that determine market entry barriers and company’s strategic behavior. The market of conformity assessment services itself and its entry barriers are also considered. The article highlights the market power of certification authorities and justifies the necessity to modernize the accreditation system.

The article tries to explain the demand for certification according to international standards in Russian industries. Under asymmetric information about the quality of goods certification by a credible agency can serve as a quality signal that increases demand for the given good and the profit of the supplier. Incentives to certificate products positively depend on the market share of suppliers with certified products. Evidence on modernization of Russian enterprises supports this view. Increase of demand for certification is accelerating, mostly by the successful enterprises involved in deeper restructuring.