• Diversification of the Russian Economy: Contemporary Problems and Tasks (The Report of the RF Ministry of the Economy and Trade)
• M. Ershov - Actual Problems of Economic Policy
• Economic Expert Group - Inflation and Exchange Rate Policy
• O. Khmyz - Recent Reforms of the Russian Pension System: pro et contra

• A. Dementiev, A. Zolotareva, A. Reus - On Mechanisms of Realization of the Public Procurement of Construction Works (The Case of Road Const ruction)

• M. Kaz - Discourse and Development of Economic Knowledge
• M. Voeykov - Eurasian "Theory of Economy Management" as an Organic Part of the Russian Economic School

• A. Shastitko - Pouring Water out of the Tub, Do not Forget the Baby! (On the Correlation of Antimonopoly Policy and Economic Development)

• V. Andreff - Post-Soviet Privatization in the Light of the Coase Theorem (Transaction Costs and Governance Costs)

• M. Golovnin - China's Banking System as Compared to Other Transition Banking Systems

• Basic Issues of Contemporary Economic Theory (Proceedings of the All-Russia Symposium, September 2003)
• Nobel Prize Winners in Economics and Russian Economic Schools (on the Inter national Symposium, September 2003)

     The structure of the Russian economy is analyzed in the report as well as ways of its diversification. Basing on the foreign experience the conclusion is made about the possibility of critical utilization of its separate directions accounting for specific Russian conditions. The mechanisms of the Russian economy diversification in the mid- and long-term are suggested. Macroeconomic conditions of accelerated diversification are considered.

     At present Russia faces the task of great importance - effective integration into the world economy. The success of this process largely depends on the strength of the domestic economy and stable economic growth. To attain such a goal certain changes in economic approaches are required which imply more active, focused and concerted steps in the monetary, fiscal and foreign exchange policy.

     In this article the trade-off between anti-inflation policy and policy aimed at limiting currency appreciation in Russia is analysed. A detailed overview of the Central Bank achievements in inflation restraining in 2003 as well as the analysis of the state budget role in the sterilisation process are given. A comprehensive study of trade-offs between inflation and rouble appreciation is provided. The authors analyse the influence of real rouble exchange rate on key sectors in mid-term, consider causes and consequences of "Dutch Disease" and examine effectiveness of its treatment by exchange rate policy. The authors come to a conclusion that the Bank of Russia would better give more attention to the inflation reduction policy while reducing its presence on the foreign exchange market and allow more rapid appreciation of the rouble.

     Recent reforms of the general pension regime have gone a long way to ensuring a fair, equitable and transparent pension scheme, available to all workers younger than 45 years old. An adjustable formula relates pensions to the duration and level of contributions, and life-expectancy. It introduces some welcome flexibility to the system, as benefits are automatically adjusted for the effects of population ageing. Today the workers must choose a state or a private pension fund's management company. However, it is not clear whether recent reforms will be sufficient to ensure the long-term actuarial and financil balance of the general system.

     The most important measures stimulating the increase of efficiency and effectiveness of budget expenditures on road construction are the improvement of pricing mechanisms and increasing efficiency of the procedures of government purchases of goods, works and services. The paper includes the analysis of main problems that arise in the process of government purchases and construction pricing with the reference to budget expenditure on road construction. It includes the review and analysis of international experience and possible measures of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of government purchases and (road) construction pricing in Russia.

     Mechanisms of transformation of knowledge in economic science are considered in the article. The author analyses the sphere of labor motivation in the Soviet political economy. He demonstrates the possibilities of statistical distribution analysis in studying discourse practices, reveals stages of development and mechanisms of discourse formation in the Soviet political economy. The question about the limits of the normative ethic approach in economic research is also risen in the article.

     The original version of "the theory of economy management", developed in the 1920s by Russian economists-emigrants who called themselves "Eurasians" (N. Trubetskoy, P. Savitskiy, etc.) is analyzed in the article. They considered this theory to be the basis of the original Russia's way of economic development. The Eurasian theory of economy management focuses on two sides of enterprise activity: managerial as well as social and moral. The Eurasians accepted the Soviet economy with the large share of state regulation as the initial step of development. On the other hand they paid much attention to the private sector activity. Eurasians developed a theoretical model of the mixed economy which can be attributed as the Russian economic school.

     Key arguments on mutual exclusion of antimonopoly policy and economic development are criticized in the article. Analytical tools of the New Institutional Economics are used to identify the background of antimonopoly policy: property rights as a bundle of rights, externalities, transaction costs, comparative analysis of discrete structural alternatives. Perspective directions of constructive criticism and development of antimonopoly policy have been indicated.

     A Coasian theoretical perspective is assumed to be in the background of most post-Soviet economies' privatization drives. The assumption of zero transaction costs underlying the Coase theorem guarantees an efficient reallocation of property rights whatever is their initial distribution. Once this assumption is relaxed, the result predicted by the Coase theorem is less certain and clashes with the nature of the firm as it has been analyzed earlier by Coase himself. This preliminary presentation is used as a critical driver to provide a non-mainstream assessment of privatization objectives in Russia that became so obviously high in the early years of the transition process. A Coasian analysis also helps to figure out the post-privatization firm boundaries and to design in-house restructuring as well as industrial restructuring - between industrial branches. The issue of the firm boundaries is crucial in the relationship between privatization and restructuring. Finally, we come to terms with the analysis of post-privatization property rights and corporate governance and their possible (governance) costs for in-house restructuring. The last section is devoted to an evaluation of standard and non-standard methods of privatization.