• S. Andryushin, V. Kuznetsova — Central Bank as a Lender of Last Resort: New Issues of the Monetary Policy Theory
• M. Kamrotov — Identification of Euro—Dollar Rate Dynamics Regimes: The Approach Based on Reconstructing Nonlinear Dynamic Systems
• I. Ivanchenko, A. Maslov — Methodological Eclecticism of Transmission Mechanism of Monetary Policy

• V. Magun, M. Rudnev — Basic Human Values of Russians and Other Europeans (The Results of 2008 Surveys)

• N. Makasheva — Does J. M. Keynes Help Study the Russian Economy? (On the Book by V. E. Manevich "The Keynesian Theory and the Russian Economy")

• A. Chalenko — Hidden Reserves of W. Leontieff's "Input—Output" Method

• On the Outcomes of VI Perm' Economic Forum "New Economy and Cultural Policy"

Abstracts

Despite the signs of recovery of the world economy the markets feel uncertain. The search for "risk-averse" investments stimulates continuous growth of the price of gold, silver, swiss frank. The second phase of quantitative easing in the US implies massive creation of dollars that reinforces emergence of excess liquidity and associated risks in the world financial system.

In the paper the author examines the monetary policy, which was carried out at the acute stage of the crisis and during the years 2009—2010, as well as the forecasts of monetary and fiscal policies for 2011—2013. The author comes to the conclusion that decreasing banking credit activity during the 2nd—4th quarters of 2009 and the 1st quarter of 2010 was due to reduced lending of commercial banks by the Central Bank and the reversion of its monetary policy to floppy following the situation on the exchange market. According to the author’s calculations the budget deficit financed by domestic lending may grow to 6—7% of GDP provided that capital export be limited, and the money supply expand mainly on the basis of increases in the net domestic assets.

As lessons from the global financial crisis of 2007—2009 are being drawn, some rather uncomfortable questions about the political economy of the global credit crunch continue to linger. The most worrying of these include the presence of fraud and illicit practices at many levels of the financial practice during the credit boom, and the fact that a series of whistleblowers and warning signs of the coming crisis had been ignored on a systematic basis. Analyzing the evidence, the paper suggests that it is a pervasive illusion of wealth-creating capacity of the financial markets that explains the key causes of the credit crisis. This phenomenon can be understood as illusion of liquidity. Developing a theoretical framework for understanding this phenomenon, the author argues that it was the illusion of liquidity that helped conceal not only the true magnitude of risks in the system, but most controversially, the mounting signs of the coming meltdown.

One of the attractive features of financial assets is linked to their ability to increase or preserve their buyers’ wealth. Soaring prices provoke investors’ euphoria, their decline — paralysis. In 2010 capital in the USA has moved from the stock market to the bonds market that directly reflects low inflation expectations and current low interest rates. High demand on government securities is due to new economic growth deceleration expectations.

The article considers the problem of realization of central banks’ function of the lender of last resort in the situation of liquidity deficit. It shows that the classic definition of the last resort credits principles is not adequate to the tasks which central banks have to solve during liquidity crisis.

This paper proposes an empirical approach to euro—dollar rate modeling based on continuous-time dynamic systems. It is shown that the dynamics of the exchange rate and key policy rates of Federal Reserve System and European Central Bank (which are supposed to be the main drivers of the euro—dollar rate) has displayed several regimes in the past, and these regimes can be successfully modeled in terms of linear differential equations. The Grobman—Hartman theorem is used to reconstruct the fundamental nonlinear law of motion of the exchange rate. Linear systems are considered as approximations of a nonlinear system in the neighborhood of its steady states. This approach allows reveal all possible regimes of exchange rate dynamics.

The article analyzes theoretical and methodological features of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy and its channels of performance. The complex nature of this phenomenon is substantiated by a qualitative economic approach thus revealing its immanent theoretical contradictions, which cause a number of problems that monetary authorities face while conducting monetary policy. Possible ways of analysis aimed at resolving the mentioned issues are suggested.

The authors rely mainly on the data from the fourth round of the European Social Survey held in 2008 in their comparison between the Russian basic values and the values of the 31 other European countries as measured by Schwartz Portrait Values Questionnaire. The authors start from comparing country averages. Then they compare Russia with the other countries taking into account internal country value diversity. And finally they refine cross-country value comparisons taking the advantage of the multiple regression analysis. As revealed from the study there are important value barriers to the Russian economy and society progress and well targeted cultural policy is needed to promote necessary value changes.