• A. Radygin, Y. Simachev, R. Entov — State-Owned Company: Detection Zone of Government Failure or Market Failure?
• D. Gordeev, G. Idrisov, E. Karpel — Theory and Practice for Natural Gas Pricing in Russia

• O. Berezinskaya, A. Vedev — Dependency of the Russian Industry on Imports and the Strategy of Import Substitution Industrialization
• V. Faltsman — Import Substitution in Energy and Military-Industrial Complexes

• V. Bessonov — What Will the Modern Russian Statistics Have in Store for History?
• S. Bobylev, N. Zubarevich, S. Solovyeva — Challenges of the Crisis: How to Measure Sustainable Development?

Abstracts

Jean Tirole’s Nobel Prize-winning research is described within the context of practical issues for economic policy and taking into account the relevance of his results for the real world. The paper considers how Tirole contributed to the resolution of "Chicago school paradoxes" in industrial organization and to explaining antitrust law enforcement in the new economy. We also emphasize specific features of Tirole’s textbook on industrial organization and demonstrate its significance for systematic knowledge of markets organization. The main elements of Tirole’s approach to optimal regulation are also discussed.

JEL: L00, L13, L42, L51.
Keywords: Chicago paradoxes, industrial organization, optimal regulation, Nobel Memorial Prize in economics.

The paper mapping from "interests" to outcomes in political economy depends on many unstated assumptions about the ideas that political agents have about: what they are maximizing; how the world works; and the set of tools they have at their disposal to further their interests. These ideas are subject to both manipulation and innovation, making them part of the political game. There is a direct parallel, as I will show, between inventive activity in technology and investment in persuasion and policy innovation in the political arena. I focus specifically on models professing to explain economic inefficiency.

JEL: D72, O30.
Keywords: rent-seeking, lobbying, ideas and insterests, reforms, institutions, institutional change.

This article analyzes state-owned companies and their place in the structure of market interactions in the context of modern approaches to the study of government failures and market failures, as well as the conditions of the system of private property rights rooting. Besides the general theoretical consideration of the costs of functioning of state-owned companies, the authors refer to the specific experience of the Russian economy, consistently analyzing the opportunities and palliatives of the current privatization policy, the experience of establishment and the risks of functioning of state corporations. Particular attention is paid to the problem of limited motivation to improve the institutional environment in general and, on the contrary, the expansion of the practice of direct government intervention in order to solve the problems of economic development. The authors also consider specific areas where there is a restriction of private property rights in connection with the expansion of the public sector, de jure and de facto.

JEL: D24, D40, D60, E20.
Keywords: natural gas, pricing, cross-subsidization.

In this paper the authors analyze needs of changes of pricing mechanisms for natural gas for domestic and foreign markets. They conclude that in medium term these changes are inevitable due to the Russian practice obsolescence in the quickly transforming gas markets. Inefficient natural gas use due to distorted price incentives, lack of competition in the domestic market, as well as linking the domestic price to the price of European oil product baskets are significant deterrents to the development of the natural gas sector. Different scenarios for the Russian gas sector and potential influence on macroeconomics are described.

JEL: F21, F42, H77, L52, O19, O38, O52.
Keywords: economic sanctions, sectorial restrictions, strategic branches, investment links, foreign capital.

We outline three main shortcomings of current monetary policy in Russia for 2014. First, monetary policy is too strict: we estimate output gap over –3% potential GDP, and rule-based key rate is 6,25%. Second, Bank of Russia in 2014 clearly ignores its second goal of promoting stable and developing financial system. Third, today economic agents lack for clear expectations of monetary policy rules, and it is Bank of Russia’s duty to help forming these expectations — both through public commitments and independent monetary policy review.

JEL: F31, F40, E22, E23, L52.
Keywords: import substitution industrialization, dependency on imports, industry growth.

The article considers reasons and possibilities for import substitution as the key element for future development of Russian energy and military-industrial complexes. It contains brief literature review and describes possible consequences of sanctions for import substitution.

JEL: О14.
Keywords: oil, gas, armament, export, import, innovations, sanctions, import substitution, prices, quality.

Problems of transformation of modern Russian statistics in future historical statistics about our time are considered. Existence of serious obstacles on the way of this transformation is noted, their reasons are analyzed. Requirements to that part of historical statistics about our time which data are used for the analysis of economic dynamics are discussed. Measures for the situation improvement are offered, estimated consequences of their implementation or failure are analyzed.

JEL: C43, C82.
Keywords: economy in transition, economic statistics, historical statistics, index number, time series.

The article emphasizes the fact that traditional socio-economic indicators do not reflect the challenges of sustainable development adequately, and this is particularly true for the widely-used GDP indicator. In this connection the elaboration of sustainable development indicators is needed, taking into account economic, social and environmental factors. For Russia, adaptation and use of concepts and basic principles of calculation methods for adjusted net savings index (World Bank) and human development index (UNDP) as integral indicators can be promising. The authors have developed the sustainable development index for Russia, which aggregates and allows taking into account balanced economic, social and environmental indicators.

JEL: E200, O150, Q320.
Keywords: sustainable development, sustainable development index, indicators.