• A. Yudanov — Fast Growing Firms ("Gazelles") and the Evolution of Russian Economy
• S. Luk’yanov, N. Kislyak — Barriers to Entry as the Most Significant Instrument of the Anti-competitive Policy
• V. Mints — On Factors of Housing Prices Dynamics

• G. Popov — Marxist Approach versus Marxist Concepts (G. Plekhanov’s "Political Testament")
• N. Rogalina — Industrialization as a National Economy Problem (On the Issue of the Initial Level of Soviet Industrial Modernization)
• R. Bekkin — The Loan Interest in the Context of Religious and Ethical Economic Systems in the Past and in the Present

Abstracts

The paper deals with trends in Russian economic policy in 2006—2007, the period of transition from "reconstructive growth" (export and demand driven growth) to investment driven growth. Industrial policy, public-private partnership, and "institutes of development", financial policy and prospects of Stabilization fund are in the centre of the analysis. Among political issues the paper discusses risks and forms of populism in the elections year as well as economic dimension of the dabate on "sovereign democracy".

The paper analyzes the problems of macroeconomic policy in Russia in 2000–2006. The authors estimate the trends of realization of monetary, credit, currency and budgetary policy under favorable and unfavorable external economic conditions. Different variants of government and central bank reaction to the oil prices conservation or decline are considered. Different scenarios of macroeconomic policy realization in 2007–2011 are modeled. The results of the computation are presented.

While early macroeconomists were engineers trying to solve practical problems, modern macroeconomists have focused on developing mathematic tools and establishing models. These analytic instruments, however, have been slow to find their way into practical applications. This paper reviews the influence of modern macroeconomics on realities of monetary policy. The author concludes that the effect of formalization of macroeconomic theory on central banking is close to zero.

Institutional approach to solving the problem of social justice in economic relations is formulated, including its presentation as social and economic institution. Specific features of transplantation of the said institution norms in the Russian economy are shown, the designing institutional model as a tool of promoting social justice in economic relations is offered, basic elements of the institutional mechanism of its assurance are determined.

The author considers the peculiar properties of copyright as an object of economic analysis and outlines its history in the USA. The article also addresses the problem of the optimal term of copyright from the point of view of social welfare. Simple models of price-setting on the market for information goods are analyzed.

The article is based on the empirical study of fast growing firms ("Gazelles") in Russia. Sales volumes of many such firms are growing in accordance with the precise exponential trend with surprisingly high quality of approximation. The author finds strong links between this phenomenon and the concentration of most of "Gazelles" in market niches where demand limitations are practically non-existent. Conscious, purposeful entrepreneurial search of free niches becomes under described conditions an important addition to the classic mechanism of evolution of the economy through the natural selection of random changes. The author’s approach to these processes is based on a modification of the well known Lotka-Volterra model.

The authors distinguish different kinds of the barriers to entry, describe their specific features and various theoretical approaches to its analysis. As an example of the barriers to entry research the authors present the results of the empirical study of the public catering industry in the Urals region of Russia they carried out in 2006. Also the methodology of further empirical research of the anti-competitive policy on Russian markets is suggested.

The article analyzes the mechanisms, which influence housing prices dynamics in Russia. The relations between the national mortgage system and peculiarities of housing development procedures on the one hand and demand for investment in housing on the other hand are studied.

In his "Testament" G. Plekhanov basing on the Marxist methodology came to the conclusion that capitalism was inevitable in Russia and that Russia as well as the rest of the world was not ready for socialism. Reflecting on possible prospects of Soviet Power, he demonstrated assurance in its collapse in the short- or long-term period. His ideas about the key role of intelligentsia in social development sound very urgent now.

The article considers the initial level of Soviet industrial modernization in connection with the analysis of outcomes of the reconstruction period. It estimates institutional conditions in the beginning of national economy’s reconstruction and makes comparisons with the pre-revolutionary situation. The industrialization of the 1920-s is examined in two aspects: primary formation of industry in comparison with agriculture and priority development of heavy industry with respect to light industry. The author concludes that existing historical conditions, decision-making mechanism, practice of irrational and costly economy made the basis for future contradictions, accumulating pre-requisites for state-running of the economy and central planning of the first five-year plan.

The article describes historical peculiarities in the attitude towards dealing with interest in various economic systems, where economic actors followed religious and ethical guidance when making decisions. The author focuses on the Islamic economic model as one of the most successful attempts to establish an alternative to the interest-bearing system of borrowing.