• A. Rubinstein — A Theory of Patronized Goods: Inefficient and Efficient Equilibria
• A. Shastitko — Rule of Law Economics: The Cost of Guarantors Services and Enforcement Errors

• V. Radaev — How the New Rules of Exchange on Markets Are Justified
• B. Lapidus, D. Macheret — Macroeconomic Aspect of the Evolution of Railway Transport
• On the Measures of Sectors' Support in the Post-crisis Period (An Interview with V. A. Zubkov)

• V. Bauer — Economics of Long Kondratiev Cycle (On the Book by L. P. Evstigneeva and R. N. Evstigneev «Economy as a Synergetic System»)

Abstracts

The article considers factors of crisis development of the Russian economy. It is stated that the stage of rapid recovery of the world economy after the crisis has come to an end. Still many countries face signs of overheating. In order to modernize the Russian economy needs better investment climate, developed innovation sector, less support of inefficient enterprises. It is important to improve the quality of state institutions, raise the efficiency of government spending, and limit the role of the state in the economy.

Discussions on Russia’s modernization paths specify that conservation of existing institutions along with the raw materials export-based model of development cannot sustain high economic growth rates. The article spells out this statement by expanding the analysis horizon to 2050. The model runs demonstrate that modernization failure in the 2010’s may stipulate the loss by Russia’s economy of the ability to expand or even transition to the shagreen-leather-like economy (a model of constantly declining GDP accompanied by reduced oil production) in the 2030’s or 2040’s. The analysis shows that without effective modernization aimed at enhancing productivity of all production factors there will be no economic growth in Russia in the middle of the XXI century.

The paper treats the problems of correlation among inflation, increase in government spending and increase in money supply (M2). It is shown that there is no correlation for 13 out of 14 investigated countries including Russia. The paper proves that the type of inflation in Russia is cost-push inflation. Its main sources are monopolistic surplus for raw materials and energy being included in prices as well as prices for the products of natural federal and regional monopolies.

Basing on the analysis of the system of threshold levels of Russia’s economic security the author presents the mechanism of modernization of financial sphere, its main ingredients: strategic planning, sovereign funds, Pension fund, federal budget, depreciation charges, monetary instruments. The state should form a general plan of modernization, work out its philosophy, stages of the process and on this basis develop the strategy of modernization of economy for 10—15 years.

The article considers some aspects of the patronized goods theory with respect to efficient and inefficient equilibria. The author analyzes specific features of patronized goods as well as their connection with market failures, and conjectures that they are related to the emergence of Pareto-inefficient Nash equilibria. The key problem is the analysis of the opportunities for transforming inefficient Nash equilibrium into Pareto-optimal Nash equilibrium for patronized goods by modifying the institutional environment. The paper analyzes social motivation for institutional modernization and equilibrium conditions in the generalized Wicksell—Lindahl model for patronized goods. The author also considers some applications of patronized goods theory to social policy issues.

The article shows the importance of respecting the Rule of Law for organization of economic exchanges in terms of the New Institutional Economics (NIE). A brief overview of traditions in the study of the Rule of Law as a phenomenon is presented, including the approach to the study of this principle within the NIE. The costs of rights guarantying and redress as well as types I and II errors regarding rules enforcement are demonstrated. The illustration of types I and II errors problems within the context of the Rule of Law principle implementation in the area of Russian antimonopoly legislation is proposed.

Continuous relational conflicts between market sellers in Russian consumer markets are derived not only from redistribution of value added in the supply chain but also from a lack of legitimacy faced by the new rules of exchange. The paper explains the economic meaning of slotting allowances and other additional contract requirements as viewed by market sellers. A major source of data comes from a series of in-depth interview with retail managers and their suppliers.

The paper analyzes historical evolution of railway transport and its impact on economic development. The authors deal with the relation between railway building and economic growth. These effects are considered for various countries. The authors also characterize the current state of the industry and suggest economic criteria for innovative solutions in the field.