• M. Lokshin — Does Poverty Research in Russia Follow the Scientific Method?
• G. Kleiner — To the Dispute about the Method: Poverty Research or Poverty of Research? (On the Paper by M. Lokshin "Does Poverty Research in Russia Follow the Scientific Method?")

• S. Ryazantsev — Labor Migration in Russia under Conditions of Integration in the Eurasian Economic Community
• E. Serova, Z. Lerman, D. Zvyagintsev — Diversification of Rural Families Income and Alternative Employment: The Results of Survey
• A. Apokin, M. Yudkevich — Analysis of Student Employment in the Context of Russian Labor Market
• I. Koulkova — Looking for a Job as a Constituent of Labor Behavior (Based on the Results of the Survey Conducted in the UFD)

• Yu. Yakutin — A. K. Storch — the First Russian Academician in the Field of Political Economy and Statistics
• T. Kouznetsova — The Return of Scientific Heritage: Socio-Economic Thought of Russian Emigration
• M. Voeikov — The Logic of G. Ya. Sokolnikov’s Economic Views (To the 120th Birth Anniversary)

• Social Inequality and Public Policy / Editorial Board: Medvedev V. A. (executive Editor), Gorshkov M. K., Krasin Yu. A.

Abstracts

The last decades witnessed the increasing importance of econometric methods and empirical research in economics. The success of the empirical turn in economics depends on the formats and problems of communication between theory and empirics. The paper considers potential difficulties in communication "from the theory to empirical research" and "from empirical research to theory". It analyzes the role of informal consensus as an instrument facilitating such communication and potential impact of this consensus on the direction of research.

The author considers modern economic theory from the point of view of crisis phenomena inherent to it. He recapitulates various aspects and positions of different authors and concludes that there is obvious presence of crisis tendencies in different fields of economic research. Nevertheless it is not worth talking about the crisis as there is no real alternative to neoclassical mainstream economics. Basing upon the detailed analysis of the state of modern economic science the article classifies its major schools and currents putting emphasis on the philosophical, political and ideological orientation of their main representatives.

This paper presents the first critical review of literature on poverty published in Russia between 1992 and 2006. Using a dataset of about 250 publications in Russian scientific journals we assess whether the poverty research in Russia satisfies the general criteria of a scientific publication and if such studies could provide reliable guidance to the Russian government as it maps out its anti-poverty policies. Our findings indicate that only a small portion of papers on poverty published in Russia in 1992—2006 follow the universally-recognized principles of the scientific method. The utility of policy advice based on such research is questionable. We also suggest certain steps that could, in our view, improve the quality of poverty research in Russia.

The paper prepared in connection with the publication of the article by M. Lokshin discusses some central issues of the methodology, technique and interpretation of results of economic research. Structuring the corpus of studies is offered depending on the degree of using empirical, phenomenological and theoretical knowledge of the investigated phenomenon. On the basis of the analysis of typical processes of modeling socio-economic phenomena the conclusion is made about the significant influence of subjective and tool assumptions on the results of modeling that complicates their simple interpretation. The necessity of publishing the full spectrum of scientific articles — from critical reviews and essays to empirical calculations — in each field of research including poverty studies is grounded.

The article analyzes tendencies and consequences of labor migration in Russia and the Eurasian Economic Community Member-States; estimations of the number of official and illegal labor migrants are given. The problems which employers meet while trying to register labor migrants in Russia are considered. Issues of state regulation of labor migration in Eurasian Economic Community Member-States and Russia are outlined.

The results of a rural survey in two Russian regions demonstrate that agriculture is no longer the main source of income for rural families. They are diversifiers, earning non-agricultural income through both non-agricultural wage employment and non-farm self-employment. The rural population is risk-averse, preferring relative security of wage employment to individual entrepreneurship. Although all respondents would like to earn more, they are reluctant to consider the option of changing their place of work and are afraid of losing their current job. It may be difficult for new profit-oriented employers to offer equitable solutions to all segments of the rural population without properly designed government support programs which furthermore should be targeted at the labor force of the future, i.e., the Russian youth.

The paper provides an explanation for widespread student employment in Russia. The main difference between Russia and Western countries is considered to be the following: student employment during the period of studying is widely used as a signal about the quality of human capital for the future employer. The authors show that in Russia more productive students start working earlier and employment is more often connected with the future profession than in the Western countries. They suggest that the system of communication between education structures and employers should be established in order to inform the latter about the quality and features of education acquired.

The article presents the results of socio-economic study which considers the problems of labor behavior of persons, who are looking for jobs, conducted in the Ural Federal District. They include not only the unemployed, but also other categories of the population. The use of various ways of looking for a job depending on socio-demographic characteristics of subjects of labor behavior is studied. The reasons and efficiency of their use are revealed.

The article analyzes the views of one of the first prominent Russian economists of the 19th century, the author of the influential book on political economy — A. K. Storch. The scientist’s intellectual biography and his major contributions in the context of his epoch and contemporary theory are described. The author proves some of Storch’s theoretical and practical ideas to be relevant today.

The article presents the analysis of works by three prominent representatives of Russian social thought, who had to leave the country in the beginning of the Soviet era and kept working abroad — A. D. Bilimovich, S. S. Maslov and N. S. Timasheff. The author shows that despite the lack of information they managed to work fruitfully in such fields as economic theory, applied economic analysis (especially in agricultural issues) and sociology. The ideas of these scientists concerning ways of Russia’s historical development, Soviet economic policy etc. are of vital importance till nowadays.

The article is devoted to the scientific legacy of well-known Soviet economist and politician G. Ya. Sokolnikov, an architect of the Soviet financial reform of 1922—1924. His theoretical position is analyzed not only with respect to optimal budget and monetary policy, but also regarding his opinion on the problems of foreign trade, tax reform etc. The author shows that Sokolnikov’s economic views were both original and fruitful.