The phenomenon of economic growth is studied by economists and statisticians in various aspects for a long time. Economic theory is devoted to assessing factors of growth in the tradition of R. Solow, R. Barrow, W. Easterly and others. During the last quarter of the century, however, the institutionalists, namely D. North, D. Wallis, B. Weingast as well as D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson, have shown the complexity of the problem of development on the part of socioeconomic and political institutions. As a result, solving the problem of how economic growth affects inequality between countries has proved extremely difficult. The modern world is very diverse in terms of development level, and the article offers a new approach to the formation of the idea of stylized facts using cluster analysis. The existing statistics allows to estimate on a unified basis the level of GDP production by 174 countries of the world for 1992—2016. The article presents a structured picture of the world: the distribution of countries in seven clusters, different in levels of development. During the period under review, there was a strong per capita GDP growth in PPP in the middle of the distribution, poverty in various countries declined markedly. At the same time, in 1992—2016, the difference increased not only between rich and poor groups of countries, but also between clusters.

JEL: A14, B10, D11, D33, F02.
Keywords: inequality, economic growth, post-industrial development, clusters.

The authors have analyzed trends of ever-growing inequality in the distribution of income and wealth in major national and world economies over the last 40 years. The prospects of further increase in the unequal distribution of national incomes are fraught with far-reaching social, political and economic upheavals. The prospects of this kind are highly possible because of the trend to decrease the rates of income taxes (coerced by global competition) that leads to unequal national income distribution. The authors elaborate patterns of possible changes in fiscal policy that could serve for better quality of life for all strata of the population despite unequal distribution of national incomes.

JEL: D31, D33, E62, H23, H42, O38, O40.
Keywords: income distribution, wealth distribution, advanced economies, developing economies, USA, China, India, Russia, fiscal policy.

Aside from the United Kingdom, which is withdrawing from the European Union, only Denmark has the option of staying outside the single European currency area. All other member states which have not adopted euro as their currency have the right and obligations to do so under the Treaty of Accession. The condition to join the Eurozone is to meet all five nominal Maastricht convergence criteria and to ensure compliance of national legislation with acquis communautaire, or the EU legal order. What poses special difficulties to candidate countries is the fiscal criterion relating to the maximum allowed budget deficit. If it’s not met, the European Commission launches the Excessive Deficit Procedure, EDP. Currently, this procedure is in place for France, Spain and the United Kingdom. In 2015, EDP for Poland was lifted, but there is no certainty it won’t be imposed again at the end of the decade due to the risk of exceeding once more the threshold of public sector deficit, which stands at 3 percent GDP. It is to be expected that in the 2020s the European Monetary Union will be joined by all the countries that are still using their national currencies, including Denmark, and that the EU will be extended to include new member states, enlarging the euro area, too. Although the issue is not absolutely certain, it needs to be assumed that euro will overcome the present difficulties and come out stronger, though the economically unjustified euroskepticism of some countries, especially Poland, is not helping.

JEL: E44, E63, F02, F45, G01, G18, P34, P52.
Keywords: integration, euro, convergence, Maastricht criteria, excessive deficit procedure, public debt.

China needs to facilitate a structural transformation of its economy to avoid middle-income trap. This article explores historical experience of countries similar to China by economic development, that have gone through structural transformation, and studies possible options for China. Cases of Germany and Japan of the second half of 20th century prove that China has good chances to avoid middle-income trap driven by total factor productivity and human capital growth. China may fall in a middle-income trap should the financial stability be undermined given highly leveraged economy.

JEL: E60, O57.
Keywords: structural transformation of economy, middle-income trap, economic growth, China.

The Shifting Mode of Reproduction (SMR) model is used as a tool for analyzing some of the dynamic processes inherent in the USA in 1947—2010, the USSR in 1961—1990, and modern Russia in 1992—2016. In particular, the model has not only recorded a well-known fact of increasing inefficiency of fixed assets in the USSR, but also helped establish the main causes of this phenomenon. The model has been confirmed both by the fact of surplus savings growth at the hands of the population in the last years of the existence of the USSR, and the fact of the collapse of these savings in Russia in 1992—1994. Finally, using the SMR model it is shown that despite serious difficulties in 2009—2015 the process of increasing the share of young fixed capital in the Russian economy has been identified, which indicates the beginning of qualitative changes in its structure.

JEL: B12, B31, C32, E21, E22, E23, E50.
Keywords: shifting mode of reproduction model, SMR-model, fixed capital, money circulation, inflation.

We study TFP growth in Russia in 2009—2015 using firm-level data. Our results reveal that the productivity gap between technology leaders and lagging firms accumulated over the observed period. Technology diffusion from leaders to less efficient firms in Russia stays rather limited resulting in relatively low average TFP growth. The market share of less efficient firms shrinks over time but they do not exit the market. As a result, scarce recourses stay locked in inefficient production.

JEL: D22, D24, O33.
Keywords: TFP growth, translog production function, productivity gap, technology diffusion.

The paper considers the relationship between the format of R&D activity (public or private) and the choice of strategy for innovative development in technology-intensive industries. The analysis is exemplified with the case of research on controlled nuclear fusion. Public and private strategies are shown to face different kinds of risks: public R&D suffers from low managerial efficiency and poor commercialization; private R&D focuses on research projects facing greater uncertainties and therefore larger risks, but in the event of success they lead to more cost-efficient technologies which are easier to commercialize.

JEL: N70, O13, Q48.
Keyworlds: nuclear fusion, energy sector, innovation, public-private partnership.

The article analyzes the current state and level of development of public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the subjects of the Russian Federation. The authors conclude that a significant proportion of projects is implemented on a concession basis at the municipal level in the communal sphere. A detailed analysis of the project data showed that the structure of the projects is deformed in favor of the central regions of the Russian Federation, and a significant share in the total amount of financing falls on the transport sector. At the stage of assessing the level of development by the subjects of the Russian Federation, criteria were proposed, and index and integral indicators were used, which ensured comparability of the estimates obtained. At the end of the analysis, the regions were ranked and clustered according to the level of PPP development, which allowed to reveal the number and structure of leaders and outsiders.

JEL: H54, H72, L33, L92, L93, L94, L95, L96, L97, R38.
Keyworlds: estimation, project, infrastructure, transport, public-private partnership, investment.

The paper analyzes the initial economic positions of the PRC and its specific measures for increasing economic influence in the countries participating in the 21^st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR-21). It demonstrates that 13 years before the initiative was announced China had already done a lot of work to increase its economic presence in the countries along the route of MSR-21. In fact, the main goals of MSR-21 are the further strengthening of China’s position and consolidation of its role as the driver of economic development in the countries along the route.

JEL: F15, F21, F22, F23.
Keyworlds: China, 21^st Century Maritime Silk Road, foreign investment, Chinese diaspora.

The paper reviews ex post studies on the economic and social effects of sports mega events. The aim of the article is to sum up the existing economic literature about sports mega events and to emphasize the importance of sports economics development. The main results are the classification of the material and non-material sports mega event’s effects outlined in the economic papers and the exposure of sports economics development trends.

JEL: Z20.
Keyworlds: sports mega events, economic efficiency, intangible effect, ex post analysis.