• A. Shastitko — Economics of Leniency Program
• A. Kireev — Raiders Activity on the Market for Corporate Control as a Product of Coercive Entrepreneurship Evolution

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• S. Zhukov, O. Reznikova — Economic Interactions in the Post-Soviet Space

• I. Bashmakov — Russian Energy Sector: Inertia Strategy or Efficiency Strategy?
• D. Ramazanov — Organizational and Economic Problems of Enhanced Oil Recovery in Russian Fields

• L. Grebnev — On the Subject Matter of Economic Science, or Where Should We Begin while Teaching Economics?

• Series «The Anthology of Economic Throught»
• Libman A. M., Kheifets B. A. Russian Capital Expansion to the CIS Countries
• Lavrovsky B. L. Economic Growth and Regional Asymmetry (Empirical Analysis)

Abstracts

The author claims that an institution is any collectively accepted system of rules (procedures, practices) that enable us to create institutional facts. These rules typically have the form of X counts as Y in C, where an object, person, or state of affairs X is assigned a special status, the Y status, such that the new status enables the person or object to perform functions that it could not perform solely in virtue of its physical structure, but requires as a necessary condition the assignment of the status. The creation of an institutional fact is, thus, the collective assignment of a status function. The typical point of the creation of institutional facts by assigning status functions is to create deontic powers. So typically when we assign a status function Y to some object or person X we have created a situation in which we accept that a person S who stands in the appropriate relation to X is such that (S has power (S does A)). The whole analysis then gives us a systematic set of relationships between collective intentionality, the assignment of function, the assignment of status functions, constitutive rules, institutional facts, and deontic powers.

A primary aim of this paper is to establish some workable meanings of key terms of institutional theory including institution, convention and organization, by drawing on insights from several academic disciplines. Institutions are defined broadly as systems of established and prevalent social rules that structure social interactions. This, in turn, prompts some examination of the concept of a rule, and why rules are followed. The author discusses some general issues concerning how institutions function and how they interact with individual agents, their habits, and their beliefs. The paper also addresses the controversial distinction between institutions and organizations. D. North’s influential formulations of these terms are criticized for being incomplete and misleading. The author examines this distinction and what may be meant by the term formal when applied to institutions or rules. Here an organization is treated as a type of institution involving membership and sovereignty. Further types of institution are also considered, including the difference between self-organizing and other institutions. The article identifies an excessive bias in the discussion of institutions toward those of the self-organizing type, showing theoretically that these are a special case. The author argues that institutions also differ with regard to their degree of sensitivity to changes in the personalities of the agents involved.

On the basis of contemporary results of the philosophy of science the author renews the debate on methods (Methodenstreit). The current dominant conception of «scientific» stems from classical natural science. New Institutional Economics has been trapped in the classical paradigm by imitating not even contemporary natural science but that existing one hundred years before which studied simple systems. Practically-oriented first institutionalists in Germany and in the USA who dealt with complex socio-economic systems properly found out the interpretative approach appropriate for this kind of systems. This approach has recently received an increased development. The author uses these results for renovating the vision of the subject matter and the method of institutional economics.

The article is devoted to explaining economic background as well as evaluation of opportunities, risks and expected results for leniency program within the context of Russian antimonopoly law changes. It describes the main idea of the said program, the set of questions to be resolved in the process of designing and implementing the program of reducing punishment of cartel participants in exchange for cooperation with antimonopoly bodies.

The paper studies the problem of raiders activity on the market for corporate control. This activity is considered as a product of coercive entrepreneurship evolution. Their similarities and sharp distinctions are shown. The article presents the classification of raiders activity, discribes its basic characteristics and tendencies, defines the role of government in the process of its transformation.

The article discusses key problems of economic interactions within the post-Soviet space. It examines the objective foundations and limitations of economic cooperation among post-Soviet economies, dynamics of mutual trade flows and patterns of foreign direct investments. Special attention is paid to such phenomena as trans-border migration and unregistered trade.

The paper presents a vision of Russian energy future before 2020. The scenario approach is required to identify potential energy supply and demand future trajectories for Russia facing uncertainties of both global energy system evolution and domestic demographic and economic development in 2007—2020. It allows for assessing energy demand by sectors under different investment, technological and energy pricing policies favoring the least cost balancing of energy supply options and energy efficiency improvements to sustain dynamic economic growth. The given approach provides grounds for evaluation of different energy policies effectiveness. Three scenarios — «Inertia Strategy», «Energy Centrism», and «Efficiency Strategy — Four I» — integral-innovative-intellectual-individual oriented energy systems — are considered in the paper. It shows that ignorance of the last scenario escalates either energy shortages in the country or Russian economy overloading with energy supply investments both preventing from sustaining rates of economic growth which have recently been demonstrated by Russia.

Modern conditions and problems of development of the oil-production industry in Russia are considered in article. It is shown that the present structure of oil resources will not provide oil production according to estimates of the Energy Strategy to 2020. The program of increasing hydrocarbon exploration for oil fields and provinces accepted by the Ministry of Natural Resources of RF due to inefficient state regulation is lagging behind the schedule. We suggest that the federal program on introduction of modern enhanced oil recovery methods providing both the growth of oil production in the nearest 5—15 years and more efficient use of oil resources through increase of oil extraction ratio be accepted as an alternative strategy of development of oil production. The US experience of effective resources using and its applicability for the Russian oil-production industry are also considered in the article.

The author analyzes some descriptions of the subject matter of economics as a science and a «discipline» (a «subject» or a «course») which are widespread in the western textbooks. The article stresses the connection between those descriptions and spheres of their authors’ scientific activities. The views on the subject matter of economic science are shown to be inconsistent both with real human’s life and with the basic notion of goods introduced by C. Menger. The author suggests that the economics course should begin with the description of the marginal aims of economic activity which are the subsistence of life and the increase in welfare.