• OECD Economic Survey of the Russian Federation, 2009
• E. Vasilieva, A. Ponomarenko, A. Porshakov — Short-term Interest Rates and the State of Liquidity in the Russian Money Market under Conditions of the Global Financial Crisis

• Yu. Ivanov — Non-observed Economy in the CIS Countries

• V. Sokolov — The Disintegration of the British Empire as a Restructuring of the Geoeconomic System (1947—1972)
• K. Krinichansky — The Genesis of Bill of Credit: A Functional Aspect
• Yu. Golubitsky — Small Industry, Gimmicks and Moscow Statistics, or How the Small Russian Enterprise Came into the World (Russian Physiological Sketch, 1830—1840)

• G. Kleiner — From Dawn till Bloom (On the Book «Light and Color in Economy and Society »)
• L. Yakobson — Ambitious Books (On the Books by R. S. Grinberg and A. Ya. Rubinstein)

• I. Dezhina, S. Yegerev — Training of Research Staff for Russian Science

• Naryshkin S. E. Attracting Foreign Investments. Economic Strategy and Development of Russia's Regions

• Kosygin's Reforms: Unlearnt Lesson of History

Abstracts

The article written by the well-known theorists and historians of economic thought contains a detailed overview of the Cambridge capital controversy, which had raged from the mid-1950-s through the mid-1970-s. The authors track the origins of the controversy and cover arguments of both sides in chronological order. From their point of view, the discussion hasn’t been resolved, and its main underlying aspects were ideological beliefs and fundamental methodological controversies on the nature of equilibrium and on the role of time in economic theory. The article is published with comments written by other leading theoreticians.

Basing on recent works by P. Krugman, the Nobel Prize winner in economics, the article considers the trends in the distribution of private incomes and factors of their formation. The key role is attributed to tax policy in governing macroeconomic processes through its influence on the distribution and final use of incomes. The occurrence of deep recessions in the U.S. economy as well as the success in overcoming acute problems in economic development depend to a great extent on the direction of tax policy.

The article critically examines the "new comparative economics" paradigm and its underlying model of the "institutional possibilities frontier" as an instrument of comparative efficiency analysis of economic systems. The model suggests a social costs minimization trade-off between economic disorder and dictatorship. But the alternative approach — that of the "new traditional economics" — is shown to be more adequate and promising. New traditional economics deals with the evolutionary analysis of institutions in the context of historical development of economic and non-economic norms and values.

This regular Economic Survey of the Russian Federation analyzes the reasons of the strong growth of its economy in the 2000-s as well as negative consequences of the current global crisis. The policy reaction to date aimed at overcoming its influence is considered, proposals for improvement of the adopted measures and transition to a more stable model of economic growth are formulated. The contribution of fiscal and monetary policy in maintaining macroeconomic stability is noted. Special accent is made on the necessity of liberalization of Russia’s product market regulation.

During recent years the Russian money market has undergone substantial changes. The period of abundant liquidity was followed by temporary contraction in the end of 2007 and then by rapid deterioration of liquidity conditions in the second half of 2008. This paper provides the analysis of these developments, their causes and consequences. We then proceed by constructing a comprehensive model of the overnight rate on rubles on the Moscow interbank market (MIACR). We use martingale hypothesis to analyze the process of market interest rate determination and identify the liquidity effect. For this purpose we estimate the non-linear EGARCH model and calculate the contribution of different categories of explanatory variables to the interest rates dynamics and volatility. We find that, although volatile, the deviation of interbank overnight rate from BoR’s policy rates can largely be explained by liquidity shocks. At the same we find the empirical confirmation of importance of exchange rate and foreign interest rates variables.

The article contains a review of underlying concepts and definitions of non-observed economy which are formulated in the international standards on this topic and used by the CIS countries for computation of GDP and other key indicators of the System of National Accounts. The article considers the methods used for measuring non-observed economy and some figures on the share of non-observed economy in GDP of the CIS countries and other selected countries of the world. Perfection of methods of measuring non-observed economy and raising reliability of its estimates requires improvement of general level of work on compilation of national accounts.

The article considers Great Britain as a "country-system" which organizes global economic structures. The article shows how the United Kingdom was gradually losing its exclusive position in the world trade. The high growth rates in the countries of continental Europe enhanced their attractiveness as trading partners and eventually caused Britain’s reorientation from preferential links with the countries of the Commonwealth to the European economic integration. The article criticizes widespread opinion that the refusal from colonialism and imperial ambitions was the consequence of developing free trade. Using the heritage of the Empire the United Kingdom ensured more favorable position in the world economy than it could get according to the competitiveness of the mother country.

The paper considers the evolution of the bill of credit institution and changes of its functions. It is emphasized that bill of credit acquires the features of a formal abstract agreement and a turnaround document. It is shown that bill-of-credit-like institutions have a complicated path of development that includes important transformations. The latter facilitate the rise of these institutions’ functionality, the change in the composition of their functions, adaptation to the needs of economic agents. The transformation of bill of credit has led to lowering transaction costs of market interactions.

The article considers business practices of Moscow small industry in the XIX century, basing upon physiological sketches of N. Polevoy and I. Kokorev, statistical data and the classification of professions are also presented. The author claims that the heroes of the analyzed sketches are the forefathers of Moscow small businesses and shows what a deep similarity their occupations and a way of life bear to the present-day routine existence of small enterprises.