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2020, Issue 2 (46). Abstracts
Shapley’s value and its axiomatization in games with prior probabilities of coalition formation A new, generalized model of a cooperative game with transferable utility (TP game) is introduced and studied, in which, in addition to the characteristic function, two additional functions are used: relations between players and the probability of coalition formation, which reflect the main features of the interaction of people in specific groups. Various properties of the probability function are studied, and it is proved which of them are sufficient for its transformation into a probability measure. The generalized Shapley vector is defined for a new class of games as the mathematical expectation of a player from his marginal contribution to coalitions. Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for the generalized Shapley vector to completely coincide with the classical one introduced by Shapley himself. An axiomatization of value functions on a new class of games is proposed, which is also an extension of existing axioms in original TP games. It is proved that the (generalized) Shapley vector and only it corresponds to the introduced axioms. Key words: TU game, Shapley’s value, axiomatics, probability of coalition formation
How we perceive our place in income distribution and how the perceptions deviate from reality We explore how individuals perceive their location in the income distribution and how these perceptions correspond to estimates provided by objective statistical data. Then we try to explain the deviations paying a special attention to past experience of income mobility, individuals may have, and to such psychological traits as feelings of optimism / pessimism. In our search for answers we use RLMS-HSE data for, 2016. In this round of the survey, respondents were asked to assign themselves to an income decile they belonged. We compare this self-estimate with the actual decile to which the household belongs given its income statistically measured. As some previous studies, we find systematic biases in perceptions. Individuals tend to put themselves in the middle of the distribution and perceive themselves relatively poorer as they in fact are. Our analysis suggests that the subjective place in the distribution depends neither on actual income level, nor its dynamics. General optimism in life and the perception that there have been positive changes in their life, tend to rise the subjective decile. Key words: income distribution, perceptions, inequality
The importance of a strategic approach to pricing in markets for network goods The paper is dedicated to dynamic pricing strategy in duopoly markets for network goods. Duopoly members are regarded as strategy-oriented agents that are willing to sacrifice their current income for the increase in the total outcome (net present value). The results of the study prove that in duopoly markets for network goods there exist equilibrium dynamic pricing strategies that have the following features: a) both suppliers get the largest possible total net present value; b) if one of the suppliers pursues the equilibrium strategy while the other one does not, the later makes losses compared to the income provided by the equilibrium strategy. The strategy of moderately high comparable prices is considered to be the most advantageous one since it allows to reach the critical mass of users rather quickly as well as to bring similar gains to both players. If duopoly members pursue pricing strategies that are different from each other, their current results also differ. But when the loser at an intermediate stage tries to adopt the pricing strategy of the competitor, this can lead him to new losses. Such consequences prove the importance of a strategic approach to pricing in markets for network goods. Key words: network goods, duopoly, dynamic pricing, dynamic equilibrium, price competition
E.A. Fedorova, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia Impact of non-financial information on key financial indicators of Russian companies This study examines the relation between non-financial information and companies’ financial results, especially stock returns and weighted average cost of capital (WACC) in the Russian Federation. It selected a sample as a source of nonfinancial information containing Annual reports, Sustainable development reports, ESG reports (environmental, social, governance) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reports of public firms listed in the Russian stock market (MOEX) from 2010 to 2018. To evaluate the role of information disclosure there were applied Bloomberg ESG disclosure indexes. The methodology of text analysis was based on latent semantic analysis (LSA) technique. Latent semantic analysis is a method of textual associative patterns recognition and themes of text formalization with rich mathematical background. Besides, we applied classical text mining procedure — bag of words with corporate social performance dictionary. The results demonstrate both significant influence of some themes or information disclosure importance for stakeholders and independent market agents. Firstly, this study serves top-management purposes and expands understanding of non-financial information influence. Second, the results may be used by external agents to detect the core idea vanishing in text massive. Key words: latent semantic analysis, nonfinancial information, ESG, Global Reporting Initiative, corporate social responsibility, text mining
T.V. Abankina, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia Economic potential of the sphere of culture and leisure in Russia and the OECD countries This article analyzes the evolution of theoretical approaches to the role of leisure in transition to innovative economy. Assessment of the economic potential of cultural and leisure sectors is based on a comparative analysis of household demand for recreational and cultural activities, government support measures to the cultural sector, and the creative industries development in Russia, including the export-import balance. The results of the study reveal a significant gap between a high effective demand from families with new requirements for modern cultural environment and the financial state support, providing advanced development of culture and tourism in Russia, stimulating demand in the creative sector, and the development of citizens’ creative potential. Hence, this gap leads to the supply-demand imbalances, increasing outbound tourism, and a sharp interregional disparity in the creative potential development. Underdeveloped sector of creative industries and limited opportunities for creative self-expression reduce the market capacity of culture and leisure supply, and result in a negative trade balance in creative industries, and outflow of qualified youth to foreign countries. Key words: culture and leisure sectors, experience economy, household expenditures, cultural economy, creative industries, human capital
A.E. Varshavsky, Central Economics and Mathematics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Analysis of income inequality impact on the musical art The consequences of the income inequality growth caused by changes in the tax and financial systems for the musical art are considered. It is shown that the growth of inequality has a negative effect on the development of musical culture. This effect leads to a reduction of state support, rising ticket prices, reduced attendance of concerts and performances both in the most developed countries and in Russia, with an additional impact of the development of the music industry under conditions of technological progress. The main attention is given to the analysis of the situation in Russia after transition to market system that caused a significant increase in income inequality, including problems of reduced government funding, decreasing availability of musical concerts and performances, the ticket prices growth and reduction in the number of listeners of the philharmonic concerts, the decline of the musician profession prestige, the departure of musicians from the country, difficulties of acquisition of fixed assets for concert organizations, and in general, the risk of the population cultural level reduction. The main conclusions are: the necessity of decreasing income inequality of the population and strengthening state support for music in Russia. Key words: income inequality, music, musical art
M.B. Bakeev, Centre for the History and Methodology of Economic Science Studies, NRU HSE, Moscow, Russia Institutional and cultural research directions in development economics: Assumptions on agent motivation as a source of disagreement In this paper we address the methodological discrepancies that exist between institutional and cultural approaches in modern literature devoted to the study of reasons for economic development in the long historical perspective. We analyze in detail and compare the ontological assumptions of the theories of key representatives of the institutional (D. Acemoglu, J. Robinson and D. North) and cultural research directions (J. Mokyr, D. McCloskey). We show that traditional ways of conceptualizing are insufficient for understanding the actual source of methodological disagreements existing between these approaches. We argue that the reason for such disagreements is the difference in implicit ontological assumptions regarding the motivation of agents between the theories under consideration. The authors of institutional theories, who do not consider it necessary to assign an independent role to cultural factors along with institutional ones, at the level of ontological assumptions reject the possibility of exogenous changes in the internal motivation of agents. At the same time, the authors of cultural theories, who distinguish institutional and cultural factors as independent from each other, in their theories acknowledge the presence of exogenous shocks of internal motivation and their potentially important role in economic changes. This discrepancy determines, on the one hand, the deductive nature of analytical narratives within the institutional research direction, and on the other hand, the inductive nature of the historical argumentation of representatives of the cultural research direction. Key words: institutions, culture, economic development, ideas, ontological assumptions, scientific disputes, motivation
Opportunities and limitations of quantitative assessment of factors of the Russian regions’s economic development The article discusses theoretical approaches to the identification of regional development factors and Russian studies on factors quantitative measurements. Objective limitations of such measurements are due to the peculiarities of Russian regions differentiation by the level of economic development, the big differentiation only at the edges and stable predominance of the median group with heterogeneous factors composition. "Floating" method for qualitative assessment of factors is proposed and its limited application is shown, only for the most developed and lagging regions. The problems of factors quantitative assessment and the defects of statistical indicators for Russian regions were shown. To assess the role of the institutional factor, the regional policy of the federal authorities was analyzed via regions’ budgets per capita spendings and leveling and geopolitical priorities were shown. The conclusion is made about the limited possibilities of an adequate quantitative assessment of the factors of economic development of the Russian regions. Key words: economic development factors, Russian regions, regional budgets
S.P. Zemtsov, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA); Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, Moscow, Russia Institutions, entrepreneurship, and regional development in Russia The role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Russian economy remains modest and declined in 2019. In 2020, due to the crisis and anti-covid-19 measures, the share of SMEs in GDP and employment will significantly decrease. Why is this happening, and is it worth supporting a seemingly insignificant sphere of the economy? The article describes the factors and patterns of entrepreneurship development in Russia and their relations with the regional development. The development of SMEs is negatively affected by uncertainty of the economic situation and decline in demand. High investment risks and a low level of trust narrow the possibilities for productive and opportunity entrepreneurship development. As a result, the share of informal employment and necessity entrepreneurship is high and will grow in Russia, especially in the least developed regions. Although in the pre-crisis years, there was a tendency toward an improvement in formal institutions, an increase in the availability of financing, but not in all regions. Informal institutions and norms change more slowly, they determine low involvement in entrepreneurial activity. A crisis can lead to a reduction in the number of entrepreneurs, which will have a negative long-term effect on sustainable regional development. The sectoral structure of the SME has diversified, and the share of internet services has grown. These processes because of forced digitalization during the epidemic may accelerate, especially in large agglomerations. Direct state support previously had little effect on the SME development due to the lack of awareness and distrust, small scale, so there is doubt that it will be able to radically change the situation in the current period. If the crisis and anti-epidemic measures continue in the summer, the worst negative consequences should be expected in the southern regions, where more than 50% are employed in the entrepreneurial sector, but entrepreneurial ecosystems and digitalization are poorly developed. Our calculations show a potential reduction in the number of small and medium-sized enterprises by 50–60%, which could lead to a decrease in gross regional product by an average of 3–10%. Key words: small and medium business, economic development, institutional conditions, trust, crisis, covid-19, state support, Russian regions, digitalization
A.M. Libman, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany Decentralization of crisis, weakness and responsibility Crises frequently weaken subnational governments but in some cases they lead to greater decentralization. Does this decentralization, however, support the search for optimal crisis response strategies? Generally speaking there are several arguments, which suggest that decentralized systems will manage crises better than centralized ones. This article, however, considers two scenarios (decentralization of weakness and decentralization of responsibility) where the apparently increasing autonomy of subnational governments leads to important problems. Decentralization of weakness emerges when the central government for certain reasons refuses to actively implement an anti-crisis policy. Under these conditions, regional measures, while to some extent compensating the inactivity of the central government, create a number of other problems – that of external effects, possible ideologization of politics and insufficient use of expert knowledge. Decentralization of responsibility emerges when regions accept responsibility for implementing anti-crisis measures, but the center keeps control over resources – thus, regions have to focus on competing for central financing. For the modern Russia, the risks of these two scenarios are substantial. Key words: decentralization, crisis, local knowledge
I.L. Lyubimov, International Trade Center at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia Economic and educational complexity in the Russian regions: Should they go hand in hand with each other? We establish a positive association between economic and educational complexity, both at the country level, as well as for the Russian regions. As for the latter, we observe a higher variance of educational complexity, while economic complexity fluctuates noticeably less. A number of regions features a higher education system that stands considerably ahead of the development of the corresponding regional economy. We note that the process of making a regional economy more complex is likely to be associated with significant risks of failure, high expenditures and a slow pace of progress. Thus, a more developed higher education system potentially might have a small impact on the development of the corresponding regional economy. However, the latter does not imply that the process of balancing the quality of higher education in the Russian regions should be reversed. The further development of the network of high-quality regional universities contributes to the reduction of income inequality at the level of households by producing more favorable opportunities for migration to better developed regions and accessing higher-quality labor market segments. Key words: economic complexity, education, inequality
IO.I. Obraztsova, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow, Russia Entrepreneurial activity in Russia and its cross-regional differences The paper analyses the dynamics of business activity of the Russian population from 2005 to the present time, as well as persistent differences in its level between different groups of Subjects of the Russian Federation basing on the statistics of small and medium-sized enterprises and business statistics. It is shown that in Russia, there were three types of regions with specific sets of factors which contribute to and hinder the development of entrepreneurial activity of the population before the shock macroeconomic changes associated with the coronavirus pandemic, namely, (а) six subjects of the RF favorable conditions, as well as two roughly equal large groups of (b) regions with a low level of investment activity and (c) regions with high levels of socio-economic disadvantages. A set of factors which act as predictors or limitations for entrepreneurial activity in these different groups are analyzed. The authors suggest that due to the shock economic changes under the coronavirus pandemic, the last two groups will almost merge according to the conditions and factors of entrepreneurial activity, while the factors that are important for starting business activities in the first group of regions will significantly weaken. Taking into account the above differences, two approaches to promoting entrepreneurial activity for different groups of regions are proposed — "involving" for six Subjects of the Russian Federation with a relatively developed ecosystem of entrepreneurship and "pushing" for the majority of the rest of them. Key words: entrepreneurial activity; entrepreneurial start-up; cross-regional comparisons; Russia Back | ||
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