Suchergebnisse

In 2000, Russia took the 27th place in the world ranking in terms of annual volume of outgoing FDI. In 2008, Russia joined the top 10. However, due to the ongoing structural adjustment of the world economy in the near future the Russian exporters of raw materials and semi-processed goods should not expect an equally favorable market situation that had provided the financial base for large-scale investment abroad. There is a global FDI trend towards a gradual shift in favor of the sectors of high-tech industries and dynamically progressing services' sphere. At the same time, the leading TNCs continue to determine the competitiveness of national economies and to exert a significant impact on the current configuration of the international division of labor, transforming the global value chains. In this regard, it is important that external investment of the Russian corporations contribute to modernization of the domestic economy and do not constitute just a form of capital flight from the country. The article identifies reasons why some industries of the Russian economy have deployed a massive overseas expansion while others have failed to realize the potential of FDI.

The author's model of civilizations based on the phenomenon of different writing systems existence has been elaborated and compared with the classical Toynbee-Huntington's confessional model. This new model allows to allocate smaller subcivilizations, alongside the largest civilizations already known. Subcivilizations are active and can generate geopolitical events. By means of the given model, the analysis of civilizational transformations and geopolitical space reconstruction occurring in the Euroasian continent, is carried out.

Electronic markets are thought to be perfectly efficient in terms of price levels, price dispersion, menu costs and the number of competitive sellers in the market. Indeed, menu costs and prices are usually lower online, but some empirical studies have found that electronic markets are characterised by high price dispersion and high concentration of market power. The author suggests that because of low costs of searching and acquiring information, small number of sellers and low menu costs electronic markets provide better conditions for tacit collusion. The fact that sellers are able to react to competitors' actions faster than buyers may even foster prices to increase. Tighter online competition forces each seller to differentiate from others by advertising his own brand name. In a static equilibrium an increase of the number of buyers may lead to escalation of advertising expenses and force less efficient sellers out of the market.

THE AUTHOR ANALYZES A LINK BETWEEN MACROECONOMIC POLICY AND MICROECONOMIC RESPONSES IN ORDER TO EXPLAIN THE POOR RESULTS OF RUSSIAN ECONOMIC REFORM IN 1992. IT IS CLEAR THAT 1992 WAS CRUCIAL IN DEFINING THE PATTERN OF REFORMS IN RUSSIA AND THE FOLLOWING PERIOD, UP TO THE END OF 1993, FAILED TO CONTRIBUTE SIGNIFICANT FRESH IMPETUS TO THE TRANSITION OWING TO A POLITICAL DEADLOCK. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE 1992 ECONOMIC POLICIES WERE PIVOTAL IN THE POLITICAL STRUGGLE THAT CULMINATED IN THE DECEMBER 1993 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS.