Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast @volnc-esc-en
Статьи журнала - Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast
Все статьи: 1692
Статья научная
Entrepreneurship belongs to the category of initial distribution of income. The article raises questions whether entrepreneurship plays a positive role in the process of achieving the overall welfare of Chinese farmers, whether it contributes to increasing the level of their relative income and whether it can increase their subjective happiness. A theoretical hypothetical model “farmer entrepreneurship - relative income level - happiness” is constructed, and empirical analysis is carried out based on the data of the “Thousand Villages Survey” project, implemented by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. First, we consider the impact of entrepreneurship on raising the level of relative income of Chinese farmers; then we analyze the impact of entrepreneurship on their sense of happiness. Finally, we use the mediator effect model to test the role of relative income level as a mediator in the process of influence of entrepreneurship on farmers’ sense of happiness. The study has found that across China entrepreneurship does indeed contribute to the increase in the level of farmers’ relative income, demonstrating the “enrichment effect”; it also contributes to the increase in their level of subjective sense of happiness, demonstrating the “happiness effect”; and the level of relative income plays a partial mediating role in this process. Thus, the sense of happiness of farmers engaged in entrepreneurship arises due to an increase in the level of their relative income and also due to the process of entrepreneurial activity itself. On this basis, it is recommended that state authorities and relevant structures actively promote the concept of “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” in rural areas, create a favorable environment for rural entrepreneurship, encourage farmers to become entrepreneurs, and promote the concept of “mass entrepreneurship and innovations” for rural entrepreneurship, encourage farmers to do business in order to increase their relative income and enhance their sense of happiness, thereby contributing to the overall financial and spiritual well-being of rural residents.
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The role of individual responsibility in territorial development
Статья научная
Within regional science, there has always been a great deal of emphasis on examining territorial differences. When defining development directions, it is important that territorial levels can be identified individually. One of the characteristics of settlements is a lively social life. This will provide an opportunity for the population to live their individual social and cultural life. In settlements where the population is active, people usually love to live, and their inhabitants want to improve their physical and cultural life. They work like a great family, they form a community. In some of cases, settlement leaders place great emphasis on community development. The leaders of the settlement formally try to ensure the development of the settlement with local regulations, however they also have informal tools that they can use for the benefit of their community. In addition to executives, the individual has an important role in community building. The active behavior of individuals in community building can greatly contribute to a successful settlement. The study examines several local communities with qualitative and quantitative modifiers, and presents success factors within each community. The purpose of the study is to approach communities from a new perspective. Previous research has generally examined communities on the basis of their characteristics, ethnicity (minorities), spatial concentration (school communities). This study attempts to highlight the relationship between territorial development and individual responsibility, taking into account all aspects of communities. It is important to note that the purpose of this study is not to present complete research findings (correlation studies on individual factors: age, educational attainment, income, and their impact on communities), partly because of the scale and partly because of future research plans. The research results confirm that the level of development and development potential of the regions are largely determined by the composition of the human factor living in the given space. Decisions made by decision-makers taking these principles into account can really contribute to the development of areas. Scientific study of such development results coud be a goal for future research.
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The role of industrial production localization in the import substitution policy
Статья научная
The article is devoted to defining the role of localization of industrial production in the implementation of the import substitution policy. The methodological framework of the research consists of the system approach, methods of structural, object, functional, and statistical analysis, as well as the method of expert estimations. The article reviews the concept of “import substitution” and “localization”; it is concluded that the implementation of the import substitution policy is inextricably linked with the localization. It provides examples of successful localization policy in individual industries (automotive, pharmaceutical and railway engineering), proves its effectiveness in creating high-tech industries for industrial output. The mechanism of localization in the railway engineering sector, whose competitiveness is currently provided largely by imported technology, is discussed in the case of locomotive engineering and rolling stock manufacturing for high-speed operation...
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Статья научная
The article deals with the issue of significance of institutional and regulatory components in the socio-cultural modernization of regions. The authors draw attention to the special role of institution of higher education as a factor affecting the level of social support for the actions of government authorities and mechanisms to ensure a high level of solidarity of the Russian society in addressing the issues of socio-cultural modernization. The purpose for the research is to scientifically substantiate and develop the procedures for identifying the degree of social support for the policy of the government and its separate units by social groups with higher education. In the context of implementation of Project on diagnostic study of the status and prospects of modernization in regions, a special research objective is to assess the correlation between the concentration of people with higher education in regional structures and types of modernization, the equilibrium in the process of regional modernization...
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The role of local communities in the development of small territories
Статья научная
The paper studies the participation of local communities in the development of small territories and the conditions that increase public involvement in the processes of spatial development at the local level. We apply a socio-spatial approach to study local communities combined with an action-activist concept to spatial development. In the theoretical part, we consider the main approaches to the study of local communities and their role in the territories’ development. We define the basic characteristics of the local community: social community; a common space, place; common interests, living conditions; ties, interaction. We provide the mechanisms of local community’s participation in the development of territories. The empirical part of the study is based on data from the opinion poll, conducted in two large cities and five small ones of the Vologda Oblast in 2021 (N=1550). We consider the average values for large and small cities and compare the indicators of the local community’s participation in the development of territories to reveal the features of this process. According to subjective estimates, we find that the main actors of territorial changes are the governing bodies and the local community, while business is practically not responsible for the development of the territories in which it operates. In small cities, compared to large cities, the local community is more focused on the development of territories and is aware of its responsibility. The local community shows a higher potential and level of participation in initiatives. In almost all practices, the share of participants in small cities is higher than in large cities. We determine that a lack of teamwork experience hinders community engagement in spatial development issues. As promising areas, we consider institutionalized mechanisms of local community participation in territories’ development, such as participatory budgeting and project activities as part of the work of non-profit organizations.
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The role of the elites in the evolutionary process: conceptual framework and modern interpretations
Статья научная
The article considers the influence of the elites on the evolutionary process and the current global upheavals that have evolved into a confrontation between two megacivilizations (West and NonWest), which threatens humanity with extinction. The aim of the study is to try and answer the questions whether these processes were to be expected; whether they correspond to the general principles of social development or are a coincidence. The research on the elites in the context of a civilizational approach and combining it with the concept of democracy allowed D. Zolo to build an elite model of civilization development, linking three components: stages of civilization development, type of elite, and form of government. It has been established that as civilization develops (from its inception to its demise), the elite moves from power forces to its supranational form, and this movement is accompanied by the transformation of forms ofgovernment from anarchy to tyranny. It is shown that the period of the heyday of a civilization coincides with the period of the rule of national elites; as soon as the elite loses the quality of national power and becomes supranational, the civilization starts declining. The source of the evolutionary development of a civilization is the creative potential of the elite, the vital energy of which is found in the passionarity of the ethnic group, “triggered” by the action of the hypercompensation mechanism based on A. Toynbee’s “Chahenge-and-Response” principle, which may not work in the case of the rule of the supranational elite. An assessment of the current state of the Western elite has shown its supranational nature and the worsening process of degradation accompanying the decline of Western civilization. This corresponds to the paradox of lagging behind, according to which a civilization that is more advanced in terms of technological development finds itself in a state of spiritual crisis and disintegration earlier. From this point of view, the unfolding confrontation is a clash between the supranational elite and its national opponents, who defend the traditional values and interests of their own countries. The novelty of the research lies in the construction of an elite model of the development of civilization, and in the consideration of a structural model of an evolutionary leap in the case of the rule of supranational elites.
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The role of the fuel sector of subarctic regions in the Komi Republic economy
Статья научная
The article considers the approach towards the improvement of the management of regional development, which is based on determining the character and direction of the influence of a number of factors on regional development by applying the method of principal components. The approbation of the suggested approach to the statistical data of Russian regions for 2000-2010 in terms of the region’s major subsystems indicated the absence of progressive development tendencies, as well as made it possible to determine the character and the direction of the influence of the investigated factors, which in the regional management practice permit taking the regions to the sustainable development pathway, to be determined.
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The role of the sport industry in the development of today's economy
Статья научная
Historically, all the sport projects related to the sector of recreation and entertainment, so they were rather unimportant. However, the situation has radically changed recently: the sport industry is reaching a new developmental level and becoming a full-fledged economic sector. It is indicated by the huge investments in the development of sport clubs and related infrastructure, as well as the special attention of the Government.
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The scale of inequality and the specifics of its perception in modern Russia
Статья научная
Inequality is a key socio-economic development challenge for the world as a whole and for individual countries. In Russia, the problem of inequality is particularly acute, since the scale and depth of differences in the population’s income greatly exceed the “conditional levels” of normal inequality. In this regard, it is important to prevent the development of negative socio-political processes and the deterioration of public sentiments. The article’s purpose is to determine the peculiarities of the Russian population’s perception of the existing inequality and its manifestations in the country. Using the data from Rosstat and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, we prove that inequality in Russia is large in scale and persists throughout the post-reform period of the country’s development without a clear focus on reducing the depth of polarization of the extreme income groups. We use the data of a cross-country representative study under the program ISSP, conducted in 2019, to examine the perception of inequality by the population of Russia and some foreign countries, specifically the subjective assessment of the depth of inequality, its fairness, the role of the state in reducing income disparities, the features of the redistribution system (role of taxes), accessibility of health and education services, the degree of conflict (dislike) between the poor and the rich. We show that the perception of inequality by Russians differs from the perception of other countries’ residents with a more expressed critical assessment of the depth, injustice, social conflict and ineffectiveness of government actions to reduce income disparities. We find that the population does not show tolerance to non-monetary dimensions of inequality, considering unfair the opportunity of rich people to purchase high quality medical and educational services. We reveal that there are no significant differences in the perception of inequality in different socio-demographic and socio-economic groups of the population. Attention is drawn to the fact that the subjective perception of inequality lies to a greater extent in the field of ideas about a fair social order than it is unambiguously determined by the level of income.
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The special military operation reveals new features of civil society
Статья научная
Eight months have passed since the RF President announced the launch of a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine (February 24, 2022); thus, currently Russia is facing a global political situation that has become more turbulent. Difficulties on the front line, frequent terrorist attacks, military aid to the Kiev regime from NATO countries all this urged the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the RF Armed Forces to make tough but necessary decisions that could not but affect the majority of Russian society. The paper analyzes key events related to the special military operation, as well as the decisions promptly taken by the President in accordance with the requirements of the time and the situation on the front line. We focus on some of the President’s decisions, such as the announcement of partial military mobilization (September 21, 2022); amendments to the RF Criminal Code aimed to strengthen discipline in the army and society during martial law and wartime (September 24, 2022); accession of new territories to Russia - the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic, the Kherson and Zaporozhye oblasts (October 5, 2022); large-scale precision missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, military communications and command posts (October 10, 2022); introduction of martial law in the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation and the establishment of special measures to ensure security of all regions of the Russian Federation (19 October 2022). We analyze public opinion trends and the results of the Single Voting Day (September 11, 2022), which are considered as indicators of public sentiment in the hard times that our country is facing. On the whole, our research has shown that the alarming political situation on the global arena, as well as the tough decisions adopted by the head of state in recent months, revealed new features in Russian civil society, provoked changes in the people’s internal awareness of the scale of threats to national security. This, in particular, was expressed in the following: many Russians are participating in the special military operation as volunteers; volunteer aid is increasing; in society, there is strong condemnation of those who left Russia after the start of the special operation; all the social strata are consolidating around the RF President; the above trends are observed in the dynamics of public opinion assessments. All these factors can play an important role in Russia’s crossing its internal Rubicon in the form of the reorientation of broad strata of Russian society, and above all its elite groups, from the Western development dogmas imposed during the 30th anniversary of the market transformation toward nationally oriented goals and values.
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The specific structure and regional proportions of innovation costs in the Russian economy
Статья научная
The most important choice of a company in the implementation of innovative activities is the decision on the method of mastering new technologies. There is a distinction, first of all, between the development of technologies through their research and through their operation. The assessment of the ratio of these two methods of technology development in the economy of Russian regions has significant research potential. The study implements a methodology for comparative analysis of the spatial dynamics of various types of innovation activities, which allows overcoming the methodological limitations of official statistics. The coefficients of elasticity according to the time trend for the total costs of innovation activities, including research and development costs, costs for the purchase of machinery and equipment, and costs for industrial design (engineering) and design by groups of regions of Russia in 2011-2015, 2016-2018 and 2019-2022 were obtained. The results of the study detail the trends in the innovative development of groups of regions in 2011-2022 with a specification of the dynamics in the pre-sanctions and sanctions periods. It has been established that the systematic development of technologies through their research was carried out mainly in the pre-sanctions period and only in the most developed regions. During the period of increasing sanctions pressure, research and development are localized in metropolitan centers, and remote and underdeveloped regions begin to systematically master new technologies through the purchase of machinery and equipment, as well as industrial design (engineering) and design. The system of econometric estimates obtained in the study, which takes into account both the economic specifics of innovations and the methodological problems of their statistical accounting, made it possible to specify
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The spiritual component of the investment process in the Republic of Karelia
Статья научная
The article describes the possibility to modernize the socio-economic system of the region on the basis of spiritual component. In modern conditions it’s necessary for the Republic, as well as for the whole country, to include a revival component of Russian spirituality in the process of modernization. The authors characterize the investment process in the Republic of Karelia in this article and consider the necessity to increase investment in human capital in the implementation of a major integrated project “Spiritual rebirth of the North”.
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The state and developmental trends of fruit and berry market in the north-western regions of Russia
Статья научная
The article emphasizes the importance of increased consumption of fruit and berry products to the standards, which are recommended by medicine in order to improve public health. It analyzes the modern developmental trends of fruit and berry market in the North-West Federal District and considers the main directions of this market development that cover the state support and regulation of this market, its pricing and competition progress.
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The state of the tourism industry during the economic crisis
Статья научная
Since 1998 in Vologda region the unique tourist project «Veliky Ustyug as the native land of the Father Frost», approved by the President and the Government of the Russian Federation, has been realized. In this article the ten years’ results of this project’s realization, being the important means of education of children and youth, are represented. The necessity of the further development of this project by means of the state support including the creation of transport and social infrastructures, and personnel maintenance is marked.
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Статья научная
The article analyzes the basic propositions of the Strategy for Development of Small and Medium Entrepreneurship (SME) in the Russian Federation till 2030 and the comparison of the key parameters of this strategy with target SME development indicators, which had been earlier given in various planning and forecasting documents of the RF Government. The paper investigates the main causes of the failure with the previously declared benchmarks for a powerful “breakthrough” in this sector of the national economy, in particular, via realization of a set of goal state programs of SME promotion and development. Insufficient results of the state policy for promotion and development of SME for a long time were explained not only by its rather primitive tools, but also by its isolation from other key directions of the state economic policy and by general unsatisfactory trends in structural reforms in the Russian Federation economy. The paper also proves the need to upgrade the entire ideology of SME promoting policy in the Russian Federation taking into account the actual level of development of small business in the national economy as well as the tasks that define its priorities for the future, mainly, in the context of transition to innovative development...
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The study of permanent migration of economically depressed regions
Статья научная
Russia's development in the post-Soviet period is characterized by enhanced interregional socio-economic disparities, emergence of different kinds of troubled territories including depressed areas. The group of depressed regions includes ten constituent entities of the Russian Federation where economic recession is accompanied by reduction in the number of residents and the population outflow as a result of permanent migration. The purpose for this research is to identify the specific features of migration processes in economically depressed regions and elaborate proposals to optimize migration policy. The information base of the research is represented by official data of Rosstat. The article analyzes the processes of permanent migration in depressed areas, proposes periodization of migration process in the post-Soviet period and defines the reasons for the occurred changes. The author identifies net migration indicators and population decline in depressed Russian regions by flows of permanent migration: interregional and international between neighboring and distant countries...
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The successfulness of a modern individual: theoretical and methodological aspects of the study
Статья научная
The article discusses theoretical foundations of understanding success, substantiates methodological approaches to studying the successfulness of the 20th century individual, and discusses findings of an exploratory research conducted by an international team of scientists. We consider it important to study the social phenomenon such as “succesfulness of a modern individual” in the context of their satisfaction with important aspects of life and work and from the perspective of a wide range of socio-cultural, socio-psychological and demographic determinants. The study uses methods developed in various fields of social and humanitarian science; the methods describe the phenomenon1 of success in a meaningful way and identify its prevalence and manifestation features in different countries (in this project - Russia, Poland and Belarus) and in specific groups within countries. An exploratory research performed in this way has an interdisciplinary basis and relies on the synthesis of econometric (modeling, correlation and regression analysis), sociological (questionnaire survey), and psychological (testing) methods. The article presents findings of a pilot sociological survey and psychological testing of the population of different cities of Russia (Vologda, Cherepovets, Petrozavodsk, Kolomna), Belarus (Minsk) and Poland (Lublin). The pilot stage of the comparative cross-country study involved empirical testing of the selected tools in determining success factors in different linguistic, cultural and political environments, searching for methodological approaches to the essence of the phenomenon under consideration, and the operationalization of the concepts used. Successfulness2 has been studied in terms of self-esteem and in relation to life satisfaction. The study covered main spheres and conditions of human life. We tested relevant hypotheses that we had confirmed in the course of regional studies. The scientific significance and novelty of the research lies in the exploratory nature of the project, an attempt to solve a scientific problem by integrating knowledge and methods from various scientific fields. The findings of the study, its conclusions and models can become the basis for the development of a full-fledged concept of “modern successful individual”.
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The system of goods promotion as a factor of engineering production development
Статья научная
The article describes the specifics of marketing of engineering products for industry. A systematic approach to the formation of products promotion on the market and parametric (model) series as a promotional tool are proposed. On the example of Vologda enterprise it is shown that constructive stock keeping policies aimed at creating versions of products throughout their life cycle facilitates the successful marketing and is a factor in increasing production efficiency.
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Статья научная
June 23-24, 2023, Russia witnessed an attempt of an armed rebellion committed by the private military company Wagner headed by businessman Evgenii Prigozhin. Despite the rapid relief of the crisis, many experts note that it has deep and long-lasting implications for the public administration system, the President and Russia as a whole. We consider the causes and consequences of the events that occurred on June 23-24, drawing on our knowledge and experience accumulated during many years of monitoring the effectiveness of public administration, which includes the analysis of expert opinions, findings of diverse empirical studies regarding the state of Russian society, and the study of key regulatory legal acts and strategic documents adopted at the federal level. We think that the attempt to start a rebellion manifests a long-term crisis of statehood, which was caused by the clan-oligarchic structure of the public administration system flourishing in Russia in the post-Soviet period. We analyze certain aspects of the formation of the worldview of the modern extremely liberal ruling elite, provide concrete facts that indicate that the liberal wing of the government does not implement the President's decrees and instructions effectively, and evaluate the role of the public administration system in the formation and implementation of the Social Contract as an informal institution representing a set of mutual obligations between the state and society. We conclude that there is an urgent need for decisive action (first of all, on the part of the President) on the personnel renewal in the public administration system; it is also necessary to staff the system with people focused on Russia's national interests rather than liberal values of the Collective West, the people that have successful experience in solving complex managerial and economic tasks, especially in crisis conditions and in the context of the special military operation. Like many experts, we believe that in this case the public administration system will be able to provide an adequate response to an unprecedented range of internal and external challenges created by increasing threats to national security and global geopolitical changes that led to the special military operation.
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