Financial Journal

p. 20-32

Authors: Kristina V. Shvandar, Vsevolod Y. Cherkasov, Tatiana F. Burova

The effect, which was generated by the discovery of gas fields in the Dutch province of Groningen, recurred subsequently often in other resource-rich economies. Following a brief excursion into the theory this article considers the approaches to smoothing the “sharp edges” through accumulation of sovereign wealth funds and application of fiscal rules. Chile demonstrates the example of tough countercyclicality, Norway with its social priorities allows moderate procyclicality in spending of oil revenues. Russia tended more toward the latter of these examples in its efforts to overcome the Groningen effects. However, now when the hard landing of the past years gave a unique chance for the structural transformation it is extremely important not to miss it. On the far horizons the structural policies are of crucial importance. Even Saudi Arabia with all peculiarity of its socio-economic mode came to a clear understanding of the necessity and inevitability of structural reforms.

p. 47-59

Authors: Natalia N. Sisigina

The article deals with modern methods of financing hospitals capital expenditure used in countries with well-developed state guarantees of medical care. On the basis of the analysis of international experience the most common methods have been highlighted, as well as their advantages and disadvantages, possible areas of application. The article also presents recommendations for the development of domestic model of financing capital expenditure for hospitals involved in implementation of the State Guarantees Program.

p. 71-83

Authors: Boris I. Alekhin

This article is about finance — growth nexus with application to Russia. 57 quarterly observations in 2003-2017 were used to test four popular hypotheses on this subject. The author employed econometric methodology which included vector auto regression (VAR) analysis, stationarity tests, Johansen-Juselius cointegration test, Granger causality test, weak exogeneity tests and variance decomposition. The variables in the our VAR-model are found to be non-stationary and cointegrated. Russia’s economic growth seems to be Granger caused by the proliferation of bank credit to local enterprises and (to a much lesser degree) issuance of shares. In the medium-term prospective the stock market is projected to replace bank finance as a main influence on economic growth.

p. 102-111

Authors: Victor Ya. Pishchik, Petr V. Alekseev

The article analyzes the actual issues of formation of the single financial market of EAEU countries. The authors assert, that at present the most important for the solution of this problem is the formation of the economic potential of the Union, primarily through the enhancement of the effectiveness of reproduction process in the member states. This article discusses the factors constraining formation of a single financial market, including the incomplete formation of the single economic space, the unfavorable investment climate, insufficient predictability of the national currencies of EAEU countries. Attention is paid to such important issues of the financial integration as harmonization of legislation, improvement of the investment climate, institutional consolidation.

p. 121-127

Authors: Anton M. Maryasin

The core principles of recognition and measurement of financial assets, liabilities and equity instruments are described within IFRS. The basic criterion is economic sense, but non-legal form of accounting item. Thus, it’s considered to be a starting point for making decision on way of recognition of item as financial asset, liability, or equity instrument. The same approach is for hedge accounting, including derivatives. Some aspects of financial instruments accounting are discussed within this article. Often, convertible bonds and derivatives accounting are quite complex. Due to this, hereinafter some practical procedures and considerations on this topic are discussed by the author. Particularly, fair value calculation examples of convertible bonds debt and equity components are given in the article.

p. 24-33

Authors: Ruslan G. Yemtsov, Yelena I. Andreeva, Maria A. Nagernyak, Aleksandra Posarac, Dmitry G. Bychkov

The paper introduces the methods of assessing the effects of social assistance on work incentives, using representative Rosstat survey data as illustration. It also demonstrates the key steps of testing the hypothesis of the social benefits effect on work incentives, as well as the need for conducting multi-factor analysis coupled with impact evaluation methods. The key finding from descriptive analysis is that an average household that has recipients of social benefits among its members cannot rely on social benefits as a significant source of means of subsistence, therefore social transfers do not produce a sizeable effect on work behavior. Nevertheless, the authors propose a hypothesis that there are certain groups of social transfers beneficiaries whose work behavior may be strongly affected by social transfers. Firstly, this refers to recipients of social transfers, the size of which is comparable to the anticipated wage size. In such cases, social transfers can produce a negative employment effect. Secondly, this could refer to recipients, whose eligibility to social transfers is related to their belonging to a certain professional group. In this case, in all likelihood, social transfers create economic incentives to stay in these professional groups, reducing labor mobility. The testing and analysis of these hypothesis will be presented in forthcoming papers by the authors.

p. 47-55

Authors: Elena E. Grishina

The article analyzes the material deprivation rate for households with children in Russia and European countries. Different dimensions of material deprivation for Russian and European households with children in general, as well as, for households with three and more children and single person with children are considered by the author. The analysis shows that, comparing to European countries, households with children in Russia on average have higher rates of material deprivation and severe material deprivation. That indicates the need to strengthen social support to vulnerable households with children in Russia in order to reduce their deprivation.

p. 71-84

Authors: Igor V. Belyakov

The last global financial crisis has demonstrated that when contingent budget liabilities risks materialize, the resulted budget losses can be huge even in advanced economies. Thus, the importance of the topic raised due to the need to mitigate these risks. On the other hand, monitoring and analysis of contingent budget liabilities are necessary for reliability of budget forecast, which is the basis for the future budget policy. The recent surveys of the OECD (2014) and the IMF (2016) have revealed that monitoring and analysis of the budget risks of contingent liabilities generally are not well-organized in most of countries. Nevertheless, it is possible to formulate several verified recommendations and point out some of the best practices in this field. These include regular and comprehensive reporting on budget risks, application of stress-testing and probability approach, and also calculation of quantitative indicators that measure implicit budget liabilities. As an illustration, two of such indicators, based on the Russian data for 2012–2016, are calculated and considered in the article.

p. 98-112

Authors: Alexander N. Deryugin, Kseniya A. Proka

The article considers the issue of taking into account the scale effect in calculating the expenditure responsibilities of the regions of the Russian Federation within the methodology of equalization grants distribution to Russian regions. The author shows the presence of this factor in the administrative costs of regional budgets. On the basis of international experience, as well as approaches applied in the regions of the Russian Federation, parameters of two kinds of scale coefficients have been calculated, and a method for their implementation in the federal methodology of equalization grants distribution has been proposed in the article.

p. 122-135

Authors: Kristina V. Shvandar, Artur V. Glazunov

The article is devoted to the analysis of foreign experience of studying the factors explaining the use of international and national currencies in foreign trade. Recently, the interest in these issues has increased significantly due to the active efforts of the EAEU countries to disclose the integration potential, in particular through the expansion of settlements in national currencies to minimize costs and risks. Since the beginning of 2017 the Eurasian Economic Commission has begun preparations for the research based on a survey on the use of national currencies in settlements between the EAEU countries. In light of this process special attention is paid in this article to foreign approaches to information support for the analysis of the use of currencies in foreign trade operations, the organization of surveys, the sampling of the companies under study, and the analysis of the reasons for success research.

p. 22-36

Authors: Olga V. Bogacheva, Tatiana V. Fokina

The article is devoted to social tax expenditures efficiency evaluation in OECD countries. Social tax expenditures are defined as revenue losses attributable to provisions of tax laws allowing a preferential tax treatment for special categories of taxpayers or within social spheres for public social policy aims achievement. The authors research existing forms and types of social tax expenditures, as well as practice of their implementation in different OECD countries. Within the context of personal income tax approaches to efficiency evaluation of each type of social tax expenditures and arguments for their use have been analyzed. The authors conclude that while efficiency evaluation of special social tax expenditures alternative social policy instruments and results of “cost-benefit” analysis should be taken into account.

p. 49-56

Authors: Anna A. Mikhaylova

The article analyzes the opportunities for financial incentives for regional development in the Russian Federation. On the basis of econometric research the author confirms the existence of β-convergence at the level of Russian regions and makes conclusions on how intergovernmental transfers affect the economic growth. The article also shows that intergovernmental transfers have a positive effect on the regional growth, and intergovernmental subsidies have the maximum stimulating effects comparing to other types of transfers.

p. 71-84

Authors: Samvel S. Lazaryan, Maria A. Chernotalova

The article analyzes methods of empirical estimation of tax changes impact on private investment and possible difficulties of such empirical evaluation. The authors also review results of empirical studies dedicated to impact of taxes on firms’ investment. In addition, the authors consider several aspects of impact of already conducted or only potential tax changes on private investment in Russia. There are two ways how tax changes influence investment of companies: the first one — they change benefits and costs of investment decision; the second one — they influence cash flows of the company, effectively changing feasibility of investment. Estimating general effect of a certain tax change calls for using a general equilibrium model, but most studies focus on partial equilibrium effects. The main problem of empirical analysis of impact of taxes on investment is endogeneity of the tax system. If one addresses this and other issues properly, he is likely to conclude that providing investment tax credits, allowing accelerated depreciation, lowering profit tax rate, introducing positive difference between tax rate on distributed and undistributed profits and reducing overall tax burden positively affect investment of companies.

p. 96-106

Authors: Alexander S. Borgoyakov

The article considers the problem of an assessment of financial assets investments risk, and bonds, in particular. The author analyzes the existing models of risk assessment and profitability. The model disclosing interrelation between risk and profitability of the concrete bond from a perspective of issuer’s solvency is offered.

p. 119-130

Authors: Marina V. Tsurkan

The topic of the problem is highly relevant due to the lack of methodological approaches to the assessment of participatory budgeting practices in the Russian Federation. The paper suggests ways to assess the regional practices of implementation of local initiatives support program. It reveals their essence, the assessment technique of regional practices of public budget literacy improvement, taking into account people’s knowledge and skills. The author develops the calculation method of budgetary efficiency of the regional participatory budgeting practice in the framework of this program, and also proposes the principle of formation of the criteria for training assessment of the population involved in participatory budgeting process.

p. 20-26

Authors: Tatiana I. Semkina, Alexey V. Sorokin

Nowadays there are some serious drawbacks in the corporate property taxation system. These drawbacks affect all the elements of the tax collection mechanism: cadaster value, types of property, tax rates. In this paper the authors suggest some ideas on improving of this system and customizing stages of its widening scope, which will make property tax more effective.

p. 38-45

Authors: Olga N. Kuznetsova

In this article the author analyzes methodical and practical aspects of accounting of a depreciation fund as most important source of capital financing in Russia. The article reveals the factors of standard and legal nature which interfere with expansion of capital investments, offers alternative methods of their elimination. In the course of the research on the depreciation fund accounting collisions the author comes to a conclusion about need of implementation of complex actions at the macro level and at the micro level. The main idea is to spread the practice of using of the accelerated property write-off method for the purpose of the taxation. The author pays special attention to control of target use of entity depreciation fund (the technique of accounting of this process is offered). The research results in a presented model of increase in capital investments by means of optimization of depreciation charges accounting.

p. 64-75

Authors: Vadim Ye. Zyamalov

Stock indices are one of the indicators of the general state of the economy. Therefore, modelling and forecasting of stock indices are discussed heavily for several decades. In this paper, the impact of macroeconomic factors on the Russian stock indices is discussed and investigated by author. In particular, the impact of external trade characteristics and foreign stock indices is analyzed. In addition, several econometric models are compared in the article due to their predictive ability. The author also investigates a predictive ability of vector autoregression (VAR) and vector smooth transition autoregression (VSTAR) models.

p. 91-104

Authors: Goar E. Shakhnazaryan

The intention of the member countries of the EAEU towards the integration and formation of a single financial market requires the harmonization of legislation on the key areas of regulation. One such area is the activity of the infrastructure institutions, the most important of which is the central depository, which determines the relevance of this article. An analysis of existing risk management mechanisms of the central depository allowed to generalize and identify the most effective approaches and procedures that could serve as a basis for the establishment of uniform standards for risk management in the activity of central depositories of the participating countries.

p. 115-128

Authors: Olga V. Bogacheva, Ivan D. Rakov, Oleg V. Smorodinov

The article discusses the practical aspects of integration process during formation of ASEAN Economic Community (2007–2015). The focal point is the analysis of the following directions of financial integration: financial markets liberalization, increase in volumes of direct and portfolio foreign investments, development of stock market cross-border segment. Moreover, the article covers issues related to minimization of threats of unstable national budget systems in ASEAN countries. Analysis is conducted within the context of the concept of financial integration “indirect impact” on economic growth and budgetary systems’ stability, which was explored in detail in the previous article (Financial Journal, 2016, № 5). The authors come to conclusion that generally successful development of financial integration during the period of ASEAN Economic Community formation became possible due to the meeting of certain “threshold conditions”, which characterize levels of financial sector development, foreign trade, public and market institutions, as well as public finance quality.

p. 22-38

Authors: Mikhail V. Milchakov

The increased budget constraints on the federal level, the problem of heavily non-purpose grants-financed regions with weak own revenue base, which stability should be supported by growing share of state resources, determine the necessity for analysis of support measures efficiency. The author uses official quantitative data from open sources and analyses the features of economic and budget position of heavily non-purpose grants-financed regions in accordance with the special framework for budget process on their territory. In addition, the author considers measures of federal support in the form of non-purpose grants allocation as well as in the form of investment support connected with federal target programs execution and special economic zones functioning. The article includes proposals to improve these tools of regional development. The implementation of formulated proposals will stimulate the increase of budget expenditure efficiency and the decrease in federal support dependence.

p. 52-62

Authors: Alexey V. Moiseev, Alexander V. Murychev, Diana K. Mashtakeeva, Petr N. Novikov

The article reveals issues related to the creation and development of the system for professional qualifications of the financial market — this research was initiated by authors last year (Financial Journal № 2, 2016). It is also focused on main previous year activities of the Council for Professional Qualifications of the Financial Market, which functions and powers are performed by the Association of Participants of the Financial Market known as the Council for the Development of Professional Qualifications. This activity is carried out in close cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and other concerned institutions of Executive power, the relevance of which has increased after the adoption of the Federal Law on the Independent Evaluation of Qualifications.

p. 77-90

Authors: Natalia N. Sisigina

The article deals with the development of financing mechanisms for health insurance systems since the second half of the 20th century. On the basis of the analysis of foreign countries experience the author shows that as state guarantees for free medical care are evolving compulsory health contributions role in the health financing structure is decreasing in favor of supplementary financial sources of funding. In the course of the research the author also highlights main supplementary financial sources, objectives and forms of their usage, mechanisms for stabilization of insurance financing.

p. 103-113

Authors: Vladimir V. Vagin, Natalia A. Shapovalova, Nadezhda V. Gavrilova

In the article the author makes the attempt to reveal the factors, opportunities and restrictions for the development of initiative budgeting (IB) in the Russian Federation. The methodology of the research includes the analysis of legal documents, statistical data about realization of IB practices in the regions, expert survey findings, materials from open sources and the analysis of the regions’ participation in the Agreement on the initiative budgeting development in the Russian Federation in the years 2016–2018, which was signed between the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation and the World Bank. The Agreement is based on the idea of duplication of the best Russian and foreign practices in the field of IB through methodologic, educational and consultation support to the authorities of the regions of the Russian Federation. Russian regions, based on their interest to initiative budgeting practices, are systematized into two groups. There are 44 involved and 41 undecided regions revealed. The author suggests descriptive characteristics for each group of regions and gives detailed commentaries for some regions. That helps to reveal a set of factors, that contribute to the IB development in the regions. These factors are also systematized into four groups: political-administrative, economic, social and institutional. Moreover, the author offers for each group of factors the justification of why and how they determine the dynamics of IB development in regions. The practical importance of the article is the ability to stimulate and predict the further development of the IB practice in Russia.