Financial Journal

p. 9-24

Authors: Vladislav V. Bukharsky, Evgeniya Y. Vetrova, Alexey M. Lavrov

In 2005–2016 the public debt and the debt burden on the budgets of the Russian Federation subjects have increased significantly. At the same time, the trends demonstrated by the subjects of the Russian Federation in the public debt dynamics have been qualitatively different. With correlation analysis results as a basis the article states that none of the objective factors have shown a significant and stable influence on the trends above, thus formulating a hypothesis of subjective (political) factors as those having a decisive impact. Hence the need for greater responsibility of regional authorities in debt policy matters.

p. 40-49

Authors: Andrey A. Bokarev, Igor A. Yakovlev, Ludmila S. Kabir

The article provides analysis of the problems that hamper development of the «green» investments financing mechanism as a part of the national strategy for sustainable development financing. There the authors considered the arguments put forward by various interested parties as «green» investments justification. Attention is drawn to the key role of the state power and the importance of a political solution for launching the process of national economy transition to the «green» growth model. The article also studies the areas of restrictions and contradictions in the sphere of «green» investments implementation in Russia. There given speculations about the reasons that so far have not allowed to highlight the priorities for the process of «green» investment in the Russian economy. The authors conclude that the foreign experience already gained the great practical value despite the politicization of the transition to the «green» economy.

p. 64-74

Authors: Anton I. Votinov, Ivan P. Stankevich

The paper presents a vector autoregression-based approach to evaluation fiscal measures. Using both structural and Bayesian VAR models, the authors estimate fiscal multipliers of overall government expenditure and its components: national defense, national economy, education and social policy expenditures. The results are checked for robustness using different lag length and model specifications and different sets of hyperparameters in Bayesian VAR case. Regarding overall expenditures these results are quite stable across specifications and correspond well with results obtained in previous research in this field. National defense and social policy multipliers are shown to be negative (in contrast to previous research on Russian data), when national economy and education expenditures multipliers are positive. The article also presents some policy implications.

p. 85-97

Authors: Yuri М. Gorlin, Elena E. Grishina, Victor Yu. Lyashok, Vitaly V. Fedorov

The article analyzes the foreign experience of increase in the retirement age. The authors investigate the boundaries and rates of increase in the retirement age, taking into account different, such as life expectancy (including life expectancy of persons older the retirement age), the requirements for the length of service and the availability of early retirement opportunities. The article gives an actuarial estimation of economic effects of raising the retirement age in relation to Russian conditions. It is shown that raising of the retirement age makes it possible to achieve a long-term pension system balance with the increase in pensions in real terms.

p. 110-120

Authors: Alena V. Matskevich, Vera V. Romanova

The purpose of this article is to analyze financing of educational institutions based on per capita standards and to identify various approaches to determination of standard costs for public (municipal) services provision. Based on the legislative and normative frameworks of the Russian Federation subjects, as of May 2017, the authors identified three main approaches at the regional level to determination of the standard costs structure, depending on the distribution of the costs’ elements for general economic needs. The results of the research showed that, despite another Russia’s demand to oblige regions to apply per capita standards for determination of the subsidy amount for public (municipal) assignment fulfillment, it was not accomplished in all constituent entities of the country. In some cases, relative statutory and regulatory enactments imply the use of per capita standards and standard costs, but in reality, the calculations for financing receiving are based on actual expenditures.

p. 9-19

Authors: Makar I. Kudelich

The article discusses the problems and possible directions for improving the procedure and conditions for the implementation of investment budget expenditures used as sources of financial support for state support measures provided by legislation. They include such expenditures of the Russian Federation budgetary system that mediate the participation of public entities in economic activity as an investor in order to obtain income and (or) achieve other useful effect.

p. 33-46

Authors: Veronika V. Litvinova, Mariya A. Nagernyak, Mariya N. Kirillova

Currently regional authorities need to assess the effectiveness of their social support systems, as well as compare themselves with other regions to increase the effectiveness of budget expenditures, including social protection. To accomplish this task the World Bank, the Ministry of Finance of Russia and NIFI are working together to create a Russian version of the ASPIRE database. This database for the first time in the world presents data on regional budgets. It includes provision and financing of social support measures at the subnational level. The creation of this base gives an incentive not only for international, but also for intra-Russian interregional comparisons. Regions can compare their social support systems, choose and use the best practices. The article presents several variants of such interregional analysis based on the Russian version of ASPIRE. There are comparisons of the social support measures structure, analysis of the spending dynamics for social support in the regions for 2013–2016 and the number of recipients of “small measures” support analysis.

p. 60-70

Authors: Evgeny N. Timushev

The concept of the flypaper effect — the non-identity of increase in the amount of transfer and the equivalent increase in private income for the budget expenditures — is one of the methodological forms of intergovernmental relations analysis. It helps to assess the nature of the relationship between governmental entities in the sphere of public finance in general. The analysis of the literature on the causes of the phenomenon allowed the author to group them. Application of the causes selected to the peculiarities of the budgetary system of the Russian Federation helped to add such factors of the flypaper effect as the composition of transfers (a significant role of the discretionary balancing grant), the nature of taxation (prevalence of indirect taxes) and features of the allocation of earmarked grants (co-financing towards the end of the year). The explanation of the flypaper effect with the use of lines of supply and demand for public goods is considered as a consequence of the standardization of budget expenditures and limited region tax authorities.

p. 84-101

Authors: Nikolay P. Pilnik, Malika F. Shaikhutdinova

The model proposed in this article allows analyzing and forecasting the dynamics of Russian foreign economic activity on the base of the balance of payments. The model includes several econometric equations of all the main components of the payments balance, which represent the actual values with a high level of accuracy. Despite some problems related to the transformation of raw statistical data due to a variety of changes in reporting standards, that were described in the paper, the constructed model can predict monthly dynamics of the main components of the Russian payments balance in the short term from 12 to 18 months. To demonstrate the model’s performance, the authors employed three different scenarios driven by various combinations of exogenous variables, such as the prices of resources, the growth rates of the Russian main trading partners as well as the country’s current economic policy in basic, optimistic and pessimistic states.

p. 112-120

Authors: Alisen S. Alisenov

The article is focused on the issues of tax integration of the Eurasian Economic Union member states. Relevance of the study is based on the need of further development of the tax integration scientific base within the EAEU. The author defines imperatives, priorities and main orientations of integration development tax policy of the economic union. Basic directions of tax system perfection with the aim of more successful tax integration are also identified. In addition, the author developed a system of urgent measures directed to unification and harmonization of the tax systems of the countries in the integration community.

p. 9-23

Authors: Vladimir S. Nazarov, Nikolay A. Avxentyev

There is an evidence that today health spending efficiency in Russia is low: comparing Russia to foreign countries shows that, considering current expenditures, a number of medico-social variables reflecting healthcare effectiveness, e.g. life expectancy, mortality and equity in access to healthcare, can be improved. The article examines causes that deteriorate health spending efficiency: imbalance in Program of state guarantees in health, structural disproportion in health spending sources, the lack of universal outpatient drug provision program and inadequate motivation of health professionals. The authors also examined possible measures aiming to solve stated problems.

p. 34-46

Authors: Samvel S. Lazaryan, Maria A. Chernotalova

This article addresses the problem of rising income inequality in developed countries. According to the latest research, although inequality can influence economic growth both positively and negatively and existence of both channels has been confirmed empirically, currently negative impact of income inequality on growth dominates. During the last 25 years technological progress and, to a lesser extent, global integration have been shaping a global trend of rising income inequality. Empirical evidence suggests that impact of these processes on income inequality has been uneven across various countries, and in 50 % of developed countries we do not find significant increase in income inequality during the last 25 years. At the same time, given that technological progress, automatization, trade and financial integration will probably gather pace, we should expect a more pronounced increase in income inequality in most of countries over the medium term. Improving quality of institutions and providing equal opportunities to all members of society should be the key components of policy response to this global risk of rising income inequality.

p. 56-70

Authors: Andrei A. Bokarev, Olga V. Bogacheva, Oleg V. Smorodinov

The article deals with the methodology improvement of efficiency evaluation of public infrastructure investment management after 2000. The authors claim that after the global financial crisis of 2007-2008 the traditional approach for evaluation and assessment of public investments efficiency in economic and social infrastructure based on results of each project has given a way to several new and more complex approaches. Developed by multinational corporations and multilateral organizations (World Bank, IMF, McKinsey Global Institute, etc.), such methodological approaches took into account the whole project life cycle, integration of public infrastructure investments into the budget cycle, and formation of national indices (ratings) of public investment management efficiency. The latter methodology allows to compare various countries’ public infrastructure investment management efficiency. The most recent efficiency evaluation methodology was developed and published by McKinsey Global Institute in June 2016. This is, in fact, assessment of public infrastructure investment efficiency as an integral part of public management quality evaluation of infrastructure as a whole. The authors also claim that methodologies developed by the World Bank and IMF could be applied to self-evaluation of efficiency of public infrastructure investments in the Russian Federation. It could help Russian economy to identify and overcome “bottlenecks” on the way to sustainable economic development.

p. 85-97

Authors: Milyausha R. Pinskaya, Ori A. Alaverdyan, Sergey V. Bogachov, Gurgen K. Ohanyan

In the article the authors analyze conceptual approaches towards property taxation: principles, the definition of taxation object and tax base, application of tax rates. Using the examples of the tax systems of Russia and Armenia, the authors show implementation of principles of tax fairness, subsidiarity and effective administration, when designing property tax system in both states. Moreover, the authors characterize and delineate peculiarities of Russian and Armenian tax systems of property taxation. The article also reveals pros and cons of different approaches towards valuation of immovable property: based on physical and value indicators. The authors prove that reform of property taxation in Russia and Armenia is in line with worldwide trends.

p. 113-121

Authors: Vladimir V. Vagin, Sergey V. Romanov

The article is devoted to the practice of citizen participation in budget decisions, as well as other practices of involving citizens in the development of public infrastructure in the countries that make up the BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. A rich arsenal of these practices in the BRICS countries can serve as an effective basis for expanding the long-term cooperation of the international organization members.

p. 9-21

Authors: Igor A. Yakovlev, Lyudmila S. Kabir, Svetlana I. Nikulina, Ivan D. Rakov

This article presents an analysis of the formation and the development of modern approaches to financing a green economy, reveals the main elements of the present-day pattern of green growth financing and influencing factors. By studying the dynamics of green investments with a breakdown into different countries and the experience of international cooperation in sustainable development, the authors of the article generalize the results achieved by countries with regard to transition financing of their economies to a new pattern of ecologically sustainable development. The authors also make assumptions explaining the peculiarities of the present-day pattern of green economic growth financing.

p. 37-48

Authors: Mikhail V. Kulakov, Marina V. Lysunets

The article analyses priorities of the social and economic development of the European Union within the targets of the Europe 2020 strategy that are aimed at achieving sustainable growth, overcoming the economic recession and solving key social problems of the region. The article addresses the latest employment and social trends in the EU and reflects upcoming challenges and possible social policy responses. The authors examine specifics and goals of the effective labour market policies of the Member States and the EU, based on the official data including main employment, social and labour indicators. The authors also identify main instruments for boosting the EU’s human capital and encouraging development of social and labour markets.

p. 57-70

Authors: Darya V. Shvandar, Olga V. Koncevich

Shocks of fallen oil price, sanctions and devaluation declined inflation significantly from the target range throughout 2014–2016. Now when price growth is observably coming down disbursements from sovereign funds generate banking liquidity surplus, treating to erode the monetary policy signals. This forces to analyze pros and cons of different solutions relying on available Russian and international experience and, in particular, to consider the scope of interaction between the monetary regulator and the government, which is only one besides the central bank has the tools for targeted impact on the banking system liquidity.

p. 85-95

Authors: Anna E. Olkova

The article examines existing approaches to assessing mutual funds portfolio performance. The author considers major advantages and drawbacks of diverse upside potential and risk measures, as well as the most commonly used portfolio efficiency metrics. Empirical evidence of 12 most popular performance measures on a base of 255 Russian mutual funds sample is provided. Moreover, the author demonstrates that semi-variance and alpha-based metrics yield rankings that differ essentially from those provided by volatility-based, VaR-based and other metrics. Finally, the article discusses the rationale for different performance measures use.

p. 107-118

Authors: Maxim A. Bundin, Eugene M. Gutzаit, Anton M. Maryasin

The article discusses the organization of the first large-scale questionnaire survey of the Russian market of audit services and analyses its results. It also provides some information about this market, in particular on some aspects of market’s business activity. This paper explores the pitfalls in the way of a questionnaire survey of the market for audit services. The authors give recommendations for improvement of such questionnaire surveys of the market for audit services in the future. Moreover, the article discusses advantages, disadvantages and place of such questionnaire surveys among other audit statistics tools.

p. 9-19

Authors: Vladimir V. Gromov, Svetlana S. Shatalova

The solution to the most of issues, that are related not only to tax changes, but predominantly to tax reform, comes to the assessment of the tax burden. However, its calculating procedure in Russia is not well defined. In terms of the absence of a uniform methodology for assessing, this measure is calculated on different basis: only taxes or taxes and also non-tax payments. The article concerns several approaches to understanding of tax burden concept in the light of payments to be accounted for. In addition, concept of fiscal burden in regard to each approach is defined by the author.

p. 27-37

Authors: Anton V. Dubovik, Roman V. Erzhenin

The article is focused on the analysis of ICT use results in the public finance management processes. The future of the accounting profession is defined by the authors in terms of development of a new accounting organization model in the public sector. Conceptual issues of the Federal Treasury in a long-term GIIS “Electronic Budget” use are also considered in the article. This is a model of centralized accounting for federal organizations. The authors suggest that due to the existing data-processing procedures modernization the current accounting workers’ skills will gradually lose their relevance. Moreover, the authors conclude that in the new organizational and technological accounting processes there will be demand on experts with advanced intellectual and creative knowledge. They will be able to provide in the future a more effective solution for control and management.

p. 46-63

Authors: Valentina V. Tarasova, Vasily E. Tarasov

The paper proposes a generalization of the Arrow-Pratt measures of absolute risk-aversion (ARA) for the case of financial processes with memory. The authors take into account the presence of the investors’memory in the description of their behavior. Standard risk aversion measures, which are defined by derivatives of integer orders, are actually based on the assumption of investors’ amnesia, because these derivatives are determined by the properties of the function only in an infinitesimal neighborhood of the point (point in time or amount of wealth). The authors propose a method that allows them to refuse the assumptions about absence of a memory about changes of the utility function and value of assets. In order to take into account the memory effects the authors used mathematical tools of derivatives (integro-differentiations) of non-integer orders. Formulas of hereditary generalizations of Arrow-Pratt measure are derived by using a generalization of the Pratt approach and the Taylor series with derivatives of non-integer order. Examples of calculation of the hereditary measures of risk aversion are also suggested in the article.

p. 76-90

Authors: Oleg S. Sukharev

The problem of the influence of the resource allocation structure, in particular, financial resources, the size of the money supply on economic growth, is investigated in this article. The author obtains theoretical correlations that clarify the possible influence degree of the growth rate of individual sectors and the number of agents on the amount of money necessary for the development, which also demonstrate the importance of the “resource allocation” factor for economic development. The formation of a reasonable financial policy is the determining instrument in organization of the Russian economy growth. A strict theoretical condition on the necessary financial resources is formulated in terms of the third sector appearance in the two-sector model of the economy, and this sector can symbolize the development of innovations. Moreover, the author obtains another correlation for the development of the economic system, with a limited financial resource and makes an assessment of the financial institutions influence on the development of the economic system. Specifically, the article shows such influence at the micro-level, when solving the problem of allocating funding for basic research, where the applied criteria fulfill the role of institutions (rules for allocating financial resources).

p. 105-114

Authors: Yuri A. Spletukhov

The article analyzes the current status and level of development of the insurance markets of members countries of the EAEU, suggests possible ways of increasing the efficiency of the insurance market in these countries. The conclusion is made about significant differences at the level of insurance development between the individual states of the EAEU, as well as differences in the insurance legislation, government regulation and supervision, the structure of insurance types. According to the author, among the main tasks, that should be addressed to ensure the insurance development in the member states of the EAEU, are to increase the public insurance culture, to organize the compulsory insurance system, to form state insurance activity regulation system that meets modern requirements, to improve the functioning of the insurance market infrastructure, to develop the mechanism of reinsurance.