According to the Bank of Russia (BR), Russian inward and outward foreign direct investments (FDI) are quite significant. However, the article shows that no less than half of them in practice can only formally be viewed as direct investments since the main sources for most FDI in Russia are Russian corporations round-tripping their investments “Russia → the rest of the world → Russia”, with foreign special purpose entities being transfer agents in this chain. It is shown that the statistics provided by the Bank of Russia on FDI flows from the European Union to Russia is very different from that of the Eurostat. There seem to be two main reasons for such a discrepancy: a part of the funds presented by BR statistics as the Russian FDI to the EU is regarded by the Eurostat as irreversible capital flows from Russia; the Eurostat does not fully consider the Russian FDI movement. The FDI circular flows in the production of tradable goods in Russia (manufacturing, mining and quarrying) are assessed. The article presents comparative price levels (as key indicators of FDI appeal) in Russia, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.

News is sure to affect market trends, but their impact is often contradictory. Market reaction depends on many factors: good or bad news, current market condition (growth, crisis or flat), previous forecasts, etc. However, the same news can be both good and bad, e.g. market response to NFP data in the early 2010s. This article explores the relationship between the yields on both the Russian and the US stock indexes and shocks of the US statistics. The application of econometric tools has made it possible to identify the US statistical indicators which have the greatest impact on the movement of stock indices in these countries. At the same time, the study shows that the links between the changes in the US statistics, RTS and S&P500 indices seem to be rather useful for the de- velopment and implementation of trading strategies. The results of testing the model in the period 2011-2017 have proved that the market reaction to news shocks tends to change over time due to the human element. Besides, an asymmetry in reaction was revealed: during the periods of declines it is more sensitive to positive shocks, whereas in the periods of growth - to negative shocks.

Machine building SFD refers to the structure-forming elements of manufacturing industries in the Mechanical engineering of the SFD is a structure-forming element of manufacturing industries in the macro-regional economy. On the country-wide scale, machine-building industry of the Siberian Federal District does not occupy a prominent place, but in the district it holds the ninth position out of 35 in the rating of the leading branches of the Siberian economy. The unfavorable situation in machine-building production in the SFO, as well as in the country as a whole, was observed even before the events of 2014. New challenges have led to the aggravation of the current backlog. At present, the engineering industry of the SFO is not among the investment priorities, with solid investments being made in the agroindustrial complex and the oil refining industry. Experimental model calculations have shown that the engineering industry of the SFO in the long term cannot be considered as a leading branch in the development of manufacturing industries in the Siberian Federal District.

Over the last decade, the studies on economic growth have added new empirical evidence on the relationship between social capital and economic welfare. The article examines the approaches to the empirical study of social capital and suggests the analysis of various social groups, including Olsen-type groups, and Putnam-type groups depending on the radius of confidence. A comparable cross-country analysis of the level of trust as an indicator of social capital accumulated in the society was carried out. Based on the World Value Survey and the Russian regional data, it was shown that the confidence in groups with a wide radius of confidence correlates with the level of their economic welfare. The study reveals that in the Russian society there exists a number of prerequisites for the formation of social groups in terms of enhancing economic growth by bridging social capital, i.e. Putnam-type groups.

The paper analyzes the dynamics of key determinants of bakery products market in the Russian Federation in the first decade of the 21st century. It is stated that price, among other things, has been the most significant factor determining the volume of bread and bakery consumption which is subject to the law of demand, i.e. it decreases with the increase in its relative price (in regard to the average food prices), with demand being inelastic. This characteristic was revealed in the market analysis both at the national level and a large bread-baking complex level. The dynamics of change in consumer income does not seem to be a significant factor in the regression equation: demand for bread and bakery products is close to an absolutely inelastic one by income. Income differentiation between various groups of consumers determines the differences in consumer preferences for a wide range of products. At the same time, following the calculation results of the panel data regression model for a large bread-baking complex, it has been shown that the degree of influence of the change in price of bread on sales volumes does not differ qualitatively for separate types of products; therefore, income differentiation does not lead to considerable variations in demand for bread at every price change. The dynamics of bread price is defined by the dynamics of flour price, at the same time, the price of raw materials is more volatile, with bread price in regard to the price of flour being rather inelastic.

The choice of a correct and appropriate method for the valuation of economic efficiency of investment projects for the development of rare earth deposits is an actual and non-trivial issue within the framework of project analysis. Based on the comprehensive analysis of uncertainty and risk factors, it is concluded that such projects can be greatly under estimated within the traditional approach (based on discounted cash flows), e.g. the area Buranniy in the complex rare metal Tomtor field in Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Therefore, other advanced modern approaches (e.g. the real options method) are required, i.e. those which will take full account of flexibility of the project management and view risks as opportunities to gain additional hidden benefits from the project rather than only as negative factors. Such a methodological expansion is especially important for assessment of economic efficiency of investment projects for the development of rare metal deposits since it is quite challenging and non-trivial to compare large capital and operating outflows as well as inflows from sales of final products spread over 10-15 years after the investment program started, given the considerable uncertainty and risks.

The development of timber industry complex has always been a major priority for the Russian government. The system of regulatory legal acts has been adopted in the Russian Federation aimed at developing forestry complex, inter alia , through implementation of priority investment projects in the field of forestry development where special attention is paid to forest resources. Due to the regional differences in natural and climatic conditions, resource potential, investment promotion activities of the government, substantial heterogeneity and unevenness in the distribution of such projects is exhibited across the country. In order to prioritize investment decisions and assess the impact of regional incentives on investment promotion in the timber industry complex, an econometric research has been conducted to improve scientific basis for the federal authorities to provide the investors with equal and preferential access to forest resources in the country, with the investors having preference for the regions with developed transport infrastructure. Regional incentives seem to be just an additional advantage for the investors and play a secondary role in promoting investments. The results of regression analysis show that the most effective government incentives are those associated with financing priority investment projects in the field of forestry development and special tax regime. The paper encompasses the conclusions and comparative analysis of the research findings with those previously conducted by another author. The work resulted in the formulation of recommendations to improve the instruments of the government investment promotion activities at a regional level.

Normative per capita funding as a tool of financial planning and financial support of institutions is aimed at improving the quality of education, motivating and heightening interest in achieving the planned targets through wage incentives. Inter-regional comparison of indicators and factor analysis has made it possible to assess economic and social consequences of the introduction of per capita financing of educational institutions. The article presents the results of the analysis of cost-efficiency indicators for the municipal system of General education with normative per capita financing in the form of subventions in 2014-2017 by the example of two territorial subjects of the Russian Federation: Irkutsk region and Zabaikalsky region. The study reveals the number of objective reasons for the differences which are based mainly on the different levels of socio-economic development of the territories. However, the paper identifies some similarities between the regions: there is a certain reduction in the number of teachers and an increase in the number of students. Wage growth depends on the average wage in the region and can vary significantly across the territories, which puts teachers in unequal financial position. It is concluded that financial savings can be achieved by intensifying the work of the teachers in both regions, which can lead to a further deterioration in the quality of education. The article proposes to improve the existing system of inter-budgetary relations both at the regional and federal levels in order to create equal opportunities for quality education of the students and decent wages for the teachers, regardless of their place of residence, at the same time, it is important to take into account regional characteristics of the federal entities.

The article presents approaches to function modes of a multi-period model with direct recursion (OMMM class model) based on the application of multi-regional I-O model of vector optimization with a detailed representation of the energy sector and of two forecast periods (OMMM-TEK). Long-term exploitation of the model complex leads to the problem of the first forecast period, i.e. with each year following the basic year (which precedes the beginning of the forecast period and sets the system of measuring for the model solutions (prices)) an increasing part of the period becomes retrospective. Consequently, the trajectories for the dynamics of the model indicators obtained from the solution tend to encompass both the retrospective and the forecast parts of the first period; as a result, contradiction arises between the “smoothness” of the trajectories obtained from the given initial hypotheses and the actual dynamics of the first period. To eliminate the problem, a frequent but not periodic change of the basic year is usually carried out, and thus the forecasted periods and system of value indicators (prices) of model decisions also change. To preserve the basic year, the framework of forecast periods and the system of value measuring of model solutions for a long time interval a different approach is proposed, which requires a stage of periodic adaptation of the solutions of the first forecast period model to the actual dynamics, i.e. the division of the optimal solution into two parts which cover the dynamically changing (with each subsequent year) periods: an actual and a predicted one, with the correction of the predicted solution considering actual dynamics while keeping the forecast horizon more or less unchanged.

The article focuses on the set of models to forecast industrial sector development in a global perspective based both on the modified model for national economic development (Optimization Inter-Sector Interregional Model - OIIM) and on traditional production-transport type models in the natural indicators. Top-down transit from one type of model to another one is carried out gradually and contains a number of “inter-stage” models. Each stage is characterized by a bigger specification of sector indicators, i.e. initially by cost indicators and further by natural indicators. Besides, the study attempts a transit from the national economic model with the maximum final consumption to the structure of a sector model with the minimum expenditures, given a fixed level of demand obtained while solving the upper-level model. This transit is based on the ideas of forming-up “mutual” tasks, which enables external national economic links while forming-up the strategy of developing certain regions. The paper examines and gives commentaries to the Development Strategy for Timber Industry up to 2030 approved by Ministry of Industry and Trade (Minpromtorg) of the RF.

The study addresses methodological features which accompany the development and implementation of the cluster policy. The article describes the existing approaches to understanding, classification and staging the cluster policy. Besides, the article analyzes the key aspects of the cluster policy determining its content and features - positioning in political and economic space, the role of the state and business, orientation, goal-setting and tools, organizational structure - and shows the relationship between the selected characteristics. The most common goals of the cluster policy have been grouped, with each group being assigned a set of the most typical tools. The article attempts to systematize cluster support measures at both federal and regional levels and presents the authors’ view on the content and sequencing in clustering.

The paper establishes linkage between the emerging technological and innovative limits with economic parameters and explains their recent and future behavior. The work aims at finding the relationship between radical innovations and economic development as well as testing new methods to forecast the dynamics of innovations. The significance of the study is determined by the enhanced and profound focus on the development model components as well as by new approaches to evaluate the capacity and development dynamics of such components. The research is based on empirical data analysis and modeling by means of self-organizing neural maps. The paper presents the examples of the decline in technological and economic growth. A model describing the behavior of logarithmic growth curves in the framework of the proposed thesis is shown. The examples of growth decline in several industries are presented. The relationship between technological limits and growth limits is shown. The value of the work is determined by the possibility to create more accurate models for predicting economic and technological growth and apply new techniques to model and predict knowledge and technology evolution. Results. The data on radical discoveries and innovations is presented. The application of self-organizing neural maps is evaluated and justified. Based on Neural Self-organized 2-D network (Matlab Neural Clustering Tool) the process of integration and flow of radical innovations is modeled, with forecasts being made until 2050. A prediction model based on neural maps oversaturation with neurons is proposed. The results can be used to predict technological potential in other technological areas with a wider range of technologies.

The analysis of the impact the institutional environment has on the formation of modern corporate practices is important in the context of result-based corporate management in the Russian companies. The study aims to measure the influence of institutional environment on the formation of corporate management practices and sustainable organizational routines. The article presents the details of the survey of top and middle-level management of the companies in the Siberian federal district. The results of the research have shown that over the years, the companies have preferred to exercise management practices of external and internal information flows together with non-standard management approaches and distribution of formal and informal powers in the companies. Besides, the analysis of the surveys for the period of 2012-2016 has revealed the increased influence of tax corruption on the SFD companies’ operation and strengthening of class routines to facilitate corporate administrative bargaining.

The article examines the issues pertinent to the integration of the regional economy into global value chains which play a significant role in the modern world economy. However, the Russian economy is integrated into the organization of production across national boundaries on disadvantageous terms, i.e. mainly as a supplier of raw materials. The article concludes that it is necessary to improve international specialization of the Russian economy so as to increase the production of high value added goods and services. Given the increasing regional disparity of social and economic development in the Russian Federation and the recent government economic policy with pronounced equalization efforts, it is suggested that special attention be drawn to the regional dimension of national business participation in global value chains on advantageous terms. The article considers the possibility to shift the focus of regional economic policy from supporting individual branches to supporting specific businesses and productions which could be viewed as a part of global value chains; these businesses or productions can be set up either within the exciting companies or the newly created ones. In this regard, the author proposes a new typology of regional economic sectors subject to government regulation. The article determines the principles that guide interactions between government bodies, scientific-research organizations and businesses while implementing production projects which are part of regional and global production nets.

This work analyzes the basic conditions for the formation of aerotropolis in Tolmachevo district of Novosibirsk region as compared to the world practices on the development of peri-airport urban areas. The work aims at analyzing economic potential of municipalities around Novosibirsk Aerotropolis and identifying the reserves for the development of the territory. The paper reveals development vectors in the area around Tolmachevo airport which are common for the world trends in the development of such territories: transport infrastructure, logistics facilities, business and health centers, hotels, etc. Drawing upon international experience, it has been suggested that a special “airport type” economic zone around Novosibirsk Aerotropolis be formed.

The article explores the effects of network relationship in the area of recreation and tourism in the tourism destination. The author determines concept of “synergistic effect” in the area of recreation and tourism in the tourism destination, proposes definition of the “cumulative effect” of network relationship in the area of recreation and tourism in the tourism destination. The article substantiates the characteristics of “synergistic” and “cumulative” effects of network relationship in the area of recreation and tourism in the tourism destination. The study showed that the cumulative effect is a qualitative result of network relationship in the area of recreation and tourism in the tourism destination. Cumulative effect requires a strategic approach to management and is manifested in the long term. The list presents of recommended parameters for estimating of network relationship in the area of recreation and tourism in the tourism destination. The correlation analysis, which demonstrates the relationship between the synergistic cumulative effect of network relationship in the area of recreation and tourism in the tourism destination, conducted. The analyzed data for the correlation analysis is given by the State Statistical Service of Russia and the rating agency “Expert-RA”. This work analyzes the “synergistic” and “cumulative” effects of network relationship in the area of recreation and tourism in the Siberian regions. The results are obtained, the link that arises between the synergistic and cumulative effect of network relationship in the area of recreation and tourism in the tourism destination, proved.

The study aims at analyzing the social context of institutionalization of public hearings in a separate region of Russia. The article focuses on institutionalization of civil society and examines peculiarities of institutionalization of public hearings in regional society. The paper attempts to clearly define the concepts of “institution” and “institutionalization”, with special attention being paid to the stages of institutionalization, the criteria for the completion of institutionalization and the emergence of a new social institution, i.e. the institute of public hearing. The analysis has revealed that the process of institutionalization of the dialogue between the authorities and the public in the field of PS is the process of transition from irregular sporadic communication practices to systematic, orderly, organized and managed models of interaction between state institutions, on the one hand, and organizations and institutions of civil society, on the other hand.

Disadvantaged families are known to be socially vulnerable categories of the population, where family problems negatively affect socialization of children. Such families need constant social assistance and support from the state and the country’s social policy. Social work with dysfunctional families and children is a separate activity aimed at preventing deviant behavior of the minors. The article reveals the content of social work with disadvantaged families, substantiates the importance of interdepartmental approach in the organization of social work with dysfunctional families, and determines the problems of social work with such families. The leading role in the organization of social work with disadvantaged families should be given both to specialized centers on the basis of which various social programs to assist vulnerable families can be implemented and to clubs which provide psychological and pedagogical support for disadvantaged families with children. The study makes it possible to determine the role of social work in socialization of children from disadvantaged families in the modern context.

The article describes the modern Russian educational “landscape” where people with disabilities can realize their right to education. Based on the data provided in the Monitoring conducted by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (data for 2015), to analyze teaching models for the students with disabilities, we have chosen the higher education institutions where a number of students with disabilities exceeds 30. The data from the Monitoring were supplemented with the information which came from the websites of these educational organizations. It has been revealed that most of the selected higher education institutions fail to address the educational needs of the students with disabilities (or do not indicate such an orientation thereto) and accurately articulate the educational format. The higher education institutions which implement specialized, integrated, and inclusive education models and a “transitional” model from specialized to inclusive education appear to be more systematic in their teaching approaches for the challenged students. However, such higher education institutions do not constitute the majority. The key findings in the analysis allow us to perceive that today there exists the system of learning and training students with disabilities, with inclusivity being a property of a particular higher education institution rather than the institute of higher education as a whole.