Protracted credit crunch aſter the 2008–2009 crisis is considered as one of the most significant determinants of a sluggish rise in advanced economies. The credit cycle represents a key element of the business cycle, determining capital accumulation fluctuations. The article analyzes recovery trends of credit activity in the EU, and identifies two groups of countries: those with a slow credit recovery and those with an abnormally long period of credit crunch. One of the significant factors slowing the recovery of credit activity lies in the supply side of credit: the tightening of regulatory requirements for banks (Basel II, Basel II.5, Basel III) has had a negative impact on the loan supply. The paper examines the credit cycle model of European countries. An econometric model of the EU credit cycle is constructed as a vector autoregressive model using panel data. Credit standards are assumed to be an endogenous variable, i.e. dependent on other variables; and the change in the Basel requirements for banks is assumed to be an exogenous shock. The econometric model shows a reduction in credit and economic activity due to credit standards tightening for all countries, as well as the formation of credit standards based on macroeconomic variables, primarily depending on the interest rate. The article does not consider the optimal balance between reducing the banking crisis probability and curbing economic growth

This paper studies and quantifies the influence of industry localization and regional economic diversification on firm performance in different industries. The main idea is that industry localization and regional economic diversification improve enterprise performance and the influence might be found for most industries. In this paper, the Ellison-Glaeser index is applied to measure localization effects and the Herfindahl-Hirschman index is used to measure diversification. The dataset consists of 650,000 observations and approximates the full set of Russian real sector commercial companies in 2017. All companies were aggregated into eight groups by respective industry. Firm performance is measured via sales margin and net profit margin. Since the performance is highly dispersed, the regression analysis includes both OLS and quantile regression (QR) models for each group. It was found that the Mining industry had been affected neither by localization nor by diversification. Localization effects are significant and positive for Agriculture, Fishing, and Forestry; Wholesale, Retail and Food Services; Manufacturing; Transport; and IT, Broadcasting, and Telecommunication. The increase in profitability for them ranges from 1% to 4% per 0.1 change in the Ellison-Glaeser index. Localization is harmful for Construction, and Services and Minor Industry companies (7-fold drop in sales margin for Construction). Diversification is significant and decreases the sales margin of all the companies, and the effect ranges from 1.01% to 1.22% per 0.1 change in the Herfindahl-Hirschman index. These findings hold despite the choice of analysis tool (QR versus OLS); however, the study of different quantiles sheds light on the effects specific for some industries.

The aim of the study is to assess the role of digital technologies and entrepreneurship in improving the efficiency of supply chains in the pre- and post-crisis periods. The values considered are GDP per capita, characterizing the degree of the country’s well-being in the pre-crisis period; the LPI digital efficiency index, which determines the degree of development of the logistics environment in the country; the TIDL digital life index, which assesses the degree of development of the economy from the digital standpoint; and the GEI entrepreneurship index, which reflects the degree of development of entrepreneurship in the country. The result of cluster anal ysis was the division of many countries into clusters from which individual economies were selected for further analysis. The work resulted in conclusions about the communication system between ICT and logistics, as well as between the level of entrepreneurship and the efficiency of logistics in the pre-crisis period. It is shown that developed economies have a high level of development of logistics systems, and high values of the digital life rating and level of entrepreneurship, which cannot be said about countries with middle and lower levels of development. The main conclusion of the study is the fact that, firstly, active introduction of ICT makes it possible to restore the supply chains destroyed by the crisis and to increase their efficiency, and, secondly, development of entrepreneurship in the country is a serious impetus to increasing the efficiency of supply chains, giving businesses not only a chance to survive in a pandemic, but also great benefits.

The study discusses the relationship between competition and innovation in low-tech and high-tech industries in transition economies. The analysis is based on the World Bank’s Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) for manufacturing industries in 32 countries and includes 8,686 observations. We find an inverted U-shaped relationship between competition and R&D expenditure for low-technology industries, and a positive monotonic relationship for high-technology industries, similar to the leſt side of the inverted U-shaped curve. The latter result is in contrast to the previous results for developed economies, which also find an inverted U-shaped relationship between competition and innovation. We assume that our results reflect the “localization” of competition in high-tech sectors of transition economies, when increased competition in the domestic market of transition economies is not restrictive by nature and may foster innovation activity. From an economic policy perspective, it is important to discuss how to improve innovation performance in order to avoid mimicking positive changes in transition economies, especially those characterized by authoritarian policymaking. We focus on two main areas. First, it is necessary to improve the quality of corporate governance in state-owned companies that do not differ in R&D spending from private companies but have lower innovation performance; and second, it is necessary to attract foreign direct investment and create an enabling environment for foreign-owned companies that tend to have higher innovativeness—all other things being equal—and may foster national innovation ecosystems.

The system of positions and ranks at work in the Russian Federation’s civil service is similar to the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great. During the 19^th century, attempts were periodically made to reform Peter the Great’s system. This article demonstrates that, in the 19^th century, the number of civil servants continued to grow, the percentage of nobility in governmental civil service was gradually shrinking, and the level of education among civil servants was increasing. The question of abolishing the system of ranks was repeatedly raised. Higher education being obtainable by commoners allowed them to get a rank and served as a kind of “social liſt.” Transformations in governmental service were inseparable from the ideas of educational qualification for different categories of civil servants. The article also shows how the system of civil servants’ education was changing. In the first half of the 19^th century, attempts to introduce compulsory exams to obtain a certain rank oſten led to collisions and did not give the results desired. In the second half of the 19^th century, universities began to specialize in civil servants’ education. Reforms of normative acts regulating the system of civil service were winning their way with great difficulties. The last attempt to bring about significant changes in this field was made by the Commission for the Revision of the Charter of Civil Service, established in 1895. One of the first Bolsheviks’ decrees was the Decree on the Abolition of Estates and Civil Ranks. However, later the system of ranks was restored. The investigation of its history would assist the improvement of the modern civil service.

Insufficient quality of governance is traditionally considered a factor hindering social and economic development in Russia. However, the notion of governance quality and approaches to its measurement are subject to active debate. The article implements an original approach to defining and evaluating governance quality based on three key parameters: justified state interference, effectiveness, and efficiency. The diagnostics are based on evaluations made by international organizations, available statistical and sociological data, and the results of an expert survey conducted in March 2021. The diagnostic results suggest that there is significant room for improving the quality of public governance in Russia. Nevertheless, international and national evaluations of governance quality differ. While international organizations point to the deficiencies in ensuring justified state interference, Russian experts suggest that most problems with governance quality are efficiency-related. The paper suggests that there is a need for a comprehensive approach to improving public governance based on the balance of measures aimed at ensuring justified state interference as well as enhancing governance effectiveness and efficiency. In many cases such measures would not call for introducing new instruments and mechanisms; they should aim at implementing actual rather than formal application of the measures and practices already envisaged by legislation. The success of the efforts to improve public governance in Russia would depend on integrating these instruments and mechanisms into the management cycle and on increasing the responsibility for actual rather than formal use thereof. In this case one can also expect a positive impact of governance quality on achieving economic growth, quality of life, and other national developmental objectives.

In the book “Stagnation 2: Consequences, Risks and Alternatives for the Russian Economy”, which the authors call an analytical report, there are more questions posed than answers given. The paper analyzes the socio-economic development of Russia in the last decade and prospects for the medium and long term. In addition, the authors of the work do not analyze the causes of the unexpected stagnation since 2013, which abruptly broke the rising trend of Russia. The article attempts to explain the causes of stagnation and the coming recession of 2015. In this reflection, the review author tries to systematize the features of Russian stagnation, largely agreeing with their deep analysis in the analytical report. This is a discussion on the topics of “stability” and “equilibrium”, “middle income traps”, “redistributive models”, “lost beacons" and "isolationism”. The main focus of the review is devoted to analyzing the provisions of the analytical report on the prospects of Russia's development. The authors under review do not comprehensively consider the conditions and factors necessary to resume future sustainable socio-economic growth for Russia. Some authors do not see real opportunities for overcoming stagnation at all. In conclusion, the author of the review expresses his point of view on the possibilities and ways of transition to sustainable and accelerating socio-economic development. This would be possible on the basis of technological modernization of our economy as well as the improvement of welfare and preservation of the Russian people.