The Impact of the Internal Expenditures on R&D in the Growth of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in the Republic of Kazakhstan

The aim of the article is to investigate the relationship between the number of active small and medium-sized businesses in Kazakhstan and the number of internal costs for research and development projects based on the use of economic and mathematical forecasting methods. As a result of the application of statistical and mathematical methods, the analysis of changes in the number of active SMEs and the volume of R&D expenditures in the Republic of Kazakhstan for the period 1999-2019 was carried out on the basis of constructing a paired linear regression model. The quality of the model was assessed, the interval for the lower and upper boundaries of the forecast of changes in the indicators of the number of active SMEs from the volume of R&D expenditures was calculated. An economic interpretation of the calculated data obtained because of constructing a linear paired regression model is given. It was revealed that the number of active SMEs by 94.5% is explained by the volume of internal R&D expenditures. A point forecast for the number of active SMEs has been calculated when the volume of internal R&D expenditures changes for 2022. The calculation of indicators of the lower and upper boundaries of the predicted value of the number of active SMEs has been carried out. With an increase in the volume of internal expenditures on R&D in the GDP of the Republic of Kazakhstan to 92,178 million tenge, the number of active small and medium-sized enterprises will be in the range from 1,244,436 to 1,669,622 units.

Coase’s Transactional Principle in The Light of System Economic Theory

The problem of optimization of transaction costs is investigated in the article from system economic theory. The concept of a transaction is interpreted as an interaction that affects the products’ seller and the products’ buyer and the immediate system environment of each of them. The representation of such an environment in the form of a tetrad, which is a relatively stable complex of four basic subsystems of object, project, process, and environmental types, makes it possible to trace the consequences of the transaction impulse in the economic zone of the seller and the buyer. Based on the systemic expansion of the concept of transaction, we analyze the transaction costs and benefits arising from the transaction in all four subsystems of the internal space of the firm and its immediate external environment. When formulating the modified Coase’s transactional principle, which determines the optimal size of a firm depending on the ratio between transactional (external) and administrative (internal) costs, we take into account the change in the firm’s “effect of influence” on the immediate environment as boundaries of the firm expand. Considering the “effect of influence” becomes especially important in the context of the growing development of the ecosystem form of organizing economic interaction, characterized by an increased density and tightness of intersubjective relations within the ecosystem. Attention is drawn to the positive aspects of “institutional friction” in the economy, which allows a new approach to determining the optimal level of transaction costs. The expediency of considering the “double tetrad” as a combination of the seller’s tetrad and the buyer’s tetrad as a system unit of market analysis is substantiated.

The Impact of the Internalization of External Costs in the Competitiveness of Short Sea Shipping

This paper applies a methodology for computing external costs in an intermodal transport network that includes short sea shipping to explore the impact of external costs in its competitiveness. The network, which includes roads, freight railways, maritime and inland waterway connections, considers the specific characteristics of different transport alternatives and vehicle types, providing a fair comparison of the various modes. A case study focused on freight transportation between Northern Portugal and 75 destinations (NUTS2 regions) in north-western Europe is presented. The potential of different intermodal routes that include short sea shipping is assessed, including not only internal costs and times but also external costs per mode and unit of cargo. The impact of the different cost approaches in each country of transit is shown along with the progress that has been made in the integration of external costs, using the most recent EU estimates on marginal costs coverage ratios per country for freight transport modes. The results support the modal shift from road to sea in this corridor, providing means for modal comparison and for the development of short sea shipping’s image as a sustainable mode of transportation.

The Economics of Fruit and Vegetable Production Irrigated with Reclaimed Water Incorporating the Hidden Costs of Life Cycle Environmental Impacts

The estimation and quantification of external environmental costs (hidden costs) are crucial to sustainability assessments of treated wastewater reuse projects. These costs, however, are rarely considered in economic analysis studies. In this work, monetized life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) were combined into a hybrid model to calculate cradle-to-farm gate external environmental costs (EEC) and internal costs (IC) of producing 1 t of plant-based product irrigated with reclaimed water in a Mediterranean context. The total cost was calculated by combining monetized LCA and LCC results. The results for the crops under consideration were 119.4 €/t for tomatoes, 344.4 €/t for table grapes, and 557 €/t for artichokes. Our findings show that there are significant hidden costs at the farm level, with EEC accounting for 57%, 23%, and 38% of the total cost of tomatoes, table grapes, and artichokes, respectively. Electricity use for water treatment and fertilization generated most of the EEC driven by the global warming, particulate matter, acidification, and fossil resource scarcity impact categories. When compared to groundwater, the higher internal costs of reclaimed water were offset by lower external costs, particularly when supported by low-energy wastewater treatment. This demonstrates that incorporating EEC into economic analyses might generate a better understanding of the profitability of treated wastewater reuse in crop production. In Italy and the Mediterranean region, research on the sustainability of water reuse in irrigation through life cycle thinking is still limited. Using a multi-metric approach, our analysis brought new insights into both economic and environmental performance – and their tradeoff relationships in wastewater reuse for irrigation of agricultural crops. In future research, it would be of interest to use different monetization methods as well as to investigate social externalities to explore their size and role in the total external costs.

MAIN INDICATORS OF INNOVATIVE DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN AT THE PRESENT STAGE

В статье рассмотрено современное состояние инновационной деятельности в республике, проведён анализ проблем, сдерживающих его развитие, представлено авторское видение их решения. Авторы исследуют показатели эффективности научно-исследовательской деятельности в Казахстане, результативность исследований и разработок на территории РК. Выделены основные факторы, сдерживающие развитие инновационных процессов в РК. Отмечены изменения в инновационной деятельности компаний, а также сокращение доли инновационной продукции в ВВП и степень инновационной активности в производственном секторе. Сформулированы выводы и рекомендации для совершенствования оценки эффективности инновационной деятельности, дан прогноз влияния затрат на выпуск инновационной продукции. Авторами статьи отмечается, что, установленная низкая эффективность инновационной политики обусловлена комплексом проблем, среди которых выделили: отсутствие инновационной инфраструктуры, ограниченность финансовых и человеческих ресурсов; недостаточный уровень проработки методических и методологических разработок в данной области, низкий уровень вовлеченности результатов научно-технической деятельности и многие другие. Проведен анализ долиинновационной продукции в ВВП, динамикивнутренних затрат на НИОКР и количество организаций, осуществляющих НИОКР, показана зависимость влияниязатрат на инновации на выпуск инновационной продукции в РК. Предложена система мер по совершенствованию инновационной деятельности в Казахстане, в том числе необходимость в подготовкенаучных и инженерных кадров, менеджеров инновационного бизнеса на системной основе, увеличение финансирования и привлечение иностранного капитала и бизнеса с целью активизации конкуренции. Ключевые слова: валовый внутренний продукт (ВВП), инновации, устойчивое развитие, государственное регулирование, НИР, НИОКР, внутренние и внешние затраты, патенты, статьи. The article examines the current state of innovation in the republic, analyzes the problems hindering its development, presents the author's vision of their solution. The authors investigate the indicators of the effectiveness of research activities in Kazakhstan, the effectiveness of research and development in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The main factors hindering the development of innovative processes in the Republic of Kazakhstan are highlighted. Changes in the innovative activity of companies, as well as a decrease in the share of innovative products in GDP and the degree of innovative activity in the manufacturing sector are noted. Conclusions and recommendations are formulated for improving the assessment of the effectiveness of innovative activities, a forecast of the impact of costs on the production of innovative products is given. The authors of the article note that the established low efficiency of innovation policy is due to a complex of problems, among which they highlighted: lack of innovation infrastructure, limited financial and human resources; insufficient level of elaboration of methodological and methodological developments in this area, low level of involvement of the results of scientific and technical activities, and many others. The analysis of the share of innovative products in GDP, the dynamics of internal costs for R&D and the number of organizations engaged in R&D, shows the dependence of the influence of costs on innovation on the production of innovative products in the Republic of Kazakhstan. A system of measures to improve innovation in Kazakhstan is proposed, including the need for training scientific and engineering personnel, managers of innovative business on a systematic basis, increasing funding and attracting foreign capital and business in order to intensify competition.

Aligning Prices With Value

Value-based pricing aims to optimize incentives for pharmaceutical companies making drug development investment decisions. To promote alignment of prices and value, this chapter recommends that Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurers build value assessment into their coverage decisions. Before doing so, it explores alternatives that purport to make this alignment unnecessary. The first, cost-recovery pricing, reimburses drug companies for only their costs, rather than for value. While cost-recovery prices can be low, they reward high internal costs rather than better drugs. Prizes and subscription plans pay a lump sum, rather than paying for each treated patient, but they still require value assessment to set the size of the prize or subscription fee. Radical alternatives suggest having the government develop new drugs. Whether the government would be effective remains unknown. Nonetheless, it would, like private companies, have to prioritize investments, requiring something like value assessment to do so.

TRENDS AND PROSPECTS OF FINANCING PRESCHOOL EDUCATION IN RUSSIA

The article deals with the range of problems related to the development, financing and organization of research and innovation sectors of Russia. An analysis on the number of organizations engaged in research and development as well as on the personnel of scientific institutions have been carried out based on the statistical data. It examines a number of indicators of research funding and that of the structure of internal costs for research and development. Special attention is paid to the issue of the financial support of Russian science, a comparative analysis with similar indicators of developed countries. The author has demonstrated and analyzed some scientometric indices. The article substantiates the need to reconsider the organization and management of the development of national science, and to build the system of science and business cooperation. Directions that will contribute to the strengthening and development of the country’s scientific potential have been proposed.

COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test at hospital admission associated to the knowledge of individual risk factors allow overcoming the difficulty of managing suspected patients in hospitals

Early diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 is essential to limiting the spread of the virus and managing infected patients during hospitalization. The sensitivity of RT-qPCR is contested by the fact that it is time-consuming, executed by trained technicians in proper environment for material extraction. Here, we evaluated the first SARS-CoV-2 antigen test recommended by the World Health Organization at September, 2020 as an alternative for immediate diagnosis of symptomatic and suspected patients at a hospital in Brazil during the epidemic peak. All patients were submitted to RT-qPCR and rapid antigen test using nasopharyngeal swabs rigorously collected at the same time. Demographics, baseline comorbidities, symptoms and outcomes were considered. Prediction analysis revealed that previous stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, desaturation and tachypnea were the most relevant determinants of the death of COVID-19 patients. Comparison between the rapid antigen test and RT-qPCR revealed an overall PPV of 97%, extended to 100% when performed between 4 and 15 days of symptoms, with an accuracy of 90-91% from days 1 to 7 and a Substantial agreement. The rapid antigen test presented no inconclusive result. Among the discordant results and RT-qPCR inconclusives, 72% presented bilateral multifocal ground-glass opacities on imaging and other exams alterations. The median time to obtain RT-qPCR results was 83.6 hours, against 15 minutes for the rapid test, precious time for deciding on patient isolation and management. Knowledge of the risk factors and a rapid diagnosis upon patient admission is critical to reduce mortality of COVID-19 patients, hospital internal costs and in-hospital transmission.

Advocacia na Era Digital: Uma análise sobre possíveis impactos práticos e jurídicos das novas tecnologias na dinâmica da advocacia privada

This work aims to analyze the possible practical and legal repercussions of the implementation of technologies characteristic of the digital age in the dynamics of advocacy. Considering the increasing influence that scientific advances have exercised not only in human life, but especially in the ways of working and in the models of the professions, the objective was to prospectively investigate the transformations of this context in advocacy. In order to improve the understanding of the research, three common sectors-activities were separated between the more traditional advocacy: manual labor; systems and departments, highlighting the most recurring bottlenecks. Ahead, there were also three technologies highlighted in the technological revolution, which were: artificial intelligence; automation of legal documents and big data. In the meantime, possible resistance factors between law and technology were also discussed. Finally, through a bibliographic and exploratory methodological process, the research explored possible consequences of the direct insertion of these new technologies in each specific sector of traditional law, considering the functionalities and the problems that would be solved. Thus, there were several repercussions, both practical and legal, including the financial, methodological, strategic and organizational logistics of the offices, among which were mentioned: gain of time; fees. internal costs; data-based procedural strategy, and more. Still, in addition to the realization of the high probability of changes in the lawyer's practice, there was a need to seek solutions that really connect the law to innovations in this new scenario, with emphasis on the contracting of services offered by lawtechs.

ANALYSIS OF INDICATORS OF STATE EXPENDITURES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE AND SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES IN RUSSIA

The article provides a statistical analysis of government expenditures on the development of science and scientific activities in the Russian Federation. Thus, the analysis of internal costs for the development of science is based on the Strategy of Russia's innovative development, it also analyzes the structure of domestic expenditure on research and development during the period from 2010 to 2019