Digital Institutional Transformation of Electronic Trading Platforms in the Field of Public Procurement of the Russian Federation

Purpose: the aim of the article is to calculate the reduction in transaction costs when transferring purchases to electronic format, as well as determine the potential for digitizing the consideration of all requirements for procurement participants.Methods: the study is based on the conceptual provisions of the institutional economic theory, the use of the system approach methodology, the use of survey research methods, and the generalization of expert assessments. The development of the proposed topic is also based on the use of methods of economic and statistical analysis, scientifc abstraction, comparison and scientifc generalizations.Results: as a result of a detailed analysis, the digital transformation electronic trading platforms into the digital trading platforms was substantiated. The paper also shows the role of electronization and digitalization in reducing transaction costs and time spent on customers. It was revealed that the transfer of authority to the electronic trading platforms not only excludes the possibility of errors, unfair and opportunistic behavior of customers, and as a result – the imposition of fnes, but also reduces the time spent on procurement. The main approaches to improving the contract system, building its digital ecosystem, where the necessary actions are performed by the software and hardware complex, and the contract manager only "accompanies" the purchase, are proposed. The article presents the evolution of the use of digital technologies and the corresponding legal regulation in Russia.Conclusions and Relevance: the use of digital technologies in public procurement is becoming a factor causing changes in the contractual system. The electronic form of trading has brought a new reality, opportunities for digital transformation are opening up. The use of automated counterparty verifcation technologies in the activities of electronic trading platforms is a potential factor in reducing transaction costs. In the future, it is possible to use digital technology “big data”, which helps to identify and categorize the necessary information regarding the availability of experience in the execution of similar contracts.

The role of institutional potential and social entrepreneurship as the main drivers of business opportunity and competitiveness

Institutional potential plays a key role in creating business opportunities. However, past studies did not emphasize on the consistency and the interaction between institutional and entrepreneurial potential-shaping factors. This research aimed to explore the role of these two aspects in spotting market gaps and encouraging competitiveness. Mixed methods were used, with basic concepts focusing on new institutional economic theory. The results showed that standardization, commercialization, technology, productivity, invention, social capital, and human capital strengthened institutional potential and social entrepreneurship. This created more ventures and encouraged competition. However, there is a need to eliminate institutional barriers to improve the efficiency and productivity of the socio-cultural-economic systems.

Tax collection in the Roman Empire: a new institutional economics approach

This paper reviews the Roman tax collection system since the Late Republic to the Principality, focusing on the transition from the tax-farming system to a more centralized, census-based administration. We attempt to justify this transition according to New Institutional Economic theories (Transaction Cost Economics and Property Rights Theory). The paper argues that, during the Republic, the auction-based system of tax farming ended up giving place to opportunistic behaviors and abusing practices due to information asymmetries and contract incompleteness, enhanced by the collusion of tax farmers and governors. The Principality improved the efficiency of the tax collection system through the introduction of a bureaucratic and census-based administration, which allowed imperial employees to monitor the tax-farming activities.

V. N. Tatishchev: Prolegomena of the Russian modernization research program in the XVIII century (Institutional-evolutionary approach)

Introduction. V. N. Tatishchev, one of the founders of the Russian history studies, was notable for his broad views on the evolution of society and economic order. His economic views were not widely discussed during his lifetime and were not much in demand afterwards. Familiarity with his major works is hampered by the fact that they were almost never published in the form of notes, letters, and manuscripts. The ambiguity of his approaches, conclusions, recommendations and, accordingly, their evaluation was noted by many researchers who took diametrically opposed views. Deep erudition, reliance on Western European philosophy and Russian theology allowed the enlightener to create the conceptual milestones of the future institutional program. Theoretical analysis. Modernization of society should be based on constant changes in existing legislative and economic practices, ideological perceptions, and cultural patterns. This approach allows us to identify the most effective institutions (formal and informal rules), taking into account national specifics. Methodologically, the relationship between changes in public administration and social ethos “vertically and horizontally” is established; the importance of societal economic culture as a factor of sustainable development is emphasized. Empirical analysis. Considered chronologically consecutive works on purely economic topics and legal foundations of power are supported by a significant array of letters to Peter I, the Academy of Sciences, the Berg Collegium, and public figures of the first half of the 18th century. According to the thinker, economic policy, both at micro and macro levels, should be based on regulations, organizational adaptation and rational borrowing. The qualitative description of the structure of social relations of absolutist Russia, in the form of “physiology of society”, which resonates with the modern concepts in economic sociology and new institutional economic theory, is highlighted. Results. V. N. Tatishchev can reasonably be considered the conceptual forerunner of the modern theory of institutionalism. As an enlightener, in the spirit of eighteenth-century social thought, he created an introduction to the importance of permanent changes in Russian economic and social structures. The imperative of state construction of the economy at the macro level is supported by attention to micro-changes in the form of regular economic practices, combining elements of originality and creative borrowing of foreign innovations. Evolutionary approach of the thinker echoes the formation and development of economic views of the XIX and XX centuries, especially in the prerequisites of the theory of history periodization and the transition from one political order to another on the basis of changes in institutions (formal and informal rules).

Factors Affecting Wheat Producers’ Water Conservation Behavior: Evidence from Iran

The present research aimed to identify and analyze the factors influencing water conservation behaviors (WCBs) and determine the most important ones. The research adopted a causal-relational method with a questionnaire compiled for data collection. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire based on the calculation of Cronbach’s alpha for different sections were between 0.71 and 0.95. The statistical population included 5473 wheat farmers in Bukan Township, Iran. Krejcie and Morgan tables were used to calculate the sample size of 357 people. All these farmers have key information about the effects of climate change (e.g., drought) and are pioneers in using adaptation and water conservation strategies in wheat production. In this study, the sample size was determined using stratified sampling method with proportional assignment. The questionnaire validity was approved by the validity expert board. According to the findings of the exploratory factor analysis, the most important factors influencing WCBs of wheat producers included “institutional”, “economic”, “natural”, “extensional”, “social”, “attitudinal”, and “self-identity” ones. These seven factors together accounted for 47.498% of the variance in WCBs of wheat producers. The relationship between independent variables and wheat growers’ WCBs was determined by Pearson correlation coefficients. According to the results, economic, institutional, natural, attitudinal, social, and self-identity factors had a significant relationship with WBC at 1% error level. The regression results also showed that among the studied variables, economic and extensional factors had the greatest impact on wheat growers’ WCBs. The results can help managers and planners determine policies that focus more on economic and extensional factors that have been neglected in previous studies.

A fresh look at the concepts of economic and macroeconomic crises: General, priority, and institutional approach

Subject. The article addresses approaches to understanding the economic and macroeconomic crisis. Objectives. The aim is to study and update the concepts of macroeconomic crisis and economic crisis, taking into account modern crisis phenomena and processes, for easier identification and timely anti-crisis measures. Methods. The study draws on the abstract-logical method. Results. The paper clarifies the terms "macroeconomic crisis" and "economic crisis", adds two approaches to the traditional general economic approach to understanding macroeconomic and economic crises, i.e. priority-economic (new approach) and institutional- economic (updated approach). I offer a new systemic grouping of signs of macroeconomic crises and examples that reveal the impact of new signs of these crises on macroeconomics. I formulated a new idea of the unity of intermittent and persistent crisis. Conclusions. The priority-economic approach indicates the priority areas of effort mobilization in the process of crisis management of macroeconomics. The institutional-economic approach broadens the perception of the crises and confirms the need to apply an updated institutional approach to all phenomena and processes studied in macroeconomics.

Poland in the Digital Age

Within the three casual mechanisms known so far in relation to the emergence and spread of AI Nationalism, this short piece of research strives to combine recent IR literature involving cyberspace and AI with new insights from the institutional economic perspective and Neoclassical Realism, in order to make an introductory assessment focused on Poland’s geopolitical challenges in the Digital Era. Since the analytical focus of this article concentrates on the case of Poland, the discussion can be perhaps also relevant for other countries pertaining to Central-Eastern Europe.

Interdependence with suppliers in the innovation ecosystem: the effects of supplier concentration on firm innovation

Purpose Based on the strategy and new institutional economic literature, this study aims to explore how different levels of supplier concentration (SC) will be characterized by differences in switching cost and coordinated adaptation in an ecosystem, thereby shaping its research and development (R&D) intensity, innovation performance and innovation efficiency. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a set of panel data of Chinese listed firms in the Growth Enterprise Board and their top five suppliers from 2012 to 2016. A Tobit model is used to test the hypotheses. Findings The study finds that SC has an inverted U-shape effect on R&D intensity. This finding implies that firms are more likely to invest in R&D when SC is intermediate level. While it has a U-shape relationship between SC and innovation output, both lower SC and higher SC are more efficient in innovation because of their advantage in low switching cost and better coordinative adaptability, respectively. Originality/value The study complements the innovation ecosystem literature by using SC to represent the structure of the interdependence between firms and suppliers in an ecosystem, then examining the correlation between SC and firms’ innovation investment and output, respectively. Second, combining strategy and new institutional economic literature, the non-linear effects of SC on firms’ innovation are found.