The Transformation of Dorćol Power Plant: Triggering a Sustainable Urban Regeneration or Selling the Heritage?

The power plant “Power and Light” (1932, Belgrade) was the first one to generate alternating current in Serbia. Situated along the Danube river, it represented a part of an industrial area positioned in the Dorćol neighborhood, close to the urban core. Since 2005, the whole area has been exposed to a significant transformation into a luxurious residential and commercial complex, triggered by the intentions of private investors and directed by the ideas of changing city authorities. Considering the unpredictable local context created by the dominant post-socialist transitional economy, the article focuses on the sensitive relationship between the social sustainability of the ongoing urban regeneration plans and the emerging neoliberal forces targeting the areas of industrial heritage. Consequently, the case of the Dorćol ex-power plant and the anticipated changes in its urban surrounding are analyzed according to the selected principles of social sustainability. Revealing numerous controversies, both on the level of preferred urban policies and their questionable application, this case addresses the problems of heritage (re)use and regeneration in an environment of fast-shifting governmental priorities and financial flows, with reduced receptivity to sustainable solutions.

Conceptual basis for financial policy formation of Russian Internet companies

Subject. To ensure rapid growth of the Russian economy, tools for creating a sustainable business development model are required. Positive changes should start from the non-tradable sector related to information and network services. Objectives. The study aims to identify main opportunities for improving the financial policy by the Internet industry companies through the use of basic financial and economic instruments. Methods. I employ fundamental methods and advanced technologies of basic theoretical, methodological and practical developments of domestic and foreign specialists in the theory and practice of corporate finance management. Results. The study demonstrates the need to work out financial policy issues, considering system restrictions that do not coincide with the guidelines for the information economy development, tasks of economy modernization, and the socio-economic development of the country. The findings can be used to design strategies for individual Internet companies and the entire domestic IT industry, in particular, for regional IT clusters. Conclusions. An agile financial development strategy based on the use of adapted information about consumers of goods and services can act as a mechanism limiting the impact of consequences of the financial crisis and globalization risks. The information economy can reduce barriers to promote financial flows.

Countercyclical Financing as a Tool for Facilitating Investment Activity in Russia: An Overview of Approaches

Aim. The presented study aims to investigate the use of the project financing mechanism to increase the investment activity of businesses and to identify opportunities for the allocation of cyclical risks and the corresponding development of project financing conditions.Tasks. The authors briefly overview the investment climate and investment activity of large businesses in Russia; provide a general description of the project financing mechanism in the implementation of investment projects and the allocation of risks among participants; consider the factor of price volatility and the proposed structuring of project financing with allowance for potential changes in prices for the project’s products.Methods. This study uses general scientific research methods (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction), including analysis of public information through the example of major Russian companies, analysis of the key indicators of investment activity, analysis of risk allocation options in the financial flows of projects. Specific methods of financial analysis are also used to examine the results of the implementation of investment projects.Results. The key indicators of investment activity of the major Russian companies are presented. The possibility of using the mechanism of project financing and risk allocation among participants is determined.Conclusions. The investment activity of a considerable part of large Russian businesses is moderate. At the same time, there is a huge potential for growth using either internal funds (profits, accumulated cash balances) or project financing instruments. An example of using the mechanism of accelerated repayment of debt financing is provided.

Modeling of financial support for the development of critical infrastructure objects

Topical issues of analysis and modelling of financial support for development of critical infrastructure objects are considered. The processes of reproduction of the national economy are considered within the framework of the matrix of financial flows (matrix of social accounts), which integrally describes the relationship between the markets and the institutional structure of the economy, makes it possible to allocate individual processes and conduct their analysis for criticality (profitability). The toolkit of these matrixes is taken as a basis for assessing the reproduction processes and identifying their criticality.To this end, a matrix of financial flows has been prepared, which has a block structure (goods and services, production and formation of income, financial flows, budgets of institutional sectors, gross investments, external sector), and generally includes 21 accounts, determining the reproduction processes under the scheme “GDP by income categories – net savings of institutional sectors”. The criticality of economic infrastructure is proposed to be assessed as the share of reproducing (gross, net) income in the structure of GDP, as the volatility of these incomes to GDP. Modelling of financial support for the development of critical infrastructure objects consists in the formation of internal conditions of economic growth – in ensuring the subjectivity of economic agents and the growth of national savings. Measures to improve the parameters of criticality in the processes of reproduction of economic infrastructure have been proposed. Methodological and informational sources of research were methodological provisions on national accounting and statistical materials of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.

Risk Analysis in Engineering Projects

Modern business processes are characterized by a large number of random factors that can affect the characteristics of internal and external processes. The created models use the method of calculating output parameters as an operation with random characteristics of factors that affect the final results. The processes and factors of the project are divided into permanent and random. Random processes are characterized by individual distributions and characteristics. The mathematical model of a business project is formed by a program that performs operations with the characteristics of random factors and risk factors that form the business project. The generated model allows you to calculate financial flows and balances at all stages of the project implementation, and determines various indicators of its effectiveness. To optimize these indicators, it is planned to introduce anti-risk measures. The model allows you to optimize the number of such activities, taking into account their cost and the degree of impact on the project performance indicators. Using the proposed method of analyzing business projects allows you to take into account possible random factors and risk factors and make the most optimal management decisions.

The United Kingdom’s exposure to corruption is rising

Significance This reflects long-standing dynamics linked to the United Kingdom’s role in facilitating illicit global financial flows. In addition, recent political developments under Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government have fuelled the perception that UK rule of law standards are declining. Impacts Surging real estate prices and increasing wealth inequality facilitate money laundering. Academic freedom in the United Kingdom is potentially impacted by the increase in private donations to universities. The ruling Conservative Party is particularly vulnerable to charges of corruption, given its reliance on private funding.

The role of international courts’ decisions in the system of sources of international financial law

The paper deals with the analysis of the legal nature of international courts’ decisions and their impact on the international financial legal order. The author claims that decisions of international courts, creating no new international legal financial norms, act as an additional source of international financial law, having no autonomy, and in combination with other sources of international law, performs the following functions: 1) regulatory-prescriptive (via opinio juris of existing traditions in interstate practice in the financial sphere transforming them into international customary law); 2) regulatory-affirming (confirming the legal nature of the international agreement between the subjects of international financial legal relations which caused a disputable situation). The judicial practice on financial issues and specificity of functioning of such judicial institutions as the Permanent Court of International Justice, the International Court of Justice, the CIS Economic Court, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Court of Justice of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, etc. are examined. The features of the provisions of international agreements on financial issues regarding the procedure for resolving disputes between the parties of the agreement about its implementation are analyzed. The paper explores particularities of the origin and development of the idea of the creation of an international financial court. Amid modern processes of the rapid growth of the amount of cross-border financial flows in the context of globalization, which is the consequence of the implementation of numerous international financial agreements, the idea of creation of an international financial court, which was first suggested in 1935, due to the complexity of legal nature of interstate financial disputes, is an objective necessity. The following features intrinsic to decisions of international courts (including decisions on financial issues) have been identified: 1) locality (binding only on the parties involved in the case, and only in the current case); 2) situatedness and unprompted appearance; 3) impartiality (due to the judges’ lack of political interest); 4) authority (international courts include generally recognized experts in international law).

SDG 4 and SDG 8 in the knowledge economy: A meta-analysis in the context of post-COVID-19 recovery

Almost all human activity spheres, from the health care system to the education system, were unprepared for the pandemic. This, in turn, has slowed down the progress in achieving sustainable development goals. The Sustainable Development Goals 4 “Quality Education” and 8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth” were particularly vulnerable. In addition, the widespread concern was caused in the context of the transition to a “knowledge-based economy”. This paper analyzes the readiness of the scientific community to provide preconditions for the acceleration of these SDGs achievements. To do this, a meta-analysis of the academic literature on SDG 4, SDG 8, and the knowledge-based economy during 2015–2021 was conducted. Several special methods and instruments were used, including Scopus, WoS, VosViewer, Publish or Perish, Google Trends, and Google Books Ngram Viewer. The results show the inability of the modern academic community to provide a theoretical and empirical framework for a successful transition to a knowledge-based economy, taking into account the need to achieve sustainability. This is partly due to the relative subject novelty and the lack of academic attention. The challenges posed by the pandemic (lockdowns, unemployment, closing of educational institutions, financial flows reorientation, etc.) together with potential threats (new pandemic, climate change, population displacement, armed conflicts, etc.) necessitate a radical intensification of academic activity in economics to achieve SDGs.