Formation of the model of state support for the Ukrainian agrarian sector in the market economy: change of the approach

The study’s main purpose is to investigate the basic principles of forming the model of state support for the Ukrainian agrarian sector in the year 2020. The subject-object method was used to determine the essential understanding of the state support for the agrarian sector in market conditions and identify various characteristics, direct relations, feedback, dependencies, and the tools and mechanisms used to implement the support. The principles of granting and using state support for the agricultural sector, including competence, orientation, honesty, compatibility (adequacy, timeliness), neutrality (impartiality), compromise, pre-investment character, versatility, financial character, maximum benefit, are substantiated. It is proved that Ukraine needs to create a new ideological platform of state support for the agrarian sector, which should be based on strengthening the position of small businesses in the value chain, shifting the focus from agricultural holdings to farmers and private peasant farms that fulfill most of the social functions of the industry.

Basic income: economy and psychology

Basic income is a social idea appealing to humanist philosophers and politicians. Numerous experiments on the introduction of the concept of basic income occurred in countries with varying degrees of economic development. Surveys are being conducted around the world on the need to introduce basic income. Dynamics of economic processes and social sentiment in individual countries require generalisation of modern factors influencing the possibility of practical implementation of the concept of basic income. This paper studies the economic and psychological factors for supporting the idea of basic income in terms of its practical implementation, analyses the interpretation of the UBI idea by various researchers and provides a characteristic of the modern vision of basic income. The arguments for and against the practical implementation of this idea with their structuring in the following directions are formed and considered: influence on the economy, change of social relations and possibility of practical realisation. The authors presentgeneralised results of the experiments on the introduction of basic income from the 1960s to the present day in South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, as well as the results of the poll and referendum on the introduction of basic income in Switzerland in 2016.

The Sustainable Project Management Model

In the era of digital transformation, following the emergence of disruptive technologies that guided and facilitated the shift towards sharing economy, change is imperative. Imagine the very nice-looking carriages that you see in the royal weddings and compare them to the latest generation of Tesla cars. Or compare the set of skills required to fly Yakovlev Air-5 model 1931 vis-a-vis the Dassault Rafale or the F16 Fighting Falcon (Top 10 fighters, 2017). Before embarking on driving/flying the latter, regardless how competent with the former, the driver/pilot needs to acquire relevant knowledge and master a new set of skills and techniques, and learn different methods in order to be able to deal with the state-of-the-art technology. The vibrant business environment that has become even turbulent amid the digital transformation is analogous to the rough sea with unfavourable conditions. Those who are not ahead of the game, vigilant, and aware of what they need to do in order to sail safe will have an unpleasant ending, regardless of how successful they are at present. The Titanic is just one example.

Audience costs, domestic economy and coercive diplomacy

Does the state of the domestic economy change the size of the effect of audience costs? As public opinion research has shown, citizens assess the performance of their leaders based not only on foreign policy, but also on the domestic economy. Thus, if leaders are subject to audience costs, they should be even less able to afford failure in an international crisis when the economy is performing badly than when the economy is doing well. As a result, such leaders should be even more able to make their threats credible and, therefore, are more likely to be successful in coercive diplomacy. This novel prediction finds no empirical support in a replication study using Moon and Souva (2016). I discuss possible reasons for this result and avenues for further research.