An Economic Alternative to Replacing Centralized Gas Supply with Autonomous Biogas Facilities in Russian Cities

The main trend in energy development is to increase energy efficiency by reducing the use of limited natural resources, the spread of renewable energy, and reducing the negative impact on the environment. An effective response to these challenges is the use of biogas plants that produce clean energy and solve the environmental problems of waste disposal and recycling. The purpose of the article is to assess the economic efficiency of replacing district gas supply with autonomous biogas plants in public utilities. A hypothesis has been put forward that the feasibility of using such technologies depends on climatic features and the specific provisions of state regulation of prices and gas consumption rates. A cost approach was applied that assesses the overall structure of equipment costs, as well as a comparative assessment method according to the principle “with / without a biogas plant”, and a scenario analysis, the criterion of which is the size of the family owning the plant. An auxiliary method for forecasting retail and economically justified prices for natural gas for the population was used. The object of calculations is the “HomeBiogas” installation intended for home use. Three Russian cities were chosen as territorial subjects: Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk and Krasnodar. The cities which differ significantly in their natural characteristics and approaches to the formation of retail gas prices. It has been proved that although the average monthly temperatures differ significantly in the cities considered, none of them has a constant temperature exceeding the required standard value of 17°C. In each case, the initial capital investment is driven up by the cost of installing additional insulation and heating systems. This equalizes the costs of warmer and colder areas. Therefore, the climatic features of cities are not significant and do not affect the economic efficiency of using a biogas plant. In turn, state regulation of prices and norms of gas consumption by the population is of decisive importance. The findings are of theoretical and practical importance. The methodology can be applied to assess the efficiency of using biogas plants in industry and gasification projects in the remote areas of Russia.

Gender Asymmetry of Entrepreneurial Intentions of Students in Russia and China

Entrepreneurship is now considered to be an urgent solution for handling large pools of young graduates around the world. These crucial situations where universities are creating an excess number of graduates as compared to jobs availability increase the pressure on graduates as well as policy makers and educators. Entrepreneurship in this case does not only handle the burden of the unemployed among the youth but also positively improves the economic development of the country’s economy. In becoming entrepreneurs, graduates do not only create jobs for themselves but for other as well and play a vital role in the development of the economy. This paper explains gender-based entrepreneurship intentions amongst students of Russia and China (3 universities in China, 3 in Russia). A questionnaire was developed to find the impact of different behavior factors on male and female students of Russia and China. In terms of methodology, the quantitative technique was used to collect the data. The entrepreneurial spirit is explained after analyzing the data from three universities in each country. The six universities numbering 468 student respondents were analyzed through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. To find out the association amongst different variables, multiple regression and correlation technique were used. The results also show an association of gender with entrepreneurship in students in both countries. However, in case of Russia male respondents showed higher intention than female respondents. To maintain the same role of male and female members in the society, development suggestions for educators and policy makers are presented.

Intellectual Capital of Technological Transformation of Economy of Industrial Region

The relevance of the research topic is due to the need to strengthen and expand the technological transformation of the Russian economy, which should contribute to the growth of high-tech products production and increase the competitiveness of domestic manufacturers in the world market. The hypothesis of the study is that the component features of the intellectual capital of the industrial region determine the predisposition/absence of predisposition of its economy to make a transition to a new dominant technological structure. The purpose of the scientific research is to identify the types of intellectual capital and which of them form the predisposition of regions to the technological transformation of their economies. During the study, the following tasks were solved: structural elements of intellectual capital that affect the innovative and technological development of the region, namely: education, are justified; innovative competencies; innovative skills; altruism; cognitive and non-cognitive competencies; sensitivity to change and adaptation to technological changes. Extractive, mono-inclusive and multi-inclusive type of intellectual capital of industrial regions, corresponding to the fourth, fifth and sixth technological framework, respectively, is disclosed. A methodology for estimating intellectual capital, which determines the dominant technological structure of the economy of the industrial region, has been developed on the basis of the use of the matrix method and Frobenius norms, which make it possible to conduct research over a long-time interval taking into account the dynamic trends of the main capital elements. The testing of the author's methodology revealed that such territories as Kemerovo Region, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Perm Territory, Republic of Bashkortostan, Republic of Tatarstan, Sverdlovsk Region, Udmurt Republic, Chelyabinsk Region, Chuvash Republic and Yaroslavl Region have intellectual capital for further technological development of the region's economy. The novelty of the obtained results lies in the development of a typology of regions, which enables one to identify the territories most prone to further technological transformation of the economy in the context of types of intellectual capital. The practical significance of the results obtained lies in the possibility of their use by authorities as a tool for developing a strategy for industrial development and structural adjustment of the economy of industrial regions.

Comparative Analysis of Factors of Functioning of Special Administrative Areas in the Asian-Pacific Region

The article is devoted to a study of the features of the functioning of special administrative regions in the Asia-Pacific region and the identification of factors influencing the results of the activities of the studied territories. The purpose of the study is to conduct a comparative analysis of the features of the functioning of special administrative regions in the Asia-Pacific region. During the research, qualitative methods were used: historical, comparison, analysis and synthesis, legal, deduction and induction, as well as a quantitative method of correlation and regression analysis. The study carried out a comparative analysis of the development and formation of special administrative regions in Russia, as well as Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. The research hypothesis is based on the assumption that the conditions for the functioning of special administrative regions affect the competitiveness and attractiveness of territories for residents. The research methodological base includes theories describing the impact of territories with a special economic status on the level of the development of territories. We used the author's method of analyzing the functioning of special administrative regions in Russia and in foreign jurisdictions based on 10 indicators: the number of newly registered residents, population, gross national income per capita, GDP, labor force, employment, government spending, direct tax receipts, indirect receipts. taxes, direct domestic investment, direct foreign investment, which made it possible to reveal the dependence of the number of residents registered in special administrative regions on these indicators. The empirical base of the study is data from official information portals on the activities of special administrative regions in Russia and abroad, data from OECD reports, statistics from the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, and others. The novelty of the results obtained lies in substantiating the influence of territorial development indicators on the number of residents in special administrative regions and identifying the risks of functioning of special administrative regions in Russia.

Modeling the Interaction of the Regions of Russia and the Republic of Belarus in the Sphere of the Processing Industry

In connection with the processes of the formation of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, the relevance of conducting a study of economic, infrastructural and institutional factors affecting the change in the level of economic interaction between the regions of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus is increasing. The aim of the work is to carry out spatial modeling of the possible interaction of the regions of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus in the manufacturing industry and to assess the factors affecting this interaction. The main hypothesis of the study is the assumption that the elements of the matrix of interregional interactions are proxy variables that characterize the degree of this interaction. At the first stage, the spatial distribution of the volume of output in the manufacturing sector of the regions of the two countries is investigated in order to assess possibilities of interaction between the regions in this sector. In modeling, the Republic of Belarus is considered as a separate region within the Union State. Calculations of the global and local Moran's indices have been carried out and possible spatial autocorrelations have been determined, both between the regions of the Russian Federation and between the regions of these two countries. In this study, economic indicators calculated on the basis of inverse values of the difference in interregional gross regional products were selected as elements of the weight matrix. At the second stage, the influence of economic, infrastructural and institutional factors on the indicator characterizing the degree of possible interaction of the regions of the two countries in the manufacturing industry was studied. Using quantile regression, the influence of economic, infrastructural and institutional factors on this investigated indicator was studied. The use of this approach makes it possible to substantiate the priority directions of economic development of the territories within the framework of the Union State and, in particular, to search for centers of attraction of resources and spheres of their influence on the territory. The results of the work can be used in preparation of strategies, programs and schemes for the placement and development of industries, taking into account the potential of a new level of integration of the economies of Russia and Belarus.

Assessment of the Impact of Public Transport Accessibility on the Value of Urban Residential Real Estate

Currently, analysis of the impact of public transport on real estate and its value is widely demanded in the world. The analysis is used to plan investments in public transport and the efficiency of public transport networks. In Russia, such studies have been carried out mainly in the framework of the evaluation of specific properties, which does not make it possible to macroanalyze the urban public transport environment and compare them with each other. The aim of the work is to study the influence of the proximity of public transport infrastructure on the cost of urban residential real estate, to determine the average value of such an impact for Yekaterinburg. In this study, we intend to confirm the hypothesis about different influence of the proximity of a public transport stop on the cost of housing, taking into account the different set of attributes that characterize it. The calculations were carried out using the analysis of the supply of the real estate market, carried out with the method of multiple regression, simultaneously with the geo-positioning of real estate units on the map to calculate the distance of each object to the nearest public transport stop of a certain type. Based on the results of the calculations, a global tendency towards a higher cost of the properties that are close to tram stops or metro stations in Yekaterinburg is confirmed, and the share of the value of a property generated by the proximity of a public transport stop was calculated. The authors confirmed the hypothesis about varying sensitivity of residential real estate to the proximity of public transport stops. Newer homes have lower sensitivity to proximity to public transport stops than older ones. The obtained empirical evidence of the influence of public transport infrastructure on the value of residential real estate demonstrates the most significant contribution to the value of a real estate object, the proximity to the metro station in Yekaterinburg (3.0 – 12.0%). The tram infrastructure showed a slightly lower impact on the total cost of the facility (3.2 – 8.8%). The revealed interdependencies make it possible to apply the obtained data to forecasting the growth of the taxable base for property tax during the construction of new transport lines.

Using Models of the GARCH Family to Estimate the Level of Food and Non-Food Inflation in Ethiopia

An increase in inflation volatility implies higher uncertainty about future prices. As a result, producers and consumers can be affected by the increased inflation volatility, because it increases the uncertainty and the risk in the market. Thus, inflation volatility attracts the attention of researchers to find a suitable model which can predict the future conditions of the market. This study aims to fit appropriate ARMA-GARCH family models for food and non-food inflation rate of from the period January 1971 through June 2020. Since the main objective of the study is identifying an appropriate model for inflation series, the null and alternative hypotheses are defined in comparison of the two types of models. H0: The symmetric GARCH models better capture inflation volatility of Ethiopia. H1: The asymmetric GARCH models better capture inflation volatility of Ethiopia. The ARMA-GARCH family models were applied to capture the stylized facts of financial time series such us leptokurtic, volatility clustering and leverage effects. The mean model results show that, an ARMA (1, 2) and ARIMA (0, 1, 1) models are identified as the best fitted model for food and non-food inflation, respectively. From the estimation results of volatility model, an asymmetric TGARCH (1, 1) model with Student's t- distributional assumptions of the residual is the best model for non-food inflation. Thus, modeling of information, news of events is very significant determinants of volatility and GARCH family models are appropriate for the given series (monthly food-inflation volatility) of Ethiopia under the study period considered.

Assessment of the Human Capital of an Enterprise and its Management in the Context of the Digital Transformation of the Economy

Current technological development amid the fourth industrial revolution inevitably changes the nature and conditions of work. The quality of human capital constitutes a significant contribution not only to labor productivity growth, but also contributes to the growth of social connections, loyalty and trust by employees. It increases the market share and the competitiveness of products. Consequently, the problem associated with improving the quality of human capital as the most important productive resource of a company is relevant, timely, socially and economically significant. The aim of the study is to develop a technology for human capital management based on a new methodology for assessing human capital and a scheme for the formation of individual trajectories of professional development, ensuring an increase in the quality of human capital and an increase in the company's efficiency. The proposed method for assessing human capital is designed to identify the digital twin of an employee and takes into account such traditional characteristics as age, education, professional experience and competencies, as well as additional characteristics - social status, health quality, inter-professional competencies, motivation and involvement, and provides a comprehensive assessment of human capital in enterprises in the course of digital transformation. Based on the results of the assessment of human capital, management decisions are developed for the individual trajectories of professional development design, aimed at increasing labor productivity and contributing to the companies’ operational efficiency growth. Experimental studies have been carried out on the use of the proposed technology for human capital management based on the data of a large oil-producing enterprise in the Republic of Bashkortostan. It is shown that the introduction of individual trajectories of professional development makes it possible to increase labor productivity by 6–7 % in the next 2–3 years, the company's revenue by 5–7 % and profit by 2 %. The theoretical significance of the results is concerned with the identified features of the human capital of a company associated with the health quality, the development of interdisciplinary knowledge, skills and abilities, motivation and involvement which should be taken into account during the process of assessment. The developed technology provides support for making managerial decisions for working out individual trajectories of employees’ development. The practical outcome of the study is the methods for human capital assessment and its development, which ensure the labor productivity growth, companies’ revenue and profit increase with minimal cost.

New Tools for Increasing the Practice-Orientedness of Russian Universities: The Market for Checklists

The article deals with the problem of weak integration of Russian universities into the real economy. This is one of the most pressing problems of the Russian university system. The purpose of the article is to develop a specialized pilot checklist "Towards business: a model for integrating higher education and the real sector of the economy" and to demonstrate the prospects for its use in regional universities. The general hypothesis of the research is to test the feasibility of creating and using such checklists to help Russian universities in restructuring their organizational models in the direction of strengthening practice orientation. It is shown that at present the market for a new information and analytical product – checklists – is in its infancy and is evolving in several directions. Firstly, it becomes more complicated: the number of constituent documents increases, the number of questions increases, etc. Secondly, the forms of their implementation are being improved: chargeable, bonus, free, by subscription, with an additional package, etc. Thirdly, different algorithms for their application appear: straightforward replication of a standard document, provision of a checklist with subsequent in-depth research and recommendations in relation to a specific customer, the possibility of choosing an additional service for expert assessment, creation and implementation of mobile applications for prompt updating of checklists, and etc. All of this allows the new methodological tool to find application in the higher education system. The article examines some typical examples of the new trend emerging in Spain, Croatia, Great Britain, the USA and Russia, as well as pan-European and Latin American initiatives. The methodology of the author's checklist "Towards business" is based on taking into account the world experience of integrating universities and enterprises in a compact form: an instruction document and a cover note. There have not yet been effective prototypes of the developed checklist in Russia. Cases of using the pilot checklist for reorganizing the model of work of universities in the Kamchatka Territory, the Republic of Dagestan and the Lipetsk Region confirm the general hypothesis of the article.

Impact of Short-Term Exogenous Shocks on Taxpayer Behavior and Tax Evasion

The evolution of views on tax evasion following the introduction of limited rationality and social and psychological factors into the models of taxpayer behavior has increased the plausibility of the initial assumptions of the models, but it has made it difficult to use classical approaches based on the search for equilibrium states. The variety of behavioral responses of taxpayers due to the many factors that influence their choice has led to the fact that tax evasion has come to be considered as the result of nonlinear and dynamic interactions between the state and taxpayers. In such models, small short-term external influences can act as shocks, which leads to the emergence of a wide range of different long-term trends, the analysis of which within the framework of traditional approaches is difficult. In this regard, the purpose of this review study is to study the evolution of views on the behavior of taxpayers that has led to the emergence of new approaches to modeling tax evasion where the key role is assigned to the analysis of the impact of external shocks of various scales and nature. The research hypothesis is that modern approaches to the study of tax evasion problems make it necessary to consider the interaction of the state and taxpayers within the framework of the theory of non-equilibrium and nonlinear systems in which minor external influences can play the role of shocks, and the most promising direction of their study is the use of agent-based modeling tools. The results of the study confirm that the use of agent-based models is a promising approach for integrating existing approaches in the study of tax evasion processes. The proposed concept of building an agent-based model for analyzing the processes of tax evasion allows us to answer the question of how short-term exogenous shocks will affect the preferences of taxpayers, taking into account their individual characteristics and accepted behavioral patterns in society.