Political Participation and Request for Change: The Role of Education

The article tests the hypothesis, based on the concept of post-industrial society that people with higher education will be more politically active, especially in the manifestation of the demand for change. For this purpose, the materials of the All-Russian poll, organized in March 2021 by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, are used to analyze the sociopolitical characteristics associated with political activism and the formation of a demand for change among different educational groups of Russians. The conclusion is made that, first, education in modern Russia does directly affect an individual's preparedness for political action: more educated Russians are more interested in the political life of the country and are more aware of their ability to influence the "rules of the game". Second, education does directly affect actual involvement in social and political activism. However, concerning conscious political participation, this effect relates not so much to everyday, regular, as to its extreme protest forms. Third, the education of Russians has no discernible correlation with the presence/absence of a liberal demand for change. In terms of meeting the minimum requirements for political participation, Russian educational groups currently correspond to the Western political science mainstream theory and the practices of developed countries. Nevertheless, the highlighted features of the political characteristics of Russians with higher and post-higher education (not all of the examined indicators are stable in dynamics, not all differences between educational groups are clearly expressed, and, in general, the participation of highly educated Russians in the political life of the country is rather formal) lead to the need for a more careful study of the findings not only of the Western scientific mainstream but also of alternative concepts of Third World researchers. In addition, it has been suggested that the emancipation of a group of highly educated Russians from the state is incomplete. Consequently, they are aware of their objectively central place and leading role in political life.

Institutes of Financial Socialization of Russian Students

The paper examines the factors influencing the financial socialization of Russian students. It provides an overview of research on the impact of family institutions (parental household), financial independence, and the maturity of financial behavior on the financial socialization of young people. We analyze the relationships between basic socio-demographic characteristics of Russian students (gender, age, marital status), their behavioral characteristics (risk preference, propensity for offense or unethical behavior, prodigality, credulity), and socio-economic characteristics (level of financial status, financial independence, financial maturity). The empirical part of the study is based on the data of the author's survey of 1291 students from 17 Russian universities, processed by methods of statistical, correlation, and econometric analysis. To assess the level of financial well-being, we develop an original methodology where the financial situation shows the availability of goods and services that are unaffordable to most members of this group. Likewise, financial maturity is the students' proficiency in financial instruments poorly mastered by the majority of other respondents. The survey revealed a significant financial dependence of Russian students on their parents and their low level of financial maturity. We found an increased level of credulity and a low level of propensity for offense or unethical behavior; established positive correlation between the risk preference and the propensity for offense or unethical behavior, between the level of credulity and prodigality. We established that as financial dependence on parents gradually decreases, young people make more mature financial decisions, and their growing risk preference is replaced by a shift to more prudent financial practices. In groups where young people provide for themselves, their assessments of their financial situation rise sharply from a certain point, and the level of prodigality decreases. The constructed model of ordered logit regression showed a significant positive effect of age, marital and employment status, risk preference and level of financial maturity, as well as a significant negative effect of prodigality and credulity on financial independence of Russian students. The research results are applicable for the further development of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of effective financial behavior of young people and the management of student financial socialization processes.

New «Old» Institutionalisation of Money Circulation in Post-Soviet Russia

For the study of the institutionalization of money circulation in post-Soviet Russia, an institutional-evolutionary approach was used, based on the ideas of Thorstein B. Veblen and Joseph A. Schumpeter, as well as John R. Commons. The object of the analysis was the institutional structures of money circulation, which are the most significant from the public interest point of view. The paper compares the results of the institutionalisation of money circulation in the USSR and post-Soviet Russia. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of transitional periods. In transitional periods there was a rejection, filtration, and correction of institutional forms of money circulation in terms of their compliance with public goals to develop the country's socio-economic system. The following features of the institutional design of the Soviet model are identified: first, the presence of a single-link, a hierarchical, centralized banking system with the concentration of the entire payment turnover system in the State Bank of the USSR; second, the existence of a "three-circuit system" of money turnover with cash for servicing the turnover of consumer goods, non-cash money for industrial consumption (investment) and convertible rubles for international export-import payments; third, the division of money turnover was supported by the creation of special banking institutions for servicing each of them, controlled by the State Bank of the USSR - the "State Labour Savings Banks", "Stroybank" and "Vneshtorgbank", respectively; fourth, the institutions of money circulation were an internal element of the system of the planned national economy of the USSR and were organically integrated into it. The institutionalisation of money circulation in post-Soviet Russia is characterized by the presence of new (albeit previously represented in the history of our country) institutions and has the following features: first, a two-tier banking system, the upper level of which is represented by the Central Bank of Russia, and the lower level is represented by banks and non-banking credit institutions; second, organizations of various forms of ownership operate in the sphere of money circulation, while state forms of ownership are playing an increasingly significant role; third, there is a stock exchange where stocks, bonds, currencies and other instruments of the money market are traded. The official exchange rate set by the Central Bank of Russia is based on stock quotes; fourth, the Federal Treasury operates to mediate the movement of budgetary funds. An additional element of control over their use is the introduction of "treasury accounts", to which budget funds are transferred and from where they are used for the implementation of state development programs. As a result, one can see that the process of institutional renewal of money circulation in post-Soviet Russia is associated with the return to a number of institutions characteristic of pre-revolutionary and Soviet history. Therefore we can talk about a new "old" institutionalisation of money circulation in post-Soviet Russia. The main vector of changes in recent years is associated with the increasing recognition of the social significance of this sphere, serving the public interest. A forecast has been made that state control over the processes of money circulation in modern Russia is likely to increase.

The Economy of The Song Dynasty or The Experience of Failed Modernization: The Boundaries of Institutional Corridors

The article contributes to institutional matrices theory (Kirdina, 2011). On the reforms carried out in China during the Song Dynasty in the second half of the XI century, the hypothesis of the existence of so-called "institutional corridors" is considered. The "institutional corridor" implies a space limited by a set of certain institutions that define the principles of decision-making and the boundaries of institutional environment reform. The article briefly describes the economic situation of China during the Song dynasty, analyzes the main reforms carried out by the first Minister of the empire Wang Anshi and the reasons for their failure. The concept of jing ji is analyzed. Jing ji assumes an integrated approach to regulating the economy in China, based on Confucian ethics' moral and ethical concepts. The concept of jing ji has become the main one in regulating the economy in China. It is concluded that Confucian ideology during the implementation of the Wang Anshi reforms became the defining boundary of the "institutional corridor" of the variable that predetermined the failure of the reforms. The reforms of Wang Anshi, often called a Proto-Keynesian, went beyond the ideological "institutional corridor" and were therefore doomed to failure.

Differentiation of Stakeholders' Impact on Ecosystem Institutions

This study aims to determine the differentiation of the impact of stakeholders on the institutional configuration of the microeconomic ecosystem. The object of this study was the stakeholders of the microeconomic ecosystem. The study scope is the economic relations between the subjects of economic activity on the impact on the formation and institutional development of the microeconomic ecosystem. The analysis of previous studies is carried out, and the main stakeholders of microeconomic ecosystems are identified. These include public organizations, consumers, suppliers, competitors, educational and scientific organizations, government authorities, and social media. The method of PEST analysis of the factors of the company's microenvironment identifies social, technological, economic, political and cultural institutions of the company's external environment. Based on the analysis of the results of published scientific research, various levels of influence (strong, medium, weak) of the main stakeholders on the institutional configuration of the microeconomic ecosystem are determined. It is shown that the uneven importance of stakeholders in the formation of the institutional configuration of the microeconomic ecosystem can be the basis for the development of strategic plans for the development of ecosystems.

Theory Without Measurement or Some Finishing Touches on The Creative Portrait of Douglass North

The article examines some of the key features of the scientific work of Douglass North. It is argued that the popular image of North as an adherent of this or that school of economic thought is not highly relevant. The authors believe that one of the key features of North's research style is his "theory-centricity". The article demonstrates that the most important milestones in North's career (fling with Marxism in his youth, participation in the Сliometrics revolution, the transition from neoclassical economist to one of the founders of neo-institutionalism, a turn towards cognitive science), despite the seeming lack of continuity served as kind of steps of the ladder along which North went to the creation of a comprehensive theory of social development. Based on the results of qualitative content analysis of North's works of the 1950s and 60s, the authors show that even in the years of his affinity for quantitative economic history, the economist always put the ability to theorize above the skills of quantitative analysis. This feature, combined with the recent empirical turn in economics, which raised the prestige of empirical work to unprecedented heights, made it difficult for modern mainstream economists to perceive the ideas of the "late" North. The authors' analysis of the citation structure of North's last major book, "Violence and Social Orders. Conceptual framework for the interpretation of the written history of mankind" confirms this trend. This book generates greater interest among heterodox economists, historians, and political scientists than among representatives of mainstream economics. In the article's conclusion, the authors speculate about the prospects of the Northian theory-driven style of doing economic research in the face of the progressive "empirization" of modern economics.

Social Capital and Firm Performance: The Tourism Market Case

There has been a shift in the management of organizations from separation to networking among market participants. Social capital has a significant role among the enforcing mechanisms in specific markets. The study assesses the impact of the level of social capital on the effectiveness of a network-based organization. The methodological framework of the research includes a set of neoinstitutional theories and strategic management, among which the key ones are the theories of networks, social capital, and transaction costs. Research methods in the theoretical part of the paper are synthesis, typology, and content analysis. The information base of the study is a survey and statistical reporting of 101 tourist organizations of the Russian Sverdlovsk region for 2017–2020. We identify structural, relational, and cognitive components of an organization's social capital and establish the impact of the components of social capital on the growth rate of revenue and the growth rate of profitability of sales in Russian tourism for two (2017–2019) and three (2017–2020) years. There are positive and negative effects of the social capital impact in the organization. The social structure (structural component of social capital) and behavioral practices (relational and cognitive components) ensure the sustainability and growth of the business. However, neglecting market-based transaction management mechanisms risks reducing the growth of network «embeddedness» and the organization's performance.

Public Education Policy and Youth Precariat

The study analyzes precarization in the context of state educational policy and university graduates' employment. The literature review was prepared by the PRISMA method (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). The data of the three focus groups formed an empirical basis for identifying and analyzing institutional factors related to public education policy. The hypothesis that higher education programs do not meet the needs of the modern labor market has been confirmed, which leads to unstable employment of graduates. The reasons for unstable youth employment are related to the gap between the educational and economic policies: inflated expectations, lack of personal initiative, heterogeneity in the quality of higher education, the particularities of industries and professions, as well as the specificities of the Russian labor market. There are mechanisms to overcome negative effects and adapt to technological, institutional, and economic changes. These mechanisms include developing a state system for supporting young specialists, improving the institutions of information interaction between universities, businesses, and graduates, creating horizontal networks of graduates to promote their interests in the labor market.

The Institute of Community in The Works of N.I. Sieber

This article examines the views of the Russian economist Nikolai Ivanovich Sieber on community relations both in Russia and abroad. Sieber, as is known, is the first Russian follower of Marx, who assimilated his theory in all its complexity and dialectical inconsistency. However, in this article, the main attention is paid to the position of Sieber in relation to the peasant community. If Sieber was a consistent apologist for Marx's theory, without introducing his own ideas into it, then scholar seems to be completely independent with his own point of view in matters of the community. In the community context, he argued with the narodniks, particularly with V. P. Vorontsov, about the ways of developing the Russian economy. Should it develop based on the preservation and development of the peasant community, artels, as opposed to the creation of large-scale capitalist production in Russia, or should the country strive to create a capitalist economy in which there is no place for community relations? Sieber refuted the narodnik concept of a special way of development of Russia and defended the Marxist idea that capitalism is an objective stage in the development of society and, therefore, inevitable.

Wellbeing of Russian Professionals: Dynamics and Specificity

The paper is devoted to the issue of Russian professionals' life changes in the 2010s and the role of human capital in these processes. Life changes are analyzed by identifying mobility cases within three social stratifications by income, presence of signs of privilege or deprivation, and subjectively perceived position in society. For these purposes, we use panel data of RLMS HSE research for 2014-2018 yy. Trajectories of mobility are revealed by using of «Group based trajectory modeling» method. The results show that life stability dominates over mobility. Professionals still have risks of chronic poverty and chronic deprivation, although these risks are rare for them. They also have chances of objectively measuring sustainable well-being by income and privilege criteria. However, even those who have stayed rich and privileged over the years do not feel that they occupy the highest positions in social structure. It is shown that human capital plays a high role in life chances on sustainable privilege and a high-income level. An obstacle on the path to wealth is the dependency burden. The highest risks of poverty characterize young and middle-aged professionals, while professionals who reach retirement age have the highest chances to be rich. Thus, it is a good strategy to continue labor activity in retirement age. It was revealed that parental education significantly increases chances to achieve privilege position in Russian society. These odds are heavily influenced by composite rents. It is also shown that one of the major factors that create unequal chances of gaining high position in society (both in terms of income and privilege) is settlement inequalities. Despite a quite prosperous life dynamics measured by objective indicators, every third professional feels chronically poor or felt a sharp impoverishment during these years. These subjective assessments are weakly correlated with the quality of human capital and observed in all age categories. We associate this phenomenon with two factors: 1) "negative stabilization" in the 2010s and 2) with the fact that chances for objective well-being are confined mainly to the structural factor of settlement inequality. The position of professionals is often contradictory. The groups of privileged and wealthy professionals have little overlap in composition. In modern Russia, wealth does not imply a privileged position in society and vice versa. The same is true for poverty and deprivation. Absolute well-being, i.e., stable occupation of the highest positions in all three structural positions, is practically unavailable to Russian professionals.