Justice Problem with Marxist and Liberal Approaches: Philosophical Justification and Economic Interpretation

This article compares Marx’s understanding of such concepts as rights, freedom and equality underlying the concept of justice with that of classical and modern liberalism. It is shown that Marx did not reject the key values of liberalism but approached them from two perspectives — historical and anthropological. On the one hand, Marx criticized the exercise of human rights under capitalism as «bourgeois», pointing out that they justify the alienation of the human condition and disguise economic exploitation as fair market exchange. On the other hand, Marx proposed his own model of future equality based on the values of self-realization and solidarity, and ultimately on his idea of the «generic» human nature. This approach goes beyond deontological justice, developed by modern liberal thought in the Rawlsian spirit, and at the same time brings Marx’s views closer to the tradition of natural law and modern communitarianism.

Knowledge-Intensive Economy of the North-Western Regions of Russia

At the initial stage of innovation management at the regional level, it is necessary to identify the general level of innovation in the economy, which can be done by looking at such indicator as knowledge intensity. The purpose of the study is to evaluate knowledge intensity of the north-western Russian regions. We focused primarily on the regions whose economies are dominated by extractive industries and also considered the question as to how their innovation potential can be enhanced in the future. From the methodological perspective, we place the main emphasis on the costs, more specifically, we calculate the ratio of R&D costs to gross regional product. For our calculations, we used state statistics. As a result, we found that the economies of the north-western Russian regions are generally characterized by low knowledge intensity. The situation can be improved by encouraging businesses and universities to collaborate to foster innovation and through targeted state programs aimed at stimulating the process of innovation. Our findings can be of interest to regional policy-makers. Further research can take the proposed methodology further and include not only cost-related but also performance-related indicators into the evaluation of knowledge intensity.

Development of Sharing Economy and its Impact on Economic Growth

This paper explores the potential of the sharing economy and the impact of current transformations in the sphere of shared consumption on economic growth and general welfare. The aim of the paper is to test the hypothesis about the possible negative impact of the sharing economy on economic growth and public welfare despite the growth in individual welfare. The study relies on the theory of economic growth, empirical evidence and expert assessments of the impact of the sharing economy on public welfare and economic growth. Expert and statistical data from the World Bank Group, World Economic Forum, RAEC, RBC, etc. on the development of this sector in Russia and in the world are cited; individual cases and examples are discussed. The conclusion is made that the prospects of development of the sharing economy and its impact on economic development, growth and general welfare significantly depend on the effectiveness of local regulation. The traditional methodology of economic growth accounting related to the ownership of newly created value should be reconsidered. This paper may be useful for further research on the sharing economy and public welfare in the digital and circular economy.

The Financial Instability Hypothesis and the Case of Private Non-Financial Firms in South Korea

The paper aims to test the Financial Instability Hypothesis (FIH) proposed by Hyman Minsky by looking at the case of private non-financial firms in South Korea. The FIH offers analytical tools to explore how an economy endogenously becomes financially fragile and is therefore prone to crises. Using this toolkit and a sample of 102 leading South Korean nonfinancial private companies, we analyze how their financing regimes changed between 2005 and 2019. We applied five different classification criteria developed over the past few years within the framework of the FIH. The paper brought to light two time periods when the sector of private non-financial firms in South Korea became more financially fragile. The first period is the few years before and during the Great Recession. The second period is the few years preceding 2019, the last year of the analyzed period. The conclusion is made that by the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the South Korean economy was vulnerable to crisis shocks. Therefore, there is a need for macroeconomic policies that will saturate the firm sector with funds. Otherwise, the crisis could turn into an economic collapse. Our findings also show the applicability of the FIH to the case of South Korean economy.

Russian Pro-Natalist Policy and Its Hidden Dilemma

The demographic policy of the Russian government, which aims to ‘preserve and increase the people’, combines two qualitatively different approaches to understanding the problem of population decline. Most often, the emphasis is placed on stimulating fertility, although there is also an understanding that it is important to raise the quality of their upbringing and education. While the focus on increasing human capital is economically justified, the desire to increase the birth rate has no such justification. The theory of demographic transition proves that stimulating the birth rate is an erroneous goal. The ‘cash for babies’ policy applied in Russia is based on the conviction that children, even those born in poor and dysfunctional families, inevitably ‘pass’ through the education system and become qualified workers. On the basis of this stereotype, the system of pro-natalist incentives is built in such a way that, in accordance with the law of diminishing marginal utility, it creates stronger incentives for poorer families and is therefore actually aimed at increasing the birth rate primarily in the poor strata, having little effect on middle-class families. Meanwhile, modern theories of social capital and labor market signals prove the limited ability of schools and universities to play the role of social elevators. International studies (in particular, in the USA) shows that state benefits for children of poor and disadvantaged families contribute to the reproduction of a culture of poverty. Therefore, when the Russian authorities provide assistance primarily to low-income and single-parent families with children, they create problems for the future. The study proposes to replace the current policy based on the principle ‘more babies but cheaper’ with a policy aimed at middle-class families and based on the principle ‘less is more’. Thus, an orientation towards stimulating population growth is replaced by an orientation towards fostering human capital.

The Concept of Macro-Economic Policy Based on the Compromise between Inflation and Growth

The article describes a concept of a long-term macro-economic policy based on a compromise between economic growth and inflation that accompanies this growth. This concept differs from the existing theoretical approaches supported by monetary authorities in that it does not rely on the notion of Russia as a small open economy and it does not focus on price volatility as the number one problem in the long-term perspective. The theoretical framework usually used to address the relationship between economic growth and inflation is the Phillips curve and its modifications. In our study, this problem is connected to the phenomenon of non-neutrality of money in the long term. The analysis uses the simulation model of the shifting mode of reproduction (SMR model) and econometric methods. It is shown that a compromise between economic growth and inflation can be achieved if the long-term monetary policy results in the approximately equal rates of real GDP and inflation. Such monetary policy is possible to realize provided that some important macro-economic conditions are fulfilled, for example, the rouble undervaluation coefficient is reduced, the debt-to-gross-domestic- product ratio is increased, the ratio of international (foreign exchange) reserves to GDP is decreased, and the transition to a fiscal deficit policy is implemented. In other words, a systemic approach is required. This is not an easy way but it will ensure a growth in GDP rates and lower inflation.

Effectiveness of Employee Participation in the Capital of their Enterprise: Russian and International Experience

The use of employee participation in the ownership of enterprises has become widely spread since the second half of the twentieth century. Alongside the development of various forms of employee participation in property, there have been ongoing theoretical debates about the effectiveness of these forms, for instance, whether employee property is a reliable method to increase the efficiency of a capitalist enterprise or just an attempt to implement elements of the socialist doctrine. The study aims to analyze the international perspective on employees’ equity participation in property, in particular the focus is made on the world’s most common ESOP plan. The methodological framework is based on international studies discuss-ing the impact of ESOP plans on the economic and financial performance of enterprises. These studies deal with the experience of developed countries as well as developing countries, from China to Cameroon. The positive impact of employee property on increasing the productivity of the enterprise is shown. In terms of financial indicators, the research results are inconsistent. In general, there is a weak positive, mainly indirect impact of partial ownership of employees on the financial performance of their enterprises. Moreover, in developed countries the effectiveness of ESOP is higher than in developing ones.The authors draw conclusion on unsatisfactory state of Russian enterprises with employee ownership which is reflected in steady decline in quantity of Russian public enterprises. The study includes explanation of reduction in the number of public enterprises, and recommendations for their organizational and legal type reform in order to improve the effectiveness in appli-cation of collective ownership in Russian conditions.The research results are used to give recommendations for improvement of the efficiency of shared employee ownership in Russia. It is shown that the concept of collective ownership in Russia should be reconsidered and the new types of employee par-ticipation in enterprise ownership should be based on protected minority corporatization.