Finland’s great depression of the 1990s: Lessons about financial reform based on econometric macro evidence

The paper re‐examines the Finnish Great Depression of the 1990s, based on an open macro model, with specific dummy variables to identify the initial effects of liberalized financial markets and capital mobility, and of the Russian trade collapse. It is shown that the explosive credit expansion resulting from the simultaneous liberalization of the financial markets and international capital movements in 1986 has played the most important role in explaining the uncontrolled growth and the subsequent depression in 1989 in real economic activity in Finland. Their effects were strengthened by a vicious circle between the financial and asset markets. The Russian trade collapse in 1991 had a smaller partial effect on economic activity than did any other explanatory variable. The results suggest that some of the present day problems in the euro area, especially those occurring post‐2008 in the “Club Med” countries, are very alarming. In many cases, they are results of expansionary policies based on unsustainable capital imports, made possible by the introduction of the euro, and the consequences resemble in many ways those during the 1990s Great Depression period in Finland.     

Varieties of authoritarianism matter: Elite fragmentation,natural resources and economic growth

A broad literature suggests that political regimes matter for the growth effect of natural resources. However, while several studies have concentrated on the difference between democracies and autocracies in this respect, an important topic overlooked so far is the differences between varieties of authoritarian regimes. This study uses the political variation across sub-national regions of the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin to understand how differences in the extent of elite fragmentation in autocracies affects the influence of resource abundance on economic growth in the short run. We find that polities with fragmented elites underperform those with consolidated elites and link this effect to higher costs of fights over rents due to higher political uncertainty.     

Development of intellectual property laws for the Russian Federation

In most industrialized nations, the concept and body of intellectual property laws is well into its third century of development and testing. The Russian Federation, however, has created and implemented an entirely new body of intellectual property law since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992. As American and other western firms work with the Russian Federation as a supplier and customer, they must recognize that the new nation has abandoned a legal philosophy denying the existence of intellectual property in favor of intellectual property laws recognizing and favoring private development and ownership of such property. This paper examines the Russian intellectual property laws and points out adaptations that western nations should make when dealing with similar entities in the Russian Federation. The study assumes familiarity with Russian history, language, and geography. A caution to domestic firms is that they should retain experienced legal counsel to deal with negotiations and contracts with Russian business interests.     

The Asian flu and Russian virus: the international transmission of crises in firm-level data

This paper examines how the Asian and Russian crises affected different types of firms around the world. It constructs a new data set of financial statistics, industry information, geographic data, and stock returns for over 10?000 companies in 46 countries. Results show that firms competing with exports from the crisis countries, or with direct sales exposure to the crisis countries, had significantly lower abnormal stock returns. Firms with higher debt ratios, however, did not experience lower abnormal returns. Country-specific effects, although important determinants of company stock returns, are generally less important than firm-specific characteristics. These results suggest that trade channels are important factors determining how crises are transmitted internationally.     

中国省区土地利用差异驱动因素实证研究

研究目的:从区域层次上和时空尺度上研究中国省区土地利用差异的成因及其驱动因素,为土地利用规划和管理提供依据.研究方法:应用SPSS软件进行定量分析.研究结果:揭示了中国省区土地利用差异的驱动因素及其影响规律.研究结论:土地利用差异的实质是土地利用结构差异,在生态环境质量的刚性约束下,改变土地利用方式,实行节约和集约利用土地,实现低占地经济增长和土地资源可持续利用.     

俄语教学中的语言负迁移现象研究

在三语习得的理论框架下,对历年来收集的英语专业第二外语俄语学生的作业、命题作文为语言样本错误进行鉴别、描述,分析错误的产生原因,讨论汉语、英语在第二外语俄语学习中的干扰,从而了解学习者的薄弱环节和不足之处,为高校二外俄语教学提供参考.     

Ceremonial science: The state of Russian economics seen through the lens of the work of ‘Doctor of Science’ candidates

The paper investigates the current status of economic research in Russia using a previously unexplored dataset of Russian ‘Doctor of Science’ (Dr.Sc.) theses. The Dr.Sc. degree is a postdoctoral qualification necessary for career advancement at most Russian universities. By examining the Dr.Sc. theses, we are able to provide a systematic overview of ‘average’ scientific standards in Russia, particularly at mass universities, at which most administrators and bureaucrats are trained. We show that the level of integration into the international scientific community in Russian economics remains low. Moreover, we obtain a picture of mostly ‘ceremonial’ science. The researchers combine references to ‘classical’ research, formal methods, and practical application merely as an instrument for presenting the argument in a more ‘scientific’ way.     

中国省际土地利用隐性形态时空格局、驱动力与转型模式

研究目的:土地利用转型与经济社会发展密切关联,探究土地利用转型格局、过程与模式以改进土地管理政策、调控土地利用转型。研究方法:综合指数法,横向比较法。研究结果:中国省际土地利用隐性形态的时空格局与区域经济社会发展阶段高度吻合;土地利用隐性形态指数在空间上由东部沿海向西部内陆梯度减小,局部呈"条带状"和"抱团式"集聚;土地利用隐性形态变化的主要驱动力包括资源环境承载力格局变化、城镇化、差别化土地政策;土地利用转型具有周期性和阶段性,转型周期呈现"S型"演化态势;各省市所处土地利用转型阶段差异较大,但整体处于土地利用转型的中阶稳定态。研究结论:应选择差别化土地利用转型路径,塑造与区域经济社会发展阶段相适应的土地利用格局。     

Taxation of natural resources and economic growth in Russia's regions

We examine the impact of natural resources on economic growth in Russia's regions since the introduction of the mineral tax in 2002. Using novel measures of regional natural resource rents (mineral tax collections), we demonstrate that non-hydrocarbon wealth has had a slightly positive and hydrocarbon wealth has had no to a slightly negative effect on regional growth since 2002, although mineral-rich regions are richer than other regions. The absence of significant growth benefits to resource-endowed regions is at odds with the beneficial impact of natural resources, and particularly hydrocarbons, on the growth of the country as a whole. We discuss the reasons for this outcome and conclude that the central government was successful in taxing away incremental regional resource rents during 2002–2011, while preserving the pre-2002 regional rents.     

Attitude towards immigrants and security: Effects on destination-loyal tourists

This study was conducted in the midst of a surge of undocumented immigrants into a popular seasonal migrant destination in the U.S. and the subsequent state response of adding security forces. Factors examined include the effects of the role of media in shaping perceptions about security forces, perceptions about security force effectiveness, perceptions of undocumented immigrants and political orientation. The study of 413 respondents found that attitudes toward undocumented immigrants affect felt safety in the region, likelihood of recommending and returning to the region. Perceptions of the effectiveness of the security forces were important in affecting likelihood of recommending the region to others but not return intention. These and other findings contribute significantly to the scant research on both effectiveness of crises management responses and on effects of perceptions of undocumented immigrants on traveler behavior.