Russian industries at the beginning of 2011: Current issues and investment climate

The results of a regular survey of companies in the real economic sector conducted by the laboratory of analysis and forecasting of microeconomical processes of the Institute of Economic Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences, are analyzed and commented.     

Erstens: ignorieren, zweitens: diffamieren, drittens: umarmen?

Mass media are an essential factor for the success of small parties, for the media can act in a supporting or an inhibiting way towards these parties. This could be observed for the example of the German Green Party: As the Greens were becoming more and more important in the parliaments, the media changed their formerly very critical view of the party to a more factual and positive reporting. Is the party “Die Linke” now experiencing a similar process? The present study analyses the comments of three national German newspapers from 2005 to 2009, using a quantitative content analysis with the aim of bringing to light how the media acted towards “Die Linke”. The results show that commenting has hardly changed since earlier studies were published. Factual issues only play a marginal role, and the party is judged negatively in all newspapers, with the tageszeitung slightly distinct from the other two papers, though.     

The cluster approach in the innovation development strategy of foreign countries

Foreign experience in carrying out cluster policy and the scales of distribution and the variety of cluster structure types abroad are considered and generalized. The main attention is given to innovation directivity as the key factor of increasing regional and national economic competitiveness. The important role of the state in formation of effective cluster policy providing substantial improvement in the business climate and stimulating the priority development of high-tech fields is placed in strong relief. The next issue of the journal will contain an article about the situation in Russia (Ed.).     

The dynamics of socioeconomic reform in Russia: Medico-demographic indices

A medico-demographic periodization of Russian socioeconomic reforms is presented, according to which the state of public health is characterized by different vectors.     

Toward the assessment of the Russian population mortality risk factors and the feasibility of their reduction: Comments on the World Bank Report “Dying Too Young”

A comparative study of external mortality risk factors according to World Bank experts (Dying Too Young Report, 2005) and findings of other projects, as well as mortality reduction programs, is presented. The World Bank experts overrate the significance of smoking and lead pollution as mortality factors and underrate that of alcohol, air pollution, and unfavorable occupational environments. In addition, the impacts of radon, climate warming, and low temperatures, which are very important negative factors for Russia, are overlooked in the Report. Although mortality reduction measures are very topical under the current demographic crisis, certain federal target programs envisage very general measures, and the death rate remains high. Road Safety Improvement, which is the most concrete among these programs, may indeed help reduce road accident-related mortality. The importance of air pollution as a risk factor may grow as a result of changes in the structure of the fuel balance and an increased share of coal combustion.     

Free or central banking? Liquidity and financial deepening in Sweden, 1834-1913

During Sweden’s nineteenth-century modernization, Enskilda banks contributed to economic expansion and integration by providing generally accepted means of payment beyond what would have been possible for the central bank, the Riksbank. The Riksbank was constrained by specie-convertibility requirements for Sweden’s currency. Contrary to previous arguments, however, the Enskilda banks did not operate according to free banking theory. The Enskilda banks held Riksbank notes instead of specie as base-money reserves. This arrangement led to a higher supply of formal liquidity than what would have been the case with either a free banking system or a pure deposit-based commercial banking system. The consequence for Sweden was a rapid rate of monetization and financial deepening.     

Recent Trends in the Skill Composition of Legal U.S. Immigrants

We examine fluctuations in the predicted educational attainment of newly arrived legal U.S. immigrants between 1972 and 1999 by combining data from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service with the Current Population Survey. A mid-1980s decline gave way to a noticeable improvement in the skill base of the immigrant population between 1987 and 1993. A short decline in the quality of immigrant skills—less severe than that of the mid-1980s—took place in the mid-1990s. In 1998, the trend reverses once more: The labor market quality of new legal U.S. immigrants improves. The primary sources of the fluctuations include changes in the quality and quantity of immigrants obtaining an adjustment and variations in the distribution of source regions and entry class types among new legal U.S. immigrants.     

A theory of system-transcending integration

The integration of national economies of a different level of development and an opposite quality of system will have a more profound influence in shaping the world of tomorrow. Therefore a theory of economic integration must be formulated which transcends the existing systems, i.e. a theory of co-integration.