Benjamin Constant and Carl Schmitt Go to Russia

The paper discusses the constitutional theories of BenjaminConstant and Carl Schmitt on the role of sovereign power. Itthan discusses the Russian 1993 constitution to show that inthis respect it is closer to Schmitt's ideas rather than Constant's.Finally, the understanding of the role of supreme power in thecurrent Russian transformation by the Western advisers is criticisedand some speculative thoughts on Russia perception of authorityare offered.     

The USSR property law: Possible forms of development

Conclusions Up to now, specific historical development is reflected in ideological views predominant in the USSR. Many people continue to place their hopes mainly in the activity of the bodies of state power and administration, not in private initiative. An interrelated implementation of political and economic reforms will contribute to the development of new theory and ideology. It will then be possible to combine a pragmatic and theoretical approach, and to accelerate the reform of the Soviet economy [theoretical, practical and historical aspects connected with the problem of property are considered in more detail by the author in his bookEconomics and the Law soon to be published by the Economics publishing house in Moscow].     

Age-specific dynamic labor demand and human capital investment

To study the optimal age-specific labor demand and human capital investment at the firm level we extend the standard dynamic labor demand model by introducing ‘age’ as a second dynamic variable and distinguish between two types of workers: ‘low skilled’ and ‘high skilled’. Applying an age-structured optimal control model we derive qualitative features of the optimal age-specific hiring and training effort. For the case of a linear revenue and production function we prove that firms do not anticipate changes in adjustment costs in their optimal decisions. This result no longer holds if a nonlinear revenue or production function is considered.     

Dynamic Insurance Contracts and Adverse Selection

We take a dynamic perspective on insurance markets under adverse selection and study a dynamic version of the Rothschild and Stiglitz model. We investigate the nature of dynamic insurance contracts by considering both conditional and unconditional dynamic contracts. An unconditional dynamic contract has insurance companies offering contracts where the terms of the contract depend on time, but not on the occurrence of past accidents. Conditional dynamic contracts make the actual contract also depend on individual past performance (such as in car insurances). We show that dynamic insurance contracts yield a welfare improvement only if they are conditional on past performance. With conditional contracts, the first‐best can be approximated if the contract lasts long. Moreover, this is true for any fraction of low‐risk agents in the population.     

Tank failure modes and their consequences

The question of tank failure is addressed for both cryogenic (LFG) and atmospheric (Crude Oil) designs. An analysis of the consequences of an assumed axisymmetric mode of failure of a liquid storage tank is presented in an effort to answer the question.     

1917–2017: The Geopolitical Legacy of the Russian Revolution

The essays collected in this forum discuss the geopolitical legacy of the Russian Revolution of 1917, one of the most momentous political events of the twentieth century. From a range of different academic disciplines and perspectives, the authors consider how the profound transformations in society and politics were refracted through space and geography, and how enduring these refractions proved to be. The authors focus on three themes that have been dominant in Russian affairs over the past century: 1)the problem of center-periphery relations, 2)the civilizational dynamics of Russia’s self-identification in relation to Europe and to Asia, and 3)the geopolitics of national identity.     

Informality and mobility

Informality is a defining characteristic of labour markets in developing and transition countries. This paper analyzes patterns of mobility across different forms of formal and informal employment in Russia. Using the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey household panel we estimate a dynamic multinomial logit model with individual heterogeneity and correct for the initial conditions problem. Simulations show that structural state dependence is weak and that transition rates from informal to formal employment are not lower than from non-employment. These results lend support to the integrated view of the labour market.     

Can Russia Resettle the Far East?

Russian scholars, politicians and media have been alarmed by the declining population of the Far East, seeing it as a step towards eventual takeover of the region by China. This article shows that the progressive depopulation of the Far East is a reality and will continue in the coming decades. In addition to natural decline, the Far Eastern population will shrink faster than that of Russia because of net outmigration. Economic stagnation will keep migration from the South of the region at its present low rates. Recovery will increase mobility and allow the present deferred migrants to leave for European Russia. In the unlikely event that the Far East outperforms the rest of the country economically, it will attract migrants. However, any inflow is likely to be small because of the shrinking populations in European Russia and other ex-Soviet republics, and the competition for migrants from other parts of the world.     

An analysis of the demand for housing attributes

This paper uses a two-step approach to estimate a system of structural demand equations for housing attributes. Estimation of a hedonic price regression, in the first step, yields implicit prices for housing attributes for the Toronto Metropolitan area in 1978, which are then used to estimate the expenditure share equations derived from the indirect translog utility function. Empirical results indicate that the composite housing attributes (used in the second stage model) are own-price elastic, while an examination of cross price relationships reveals that these attributes are reasonably substitutable.