Stability and Disorder: An Evolutionary Analysis of Russia's Virtual Economy

The hybrid system that the Russian transition has evolved into has been called the virtual economy. This paper analyzes the evolution of the virtual economy. We pay particular attention to the interaction of economic reform policies and the adaptive behavior of enterprise directors. We then analyze the implications of the virtual economy for Russia's stability and development, and place the evolution of the virtual economy into the larger international security context.

Russia's FLat-Tax: Myths and facts

Flat Tax, Russland, Russia

Spectral Analysis of Randomly Generated Networks With Prescribed Degree Sequences

Network science attempts to capture real-world phenomenon through mathematical models. The underlying model of a network relies on a mathematical structure called a graph. Having seen its early beginnings in the 1950\u27s, the field has seen a surge of interest over the last two decades, attracting interest from a range of scientists including computer scientists, sociologists, biologists, physicists, and mathematicians. The field requires a delicate interplay between real-world modeling and theory, as it must develop accurate probabilistic models and then study these models from a mathematical perspective. In my thesis, we undertake a project involving computer programming in which we generate random network samples with fixed degree sequences and then record properties of these samples. We begin with a real-world network, from which we extract a sample of at least one-hundred vertices through the use of snowball sampling. We record the degree sequence, D, of this sample and then generate random models with this same degree sequence. To generate these models, we use a well-known graph algorithm, the Havel-Hakimi algorithm, to produce an initial non-random sample G_D. We then run a Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) on the sample space of graphs with this degree sequence beginning at G_D in order to produce a random graph in this space. Denote this random graph by H_D. Lastly, we compute the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix of H_D, as these eigenvalues are intricately connected with the structure of the graph. In doing this, we intend to capture local properties of the network captured by the degree sequence alone. The programming of this project is done in Python and Matlab

Stability and Disorder: An Evolutionary Analysis of Russia's Virtual Economy

The hybrid system that the Russian transition has evolved into has been called the virtual economy. This paper analyzes the evolution of the virtual economy. We pay particular attention to the interaction of economic reform policies and the adaptive behavior of enterprise directors. We then analyze the implications of the virtual economy for Russia's stability and development, and place the evolution of the virtual economy into the larger international security context.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39660/3/wp276.pd

To Restructure or Not to Restructure: Informal Activities and Enterprise Behavior in Transition

We analyze the process of restructuring in Russia. The Russian economy is bifurcating as some enterprises restructure and reduce the distance to the market, while other enterprises exploit relationship capital to survive without restructuring. Survival in this environment depends on initial conditions and on investment in relations with officials. Enterprises can produce cash and non-cash goods, and this choice effects the survival possibilities in subsequent periods. Implications of the theory, with special reference to monetary policy, barter, intergovernmental fiscal relations, and Financial Industrial Groups, are discussed.

Gerschenkron revisited: The new corporate Russia

© 2015, Journal of Economic Issues / Association for Evolutionary Economics. Our analysis is based on firm-specific data compiled from the Russian Trading System stock exchange and SKRIN (CKP-H in Russian) database. We seek to identify the factors behind Russias dramatically improved corporate sector performance from the beginning of the 2000s to December 2007. We argue that improved long-term corporate performance was a consequence of several policy initiatives associated with the state-dominated banking sector, which enabled statesubsidized investment funds to be channeled from a structurally reengineered energy sector to targeted investment projects located in other industries. We claim that Russias industrial strategy closely conforms to Alexander Gerschenkrons catch-up theory

The Middle Class vs the Creative Class: The Fight for Russia\u27s Future

Russia needs to modernize, and to do that it needs a large number of people who in terms of education, motivation, and outlook are the equals of the middle class populations of Western Europe and the rest of the advanced world. There is now a struggle in Russia between two different notions of the middle class. Vladimir Putin wants a middle class with certain virtues such as a willingness to work hard and a desire for stability and predictability. He does not, however, want one that looks to the West as its model or that insists too strongly on the value of individual freedom and dignity. Putin is placing his bets on his middle class. Geographically, it will be based outside Moscow, in the cities with large manufacturing plants inherited from the Soviet Union. The social base will be skilled workers, scientists, doctors, and teachers - what in the old Soviet Union was called the intelligentsia. His target and opponent is the layer of the population that loosely resembles what Richard Florida has termed the creative class. Putin\u27s dilemma is that success in creating a competitive economy requires a strong and vibrant creative class. The system must respond to the needs and desires of this creative class in order to fully realize its economic potential. But this would threaten Putin\u27s regim