Analysis of Russian and global game studies: ludology vs. narratology

The author reviews the past-to-present academic literature on game studies from the perspective of ludology and narratology. The academic study of video games has grown substantially since 2001 - the year Game Studies started publishing its first articles. Yet both ludology and narratology remain a particularly new field, especially in the Russian academic field, and many of its discussed themes have yet to attain widespread recognition. The academic articles published between 2017 and 2022 were reviewed to provide understanding of the current state of the research on ludology and narratology in various research areas. The corpus was gathered by searching publications in international database Scopus. Each article was categorized according to the type of database, period of time, the country of publication, the field of study and the frequency of citations. The applied method of quantitative research allows tracking the development of research within five years in the field of game studies. Several proposals for further research in this field were put forward. The main hypothesis of this work is that one type of methodology is more applicable than the other, considering the background. The author concludes that one type of methodology can prevail in research - depending on the region of the published article

Оценка монетарного неравенства и его территориальных особенностей в России с использованием налоговых показателей

Russia is one of the most unequal of the world’s major economies, with its wealth and income inequalities having drastically increased in recent years. This study aims to describe the influence of the flat personal income tax on income inequality in Russia and its regional characteristics by analyzing per capita tax revenues. The hypothesis is that the system of income taxation that existed in Russia until 2021 did not help reduce income inequality but on the contrary, exacerbated it, which is particularly evident on the regional level. Methodologically, the article relies on statistical analysis of concentration indices, time series analysis, index method, and comparative analysis. The calculations were made with the help of the Analysis ToolPack in MS Excel by using the data on 85 Russian regions. To test the hypothesis, 7 indicators were calculated: the range of variation, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, decile ratio of funds, decile ratio of differentiation, quintile ratio of funds, and the Gini index for 85 Russian regions for the period from 2006 to 2020. In the given period, these indicators remained steadily at a high level with a slight decrease in 2008–2010. Judging by the dynamics of the Gini index calculated by Rosstat, income inequality tended to decline although there were no significant changes in the regional differences in income while regional inequality also remained high. Monetary income and gross regional product are distributed more evenly across Russian regions in comparison with the personal income tax revenues and tax revenues in general of the regional governments’ consolidated budgets. The findings confirm the hypothesis and show that the personal income tax, which is an essential element of the tax system, exacerbated the situation of inequality in Russian regions. These findings can be of use to policy-makers and contribute to further research on taxation instruments and their potential to reduce or mitigate inequality.For citationPugachev A.A. Taxation-Based Indicators as a Measure of Income Inequality in Russian Regions. Journal of Tax Reform. 2022;8(1):40–53. https://doi.org/10.15826/jtr.2022.8.1.107Article infoReceived January 31, 2022; Revised March 15, 2022; Accepted April 5, 2022В России остро выражено монетарное неравенство на фоне высокого уровня бедности и снижения благосостояния. Цель исследования – определение влияния подоходного налогообложения в период действия плоской шкалы на монетарное неравенство и его территориальные особенности в России на основе показателей среднедушевых налоговых поступлений. Гипотеза исследования состоит в том, что действующая в России до 2021 г. система подоходного налогообложения не способствовала сглаживанию неравенства, а напротив, усугубляла его, и в региональном разрезе неравенство выражено более ярко. В рамках проверки гипотезы применены метод статистической оценки концентрации, анализ рядов динамики, индексный метод и сравнительный анализ. Расчеты проведены с использованием пакета «Анализ данных» в MS Excel для 85 субъектов РФ. Тестирование гипотезы проведено посредством расчета 7 показателей: размах вариации, стандартное отклонение, коэффициент вариации, децильный коэффициент фондов, децильный коэффициент дифференциации, квинтильный коэффициент фондов, аналог коэффициента Джини для 85 субъектов РФ в динамике с 2006 по 2020 гг. В рассматриваемом периоде они находились на стабильно высоком уровне с некоторым снижением в 2008–2010 гг. Монетарное неравенство граждан по динамике коэффициента Джини Росстата имело слабую тенденцию к сокращению, а вот значимого изменения региональной дифференциации в благосостоянии граждан не происходило, она остается на стабильно высоком уровне. Денежные доходы населения и валовый региональный продукт в России распределены более равномерно относительно налоговых поступлений по регионам в бюджеты всех уровней бюджетной системы и поступлений налога на доходы физических лиц в консолидированные бюджеты субъектов Федерации. Результаты анализа подтверждают, что действующая в России до 2021 г. налоговая система усиливала монетарное неравенство в России, и подоходное налогообложение, как элемент налоговой системы, явилось усугубляющим фактором. Поиск инструментов сглаживания неравенства за счет налогообложения открывает широкие перспективы для дальнейших исследований.Для цитированияPugachev A.A. Taxation-Based Indicators as a Measure of Income Inequality in Russian Regions. Journal of Tax Reform. 2022;8(1):40–53. https://doi.org/10.15826/jtr.2022.8.1.107Информация о статьеДата поступления 31 января 2022 г.; дата поступления после рецензирования 15 марта 2022 г.; дата принятия к печати 5 апреля 2022 г.

Impact of the Level and Structure of the Tax Burden on Citizens Inequality

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of the structure and level of the tax burden on inequality of citizens, using the example of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The hypothesis was that the structure and level of the tax burden affect citizens inequality. This hypothesis was tested using a correlation and regression analysis of the dependence of citizens inequality level on the tax burden structure by decomposing it into separate taxes. The Gini coefficient and the share of income of the tenth decile group were chosen as indicators of inequality. The calculations were carried out using the Data Analysis in MS Excel for the years 2000 and 2020 on the basis of statistical data from the World Bank and OECD. The data set formed for the study contains about 1 thousand indicators. The share of all taxes in GDP has the closest relationship with inequality: it explains the dynamics of the level of inequality by 53–74%. The severity of the tax burden has a more significant impact on inequality than its structure. The decrease or increase in the share of a tax in the structure of the tax burden characterizes the weakening or strengthening of the impact of this tax on inequality. The change in the structure of the tax burden in OECD countries in 2020 compared to 2000 contributed to the smoothing of citizens inequality by increasing the share of income tax while reducing the share of indirect taxes. The relationship between the indicators of tax burden and inequality is non-linear. It fits into the concept of A. Laffer. Establishing the type of this dependence will make it possible to solve the problem of optimizing the structure of tax burden in order to smooth inequality

Optical Absorption and Raman Spectroscopy Study of the Fluorinated Double-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

Double-wall carbon nanotube (DWNT) samples have been fluorinated at room temperature with varied concentration of a fluorinating agent BrF3. Content of the products estimated from X-ray photoelectron data was equal to CF0.20 and CF0.29 in the case of deficit and excess of BrF3. Raman spectroscopy showed considerable decrease of carbon nanotube amount in the fluorinated samples. Analysis of optical absorption spectra measured for pristine and fluorinated DWNT samples revealed a selectivity of carbon nanotube fluorination. Nanotubes with large chiral angle are more inert to the fluorinating agent used