Search results

The article deals with the problem of ethical assessment of the liquidation of the GDR as a state structure and its integration into the political and economic space of the FRG. According to a number of historical and sociological sources, "reunification" was not the reason for the search and finding of a common language between West and East Germans, but, on the contrary, the reasons for discord and deep mutual distrust and rejection. On this basis, the work analyzes the views of both sides, and also conducts a philosophical reflection on the value bases (ethical axioms) of the key evaluative positions of both East and West Germans regarding the actions of the West German government, the conditions for concluding a monetary union of the two Germanys, as well as in relation to privatizations East German companies.

The fall in the oil prices from mid-2014 is causing a decrease in domestic demand and a strong devaluation of the ruble, which in turn promotes the growth of the price competitiveness of Russian producers, stimulates the supply side of the economy (especially in foreign markets, where there is no recession), and thus creates the possibility of offsetting the fall in domestic demand due to the growth of net exports. However, as the analysis of the economic literature, the world experience and current Russian economic trends demonstrates, the joint impact of oil prices and ruble devaluation on the growth rates of the Russian economy, with all its structural problems, can lead to a much more severe recession than the majority of experts, if to judge by average consensus estimates, expect in their forecasts (as of the end of September 2015).

The article is devoted to the analysis of economic growth perspectives and dynamics of competitiveness indicators of the Russian economy on macro-level (including main industry branches). The indicators of real effective exchange rate are analyzed along with unit labor cost indicators for estimating investment potential of the Russian economy in its relation to the main trade partners. Additionally, opportunities of parallel analysis of integral (price and non-price) and partial competitiveness indicators are examined with the aim to isolate the effects of various parameters of competitiveness on the integral indicator registered by surveys. The classical technique of the financial portfolio analysis for quantitative estimation of the Russian industry's portfolio diversification in 1999—2004 is applied as a measure of structural competitiveness.

The article assesses the situation in the Russian economy after a two-year recovery and the outlined signs of stagnation associated with both the slowdown of the global economy and the exhaustion of domestic sources of improved market conditions. The approaches to identifying the factors that initiate growth and are different from the factors that support it are considered. In this case, emphasis was placed on the factors of uncertainty of the economic situation and the lack of domestic demand. The approaches to accelerating growth based on macroeconomic and structural policy measures are formulated, forecasts of the Russian economy dynamics for the coming years are analyzed.

The paper considers the problem of autonomous recessions in the Russian economy, which are explained as a drop of the output caused by endogenous shocks of the supply and/or demand. In order to determine possible factors of the autonomous recession we consider the stylized facts and other characteristics of such recessions in OECD economies in 2000—2012. Using these findings we study the current state of the Russian economy in terms of factors of a possible recession. We also examine the countercyclical policy of the government. The latter is done using different approaches of calculation of the output gap, including the determination of the levels of factor utilization that don't accelerate the inflation rate. These results are used to make a conclusion about the optimal design of the countercyclical policy that reflects the characteristics of the recession and the output gap as well as the key features of Russia as a resource-based economy.