The Financial University hosted New Standards in the Higher Education System: A Reset of the Programs of Study Annual International Research Conference of the Teaching Methodology Association of the Higher Education Institutions of the Russian Federation on 24 March 2015.Lars Peter Hansen, an American economist and expert in econometrics, holder of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), spoke at the plenary session of the Conference. Lars Peter Hansen was born on October 26, 1952 in Champaign, Illinois. After obtaining a bachelor degree in Mathematics and Political Science from the Utah State University in 1974, he got his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1978. After that, he served as assistant and associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University before moving to the University of Chicago in 1981. There he became a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was the co-winner of the Frisch Medal with Kenneth Singleton in 1984. He was awarded the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics in 2006, and the CME Group-MSRI Prize in Innovative Quantitative Applications in 2008. Together with Ravi Jagannathan, chaired professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, he discovered a ratio that later became known as the Hansen - Jagannathan bound. His current research interests include work on the long-run risk-return tradeoff with José Scheinkman. In other works, he dwelled on the representative agent models. Working in collaboration with T. J. Sargent, Lars Peter Hansen wrote Robustness, where the authors explored the integral control theory implications for the macroeconomic modeling. He received the 2010 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the category of Economy,Finance and Management for his fundamental contributions to our understanding of how economic actors cope with risky and changing environments.

The article examines the impact of such tools as target-program approach,distributed and decentralized management and indicative planning on the economic and social sphere of the region. Targeted planning for regional economic development should be primarily based on long-term goals set for the region which should be viewed as an integral part of the country. Moreover, the targeted planning should take into account the real economic state and capabilities of the region. An important element in goal setting is innovation planning. The methodological basis to manage economic and social development of the region uses the concept of a distributed decentralized management along with indicative planning. The mechanism of distributive indicative planning allows for the balance between the interests of territories and those of the center as the programs are funded from the federal budget and territories are interested in getting federal funds. The successful implementation of programs pursuing interests of the center will increase in the end, the return on investment from federal funds and it would ultimately be in the best interests of the center as it leads to increased return on federal investment. The method suggested by the authors enables to perform a comprehensive assessment of objects on the basis of both quantitative and qualitative initial data.

The development of economic relations is influenced not only by the productive forces but also by intangible values and institutions which interact with economic relations to create a strong positive impetus. The necessity and timeliness of the approaches in this perspective is explained, firstly, by the fact that structural development of the material productive forces in Russia is far from meeting the post-industrial society needs. Secondly, the existing social and economic system in Russia is actually a system of «peripheral capitalism» which is firmly rooted. The article is written on the base of dissertation research for the degree of Doctor in Economics.in social relations and public opinion and remains «a major impediment hampering Russia to use the historical chance to join the world of developed, sovereign, influential states» [1, p. 4].The article showcases the models for social and economic development of Russia; these models are built through integration of the fundamental assumptions that determine the long-term prospects of building a socially-oriented state. The modern institutionalization of dynamics of the economic relations in Russia in the field of distribution and consumption should be focused on overcoming the poverty of a large part of the population as well as an excessive polarization of incomes; on increasing the incentive function in the formation of incomes of various social strata and groups.

The paper examines the results of the reform in the power engineering sector, the government’s attempt to stabilize the economic state of the industry, particularly through the consolidation of structures developed in the course of the reform and going back in some instances to some of the pre-reform positions.The economic basis of activities in the public utility sector is substantiated; the specifics of the utilities production, public services and the utilities market are discussed. A particular emphasis is laid on the potential development of market relations in natural technological type monopolies whose existence depends on the level of the state’s economy development, equipment and related technologies. The performance efficiency of the private business and its obligations assumed in the course of the power industry reform are analyzed.

The article is devoted to the development of classification of the subordinate entities of the Russian Federation based on the data of the State statistical reporting for 2005-2011 and aimed at assessment of financial solvency of regions concerning budget backing, attracting of investments, promoting export-import relationship between foreign countries and their fiscal policy in the relations with the federal center. The main achievement is a new approach to formation of integrated characteristics (indexes) which work equally well during different periods of development of the economy (range 2005-2011 contains upswing, crisis and an initial stage of its surmounting). As a result 4 indexes reflecting separate sides of affluence of regions were designed, and common criteria of classification were created on their base. As a result all the regions were divided into 6 well interpreted classes. Shows non-conditionality the classification by regressions on indicators of well-being and evaluated regression of recent on financial indicators.

The article describes an innovative approach to the assessment of the company. Copyright formulated a definition of «innovative development company,» highlighted the indivisible triumvirate of macroeconomic, microeconomic and meso-economic factors affecting the level of innovation of business entities. The necessity and feasibility assessment of the level of innovation of the company through the prism of its innovation potential. The model of determining the integral criterion of innovative development company. Highlights the key components of assessing the level of innovation of the company.

The policy documents providing a formal framework for the crisis management plan of the Russian Federation Government and the budgetary maneuver are examined along with the key parameters of the updated federal budget for 2015. Changes in the scenario macroeconomic conditions of budget planning due to the deterioration of the foreign economic and political situation. are analyzed.The primary attention of the financial and economic block of the Government as well as the main resources are directed towards the support of the financial sector and mineral companies with the dominant governmentparticipation. The real sector of the Russian economy is supposed to be content with a declaration of measures to reduce administrative barriers and costs.The author suggests that the choice of expenditure items for sequestration should be determined not only by the short-term efficiency criteria but the long-term development objectives of the country’s economy. However, some government programs may (or even should) envisage the revision and internal re-allocation of resources by subprograms and time schedules. Moreover, to maintain the employment, permanent support must be given to programs aimed at development of labor-intensive industries.Given the lack of effective demand from the private sector, a necessity arises to select a different development scenario that proved its effectiveness in a number of countries that performed an economic miracle - successful development of priority sectors and infrastructure projects based on a significant increase in government spendings. However this is made possible only through a substantial improvement of the government spending efficiency and the tight control over the targeted use of funds.

Today, Russia actively attempts to introduce the program-target approach in the budget planning process to improve the efficiency of budget resources management. However, the methodological framework of program budgeting is, as a matter of fact, missing in the Russian practice. This is particularly true when carrying out the planning and reviewing of government programs and key performance indicators required to build the program budgets.Based on the study of international experience with program budgeting, the article provides guidance for further development of approaches to the budgeting process. The article focuses on the issues of the development of alternative options for implementing objectives set in the government programs as well as the optimal choice from available options. The conducted analysis and the chosen course of actions make it possible to generate key performance indicators in the process of program budgeting. The article briefly describes the methods which are used in international practice. It points out that the same methods could be applied in Russia to work out the budget planning methodology. The article examines the «cost/performance» and «cost/benefit» methods which have been, and are still used in the program budgeting in the United States.The author identifies the main stages in the development and analysis of alternative options for building programs as well as a set of principles to be followed to develop government programs and find financing solutions.According to the author, observance of these principles would help improve the effectiveness of budget planning carried out with the use of program-target approaches.

The paper studies the links between the financial bubble phenomenon manifested by the irrational growth of stock indices and development stages of Kondratiev long waves followed by the investigation of Glazyev technological patterns. The relevance of the paper is predetermined by the predicted transition of the global economy to the growth phase after the end of the current crisis, the new round of education and the deflation of financial bubbles.. The stable trends in the origination and development of financial bubbles within the long wave growth phase are described by an example of the US economy. With the use of economic statistics, the financial bubbles most typical for the growth phase are determined and the reasons for their formation are described. The case study of the US aircraft industry reveals divergent trends in the value of shares of the largest US aircraft maker Boeing and the total factor performance over the industry. On this basis, a time lag is set between the decline in the total performance factors of the 4-th pattern technologies (aircraft making) and the value of shares at the beginning of the 5-th pattern, which proves the supposed presence of a financial bubble. An attempt is made to identify financial bubbles specific for the economic growth phase within the long-wave development. Based on works of C. Perez,Soete and V. E. Dementiev, a retrospective analysis of the US economy so far as relevant to the definition of the periods and reasons for the financial bubble formation is made. The life cycle of an institutional financial bubble is analyzed and a bubble formation diagram in the growth phase is presented. Based on the hypothetic time of the final establishment of the general picture of mainstream technologies, the periodization of the sixth technological pattern stages is forecasted, which can be helpful in the development of the state R&D and innovation policy.

The issues of the institutional fundamentals transformation of the banking regulation within European Union in order to minimize the negative consequences of crisis by the economic entities is of prime importance today. The detailed analysis of the wide range of the theoretical fundamentals of the global economic processes gave the author an opportunity to make a conclusion about the nonexistence of the formally established paradigm of understanding of these fundamentals in terms of the permanent crisis developments.It is quite true that on the current stage implementation of any institutional reforms (including EU) is attended by the whole set of organizational and methodological difficulties. Nevertheless, this problem is of vital importance. Nowadays on EU scale significant institutional deficit arises that, in terms of unharmonious policy of the currentregulators of the particular EU countries, causes the threat to the whole EU existence in terms of exacerbation of the crisis. This paper represents the results of research devoted to the influence of the crisis phenomena on the EU’s banking systems in the current conditions. The author completed the comprehensive consideration within the framework of this problematic and represented the results of her own research. As a result of the research the author developed the classification scheme of the sovereign debt crisis within EU countries. In addition, as a result of research the author proved the decrease of the EU’s role within the framework of the global economy.

Relevance of a subject of research it is caused by not rather high level of coordination of development of an oil and gas complex of the countries of Eurasia. The balance of energy resources of the countries of Eurasia is characterized by existence, on the one hand, of the countries with a high potential of hydrocarbons, with another, the countries with the low level of existence of energy resources. The purpose of article is development of model of balance of energy resources of the countries of Eurasia. Methods of research were the functional analysis, a method of induction and deduction. The review of a condition of tendencies of development of the energy market of the countries of Eurasia is presented in article. The role of supply of hydrocarbons in a format of integration of the countries of Eurasia and decrease in product cost is noted. The analysis of a condition of production of natural gas and oil of CIS countries is carried out. The model of balance of energy resources of the countries of Eurasia taking into account current trends is offered. The model will allow to optimize deliveries of energy resources of the countries of Eurasia.

This article reviews the problem of choosing an optimal strategy of behavior in the system of WTO trade dispute for Russia. The analysis is based on evaluating prospects of new WTO members. To conduct this analysis we examined the Chinese experience that has demonstrated that they prefer to use the system of «changeable measures» and an alternative tool - the prolongation of the trade dispute. Furthermore, it can be said that China preferred to accumulate experience on the first stage of membership. The analysis using game theory has demonstrated that Russia should actively participate in the WTO, not to disturb the WTO rules. This policy leads to the healthy competition and effective development in long-term. The econometric model has demonstrated that language and trade experience affect on the result of a trade dispute. Mainly the increase of the third parties leads to a Respondent losing the trade dispute.

The development of regional integration in Southern Africa leads to the need to harmonize the financial system and financial policy of the States-members of SADC. In this context the analysis of the Southern African States financial systems becomes relevant to identify their similarities and differences. On the basis of this analysis the following conclusions were made.The indicators of financial markets development remain relatively low. Markets are shallow, lack of liquidity, fragmentation, and exposure to high volatility due to macroeconomic or political instability in the international markets. However, it is worth noting that States are attempting to market expansion and filling their liquidity, including through the issuance of sovereign Eurobonds.The levels of financial markets development in the region vary because of different financial systems in these countries and different financial instruments.The banking sector dominates in all financial systems.Large proportion of the population has no access to the financial market in the region, resulting in parallel withexisting formal informal financial market not only in economically weak States, but in relatively stable. Moreover, SADC has turned into a jurisdiction with a low level of risk for organized crime and money laundering. The development of microfinance, designed inter alia to derive the finance in the formal sector of the economy, however, masks the structural and qualitative changes.Thus, member States of SADC are not yet ready to harmonize and unify the financial system and to conduct a unified fiscal policy.

This article considers marketing communications in social media as one of the most popular spheres of modern marketing allowing to support constant double-sided connection with consumers. Definitions of social media, their types and particularities are given. Social media users’ core motives, their influence on target audience loyalty and marketing communications effectiveness revelation are provided. The following structural components of marketing communications in social media like brand-platform, entertaining, useful and brand contents, ways of target audience attraction and process of marketing communications management in social media are described. The problems and difficulties of working with social media are revealed and considered: false choice of target audience and social media for communication, obligatory competences in social media sphere, must regularity in working with SMM, raise requirements for content in social media, balance maintenance between entertaining and informative content, possible lack of conversion of followers to consumers and brand ambassadors. Also perspectives of marketing mix creation is social media related to increase of social media popularity among all age groups with maximum reach of young generation, possibility of target audience parameters selection to convey a necessary message, favorableperception of company communication in social media in comparison to traditional media, interactivity, operative feedback receive, possibility of maximum wide and fast content spread which is kept in internet for a long period, ability to rich various marketing goals, possibility to use all types of marketing communications, availability of wide range of methods for marketing communications in social media evaluation are listed.

The paper shows the possibility of the efficient evaluation of candidates for positions with the help of the binary-regression. The absence of expertise in using math methods by personnel departments makes recruitment process modeling inefficient, so the results obtained via binary-regression is of great importance.The purpose of the research is to show the relationship between the data in CVs and the fact of passing the probation period by employees. The author had at his disposal data of candidates’ CVs provided by several HR- agencies to their clients. Some of employees had passed the probation, some of them had not passed. To carry out the research the author chose three types of models - logit, probit, gompit.To estimate the parameters and the quality of the constructed models the author wrote the code in Maple computer algebra system. According to the results of the research the best predicting model was chosen.