The last decades was been marked by the financialization of the world economy, i. e. the faster development of the financial system as compared with other sectors. This process lost its pace but did not stop after the global financial crisis of 2007–2009. However, in the post-crisis years, it is continuing against the background of the international financial system restructuring and the changing role and place of developing countries therein. The paper analyzes the current stage of the global financialization and outlines the specificity of this process in Russia. With the use of cross-country comparisons as well as extensive financial statistics data, it is shown that the Russian economy has failed to be fully integrated into the above development trend. Neither the internal nor the external investment potentials of the financialization are being utilized in full due to imperfections of both the institutions for mobilizing financial resources and the institutions that convert the latter to long-term investments. Inside the country, the “financialization” scale of the economic growth is assessed as very modest, near to “definancialization”. There is a predominance of bank intermediation while non-banking sectors remain underdeveloped; meanwhile, the liquidity surplus accumulated in the banking system since 2016 does not lead to a significant increase in lending to the real sector. Corporate and government borrowings through financial markets by bond issues are still at a low level. The global potential of financialization is noted to be underutilized too because Russian financial institutions do not fully cope with the role of the transmission mechanism between international funding sources and the demand of the domestic economy for investment, especially under sanctions. Their inability to use foreign financial flows for this purpose, unlike China and India, has become one of the reasons for the loss of investment attractiveness of the national economy. The research findings prove that the lack of depth and the institutional instability of the Russian financial system impose serious constraints on the investment process whose significance for reaching a new trajectory of sustainable economic growth can be hardly overestimated. Seeking ways to overcome these constraints by joint efforts of both national financial market players, including major banks, and financial regulators could be subject for further discussion.

The paradox of the current state of the economic education is that many theoretical provisions taught at universities are based on a theory the use of which in the recent historical past led to a systemic crisis in the development of the country. The issue in question is the Marxist theory of the labor value that regards money as a “universal equivalent”. The lack of critical re-evaluation of this theory under modern conditions is not just to the detriment of the development of the country’s monetary and banking system, in fact it already has negative consequences. Hence the actual task is to show the “validity”, or rather, the failure of this theory not only for the current stage of market development but going back to its roots. This is the purpose of the paper. Methodology. This study is not a hasty impromptu but the result of many years of reflection on various aspects of the Marxist theory which in its final form was set forth by K. Marx in the first volume of Capital. Therefore, this source was the main object of research and, accordingly, citation in the paper. The basic research methods included the dialectical method, the method of organic sequences and a number of other general and special scientific methods. Results. The most important result of the paper is the critical re-evaluation of the Marxist theory of the labor value and the positioning of money as a “universal equivalent”. Conclusions. The Marxist understanding of a commodity as a unity of the use value and the exchange value is far-fetched. Commodities and money have nothing in common that would allow drawing parallels between them and carrying out market transactions on sort of an equivalent basis. Accordingly, money cannot be positioned as a “universal equivalent”. The Marxist understanding of the essence of money outlined in many student courses of today must be overcome. However, such overcoming should take place not through a ban or by simply ignoring the Marxist theory, which due to its specifics still has an almost hypnotic effect on the minds of many economists, but through a scientific analysis of its nature.

With long-term funding resources unavailable, the real sector of the domestic economy is deprived of the opportunity to boost the investment activity. The structure of the investment sources shows the predominant role of the banking system and budgetary funding in this process. The large-scale goals of the domestic economy, along with the needs of the new industrialization, require not only implementation of large investment projects but also the use of new approaches to the monetary policy as well as the improvement of basic and complementary institutions for funding the real sector of the economy. It is the development of complementary institutions that can substantially increase the investing effectiveness. With this purpose the paper examines regional banking structures and non-bank funding institutions. The research methods included the institutional analysis, the structural and dynamic analysis of the Bank of Russia data and regional statistics. It is determined that the Russian economy needs more regional institutions, particularly regional banking networks and government structures, to support the real sector. Their advantages are the ability to take into account the specifics of regional businesses, knowledge of customers, flexibility, efficiency in decision-making, individual approach, the ability to establish partnership relations and neutralize possible shortcomings of federal institutions. At the same time, it is confirmed that the regional banking network in Russia tends to shrink due to tightening of laws introduced and violation of competition rules by large banks. The effects of low activity in the sphere of lending to small and medium-sized businesses related to restrictions in capitalization of regional banks, slow capital accumulation rates as well as the limited access to the interbank lending market and the CBR refinancing system have been revealed. The paper determines the complementary nature and role of the emerging system of state institutions for funding the real sector of the economy. It is noted that today these institutions do not possess significant resources, are poorly coordinated and lack a strict system of performance indices. The role of the regional business support infrastructure being established in a number of industrial regions is assessed based on the data of the Sverdlovsk Region as a traditional industrial region of the Russian Federation. 

By the spatial location of credit institutions, the banking system of Russia includes two large groups of banks: regional banks and banks registered in Moscow and the Moscow Region. The activities of banks of the two groups are characterized by certain specifics. In view of the above, the purpose of this study was to identify, systematize and critically evaluate the current trends in the development of regional banks in Russia. The methods used include analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, comparison, system analysis, selective observation. The analysis of official data of the Russian Central Bank for 2007–2016 showed that the trends of active credit institutions to shrink in number are common to both regional and Moscow credit organizations. The profits received by regional banks are incommensurably small compared to the profits of Moscow-based banks but are subject to much less volatility. The gap between amounts of ruble loans provided by credit institutions of the two groups under analysis is dramatically widening: to non-financial organizations in 2007–2016 and to individuals since 2011. After 2012, the amount of ruble loans extended to non-financial organizations by regional banks stabilized at about 2000 RUR billion, while the corresponding indicator for credit institutions in the capital region slowed down its growth in 2015–2016. Starting with 2009, the gap between investments in debt securities made by regional banks and credit institutions of Moscow and the Moscow Region has sharply widened; such bank investments in the capital region are noted to be highly volatile. Credit institutions of the Volga and North-Western federal districts dominate in the field of debt securities investment. Regional banks are running the conventional banking business primarily by lending and placing limited funds in securities of third-party issuers. The indicators of regional banks differ significantly by federal districts.

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The paper addresses the issues of integration of the Crimea and the city of Sevastopol into the Russian Federation. The economic implications of political steps made by the Russian government to introduce the Crimea into the economic and legal space of the Russian Federation are evaluated. The entry of the Crimea into the Russian Federation followed by significant investments is supposed to have cost much less than the prospects for the Crimea to be embedded in the economic and political development scenarios of modern Ukraine. The paper considers the political consequences of the Crimea’s integration into Russia. In the authors’ opinion, this integration has become an important event in the world politics that has significantly changed the field of international relations and the “rules of the game”. It is shown that the Crimean events have changed the vector of the Russian politic development both inside the country and within the international community. It is proved that the integration of the Crimea is becoming an important factor in the Russian political discourse linking the external and internal policies of modern Russia. This underlines the importance of the Crimean agenda in the public perception. The accession of the Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the Russian Federation allowed the ruling elite of modern Russia to use the opened opportunities to the best effect in the interests of their own legitimation. The attitude of Russian citizens and Russia’s political allies to the Crimea’s accession will directly depend on the development of the conflict in the South East of Ukraine and the damage to the country’s economy from Western sanctions. At the same time, the prospects for the peninsula to avoid the development of events taking place on the territory of Ukraine proved to be more important than the “price” of the economic crisis and the difficulties of its entering the Russian economic and legal space.

Subject. From all set of forms and methods of impact of the state on the agrarian sector of economy the most significant — financial and credit tools. The necessity of a specific mode of crediting of the agrarian sector of economy is caused by the numerous internal and external factors influencing its rather low profitability and the increased risk of production. Owing to the submitted review of economic indicators of the agrarian sector of economy of Russia in 2015–2017 the analysis of indicators of investments into fixed capital under the article “Agriculture” for the 10-year period (2006–2015), expenses of the federal budget and budgets of territorial subjects of the Russian Federation for 2016 which source of financial security is the subsidy is carried out. An assessment is given to indicators of subsidizing and crediting of the agrarian and industrial complex enterprises in 2006–2015. The structure of the modern mechanism of crediting of agrarian and industrial complex of the Russian Federation is given, common features and differences of preferential crediting in a se ction of the shor t-term and investment credit are revealed. Purposes. A complex author’s research of system of subsidizing and crediting of the agrarian and industrial complex enterprises of Russia, detection of advantages of new forms of crediting of the agrarian sector and also the existing concepts and approaches to a solution of the problem of financial support of agrarian and industrial complex. Justification of essentially new approaches of access for agricultural producers to credit resources and providing to an opportunity development of the new equipment and technologies in production of competitive production in the conditions of new “wave” of sanctions of the USA and the European Union countries. Methodology. The research is based on dialectic approach. When carrying out a research system, institutional approaches and statistical methods hav e been used. Results. On the basis of the analysis of dynamics of crediting of agrarian and industrial complex of JSC Rosselkhozbank in 2006–2015 on indicators of volume, structure, quantity of the credits, terms and subjects of crediting offers on change of system of crediting of the agricultural organizations, individual forms of managing and agricultural consumer cooperatives are provided. The bit-by-bit structure of the modern mechanism of crediting of agrarian and industrial complex within market system and state regulation is disclosed and also common features and distinctive features of conditions of preferential crediting of agrarian and industrial complex on the shor t-term and investment credits are revealed. Conclusions. Considering the fact that in Russia generally two banks with the state participation are engaged in crediting of agriculture now: Rosselkhozbank and Sberbank of the Russian Federation while in the middle of the 2000th years, over 200 Russian commercial banks participated in the system of crediting of agricultural producers with subsidizing of an interest rate, need to be expanded both the list of the credit institutions, and the range offered by them credit products, considering the interests of all forms of managing in the village. Further development of components of the mechanism of crediting of agrarian and industrial complex and also development and deployment of new forms of crediting in the form of the soft short-term and investment loans have to be focused on ensuring high rates of production and consumption of domestic agricultural production per capita and an impor t substitution course.

In the current financial theory traditional approaches to assessment of efficiency of innovative projects very often show their limitations, since most of them are not suitable for projects implemented in conditions of high risk and uncertainty. In such situation, the urgent task is to improve the methodological approaches to evaluation of innovative projects’effectiveness by venture funds implementing new assessment tools that are used in the world practice. Among such instruments is real options method. The problem considered in this paper may be formulated in the following way: how can a venture fund make an evaluation of investment project which has a high degree of uncertainty. The methodological approach suggested by the authors is tested on the real venture-backed innovative project in the petrochemical industry, which is implemented in Russia. The results of calculations of indicators for assessing of economic efficiency of innovative project are presented. The meaningful interpretation of the obtained results is given. In accordance with the standard NPV-method in many cases the project is not efficient for venture fund and should be rejected. However, if we take into account the value of a compound call option, the project in many cases will have a positive value and will receive financing. The value of the compound call option increases the value of the innovative project taking into account the factor of its phased implementation and the ability to withdraw financing at some point of time. In other words, the real options method allows to take into account and quantify the managerial flexibility when management of the innovative project is making a decision of its further implementation, that expands the analytical capabilities of financial practitioners and improve the accuracy of the estimation.

The object of attention in the article is the profitability and efficiency of the banks in Republic of Bulgaria. The subject of the development focuses onto the influence of the credit institutions size upon their financial results. The objective of this study is to either to reveal that there are sufficient grounds to believe that the effect of the scale renders its influence upon the profitability and efficiency indicators or such a dependency can hardly be found. This study comprises observations about the processes in the banking sector of the country for the period 2007–2016. A coefficient analysis was employed, using a system of indicators suitably selected to this end. Certain dependency between the size of the banks in Bulgaria and the values of these financial indicators was established on the basis of the analysis of the real empirical data. It was concluded that utilizing the scale effect influence the large credit institutions manage to derive certain advantages in comparison to the smaller in size banks. The idea that by means of further consolidation of the banking sector of the country its efficiency can be increased, was substantiated.

The paper assesses the impact of the financial architecture on the performance of European retail companies. An approach based on a comprehensive analysis of the effects of the financial architecture components is used. The hypotheses are tested using data on public European retailers listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2004 to 2015. To substantiate the interrelationship between the financial architecture and the company performance indicators, the following metrics are analyzed in the paper: the return on assets ratio (ROA) reflecting the ROA in aggregate; the Tobin Q reflecting the investment attractiveness of the company; the strategic performance indicator expressed through the EVA (economic value-added) index reflecting the company’s economic profit (with account for the weighted average cost of capital definition). To simulate the impact of the financial architecture on the company performance, the panel regression method was used making it possible to increase the number of observations, minimize the collinearity between explanatory variables and increase the effectiveness of the estimates obtained. In order to get application insights, two models were constructed: a model with fixed effects taking into account additional characteristics of the company and a model with random effects to minimize the shortcomings of the first model. The analysis shows that the financial architecture of retail companies impacts their strategic performance expressed through the EVA index and performance expressed by the Tobin criterion but has no effect on such performance key figure as ROA. As a result of the research, the performance determinants of large European retailers were identified and a strategic performance model based on the concept of the financial architecture was implemented.

At present, in the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and in the integration association as a whole, the main macroeconomic indicators worsen, including those in the investment sphere. The analysis shows a decrease in the indicators of economic growth, level of gross accumulation and attracted current and accumulated FDI in the national economies of the overwhelming majority of the EAEU countries, which makes it urgent and necessary to find new methodological and practical approaches to enhancement of the efficiency of integration processes. In connection with this, along with traditional systemic and institutional approaches, it is proposed to use a conceptual approach based on the formation of sustainable competitive advantages (SCA) of national economies. Using this methodology, the article considers the content and criteria of the SCA, factors of reduction of the investment cooperation of the EAEU member states, key directions for the formation of the SCA in the investment sphere. Based on the analysis of the investment and business climate, the harmonization of national legislations, the process of formation of a single financial market, proposals on the formation of the SCA in the investment sphere are elaborated. The authors propose to provide the gradual nature of this process, the gradual transition from the use of resource advantages to operational competitive advantages reflecting the efficiency of the use of natural, human resources and capital and allowing to reduce the costs of production and enhance competitiveness of goods and services. A higher level of SCA is provided by the transition to an innovative economy that allows to receive technological and intellectual rents, as well as through the use of strategic competitive advantages that determine the positioning of national economies and integration associations in the context of hypercompetition in the global economy, the direction and the trajectory of their development and cardinal possibilities of transformation of resource and operational competitive advantages in the sustainable on the basis of synergetic effects, the use of breakthrough scientific and technological achievements. The proposed stage of achieving the SCA allows to use these methodological approaches to solve the problems of increasing the competitiveness of national economies and integration associations in general. It is shown that in this case it is expedient to start from the following components: the priority of national interests over other levels of competition; expansion of the idea of the factors shaping the SCA, including not only performance indicators, but also the criteria of national and economic security. 

Nowadays, the development of an effective innovation policy is one of the priority issues of the socioeconomic development of Russia and many other countries. However, despite the efforts made, not all of them succeeded in its solution. In Russia, like in a number of other states, the expert community continue to search  or effective ways to influence microeconomic entities and, above all, businesses that would yield an adequate response. Therefore, any attempt to reveal structures which, when affected, would lead to the increase in the innovative activity of commercial organizations, are not only of theoretical but also of great practical interest. The paper analyzes proposals of foreign authors on the solution of this problem. The foreign approaches under study are focused on the recognition of the business model as a special component of commercial organizations. Its specifics should be taken into account in development and implementation of the state innovation policy in relation to business. As part of a general critical analysis of the approaches, the author summarized and systematized the existing views on the contents of business models, their types and relationships with innovations in organizations. At present, there is no common understanding in the literature that the choice of particular types of business models determining different sources of innovative activity in response to the corresponding state policy requires a prudent attitude and preliminary clarification of a number of additional conditions. The most significant of these include the type of a business model, the stability of its reproduction and position in the industry markets. The conclusions made in the paper require that new important areas of theoretical research into the domestic economy should be developed. They should be directed towards the determination of business model types in different economic sectors, their stability and development of a corresponding state innovation course with respect to them. Along with above, these conclusions lay the foundations for practical efforts to implement innovative strategies developed for enterprizes with different types of business models.

The neo-industrial development of the Russian economy requires increasing the saving raio of fixed capital. The key source of investment is the savings of households currently underutilized mostly because people prefer to invest in real estate. Real estate leasing brings a stable income which often remains in the shadow or informal economy and is not subject to taxation. The availability of such income contributes to the reduction of the labor supply by the owner, the aggravation of property inequality and the distortion of investment decisions. This makes the use of the imputed income tax on leasing real estate a matter of vital importance. In view of the above, the development of the basic structure of the tax is the purpose of the study. The paper analyzes the role of taxation of both imputed and real incomes derived from real estate leasing in the budget system of Russia for the period of 2006–2016 in the context of federal districts. The potential of the imputed taxation in the interests of reducing property inequality and legalization of personal lease incomes was estimated. Methods of the economic analysis and statistics as well as general scientific research methods and techniques were used. It is proposed to increase the tax burden on the residential lease by introducing an additional clause to Chapter 23 of the Russian Federation Tax Code establishing the procedure for taxation of the imputed income from leasing (renting) real estate owned by individuals. The key elements of the tax structure are identified. Two variants of its administration are offered. The preconditions for introducing the imputed lease tax in Russia are outlined. Recommendations on the calculation of the tax base — imputed net income — are given. The introduction of the taxation of imputed lease income will help reduce the attractiveness of real estate investment, reorient the personal savings to the financing of business activities or investing in the real sector It will also contribute to legalization of lease incomes, increasing tax revenues of regional and municipal budgets and reducing the property inequality of the population.

The paper deals with the problem of development in students of financial literacy and tax competencies needed to ensure the functioning of developed civil society and determine the financial and tax discipline of future taxpayers. Due to the imminency of taxes and their importance for the financial stability of the state, the need to familiarize students with the basics of the country’s tax system, the importance of taxes for society, tax risks and the accountability of taxpayers for actions performed is justified. As a research method, a tax experiment is proposed: a survey of students’ behavior patterns in the tax payment sphere made before and after the getaware classes on the subject in question. The students were ranked by their risk appetite, and trends common to the behavior of future taxpayers were identified. The results of assessing the effectiveness of various types of educational technologies were discussed. The polls were conducted before and after classes among different student audiences. The effectiveness of the following training methods was evaluated: lectures, seminars, business games and field trips to the tax authorities. At lectures the teacher spoke about different taxes and the tax control. In practical classes students analyzed the components of different taxes. In business games, real tax payment or non-payment situations and possible sanctions for the violation were simulated. In field classes, students were involved in practice-oriented activities of tax bodies including a visit to the tax service museum, meeting with employees of tax bodies, participating as witnesses in investigative activities. Various training methods were ranked by their impact on the tax self-awareness of future taxpayers. It is concluded that active training methods are more effective because the willingness of students to pay taxes in full increases in such cases at a faster pace compared to passive methods.

Given the currently established level of legislative regulation, the system of tax audits is an independent law institution, and its in-depth study is a matter of serious scientific interest. Purpose. The purpose of the study is to develop recommendations for improving the tax audit procedure and the efficiency of tax control. To achieve it, the following tasks were completed: the RF IFTS performance in the control sphere was assessed; a set of measures to improve the work of tax authorities in the field of taxes and fees payment control was proposed. Methodology. Economic and statistical methods of analysis, regulatory documents in the field of tax control constitute the methodological basis of the paper. Results. The main aspects of planning tax audits are considered and the importance of the system approach to their implementation is justified. One of the main points in planning control measures is proper selection of taxpayers for carrying out field audits. The concept of the tax culture was studied and appropriate uplevel measures were proposed both for taxpayers and tax auditors. In particular, it was proposed to arrange consultations, seminars and competitions among auditors, develop a code of ethics, teach the population. The importance of taking into account the current stage of the national economy cycle in planning and implementation of the control activity is justified since the state of the economy imposes a serious imprint on the behavior of taxpayers. Conclusions / relevance. The study of modern information technologies used in the Russian tax administration system shows the FTS has been quite successful in this field and already provides users with a large number of services. It is suggested that a system for assessing taxpayers by type of bank scoring should be developed to improve the tax control efficiency allowing better selection of subjects for carrying out tax audits.

The introduction of financial technologies has a significant impact on the development of companies in all sectors of the economy. The financial gurus of the Russian Federation and world experts agree that the financial institutions of all countries will undergo radical changes in the coming years. Companies, regardless of their size, form of ownership and type of business, are being brought into the orbit of new financial technologies; the ways of doing business are also changing. The government program of 2017–2025 “The Digital Economy” is becoming a new benchmark and a kind of compass in the world of money circulation. The introduction of financial technologies gives rise to new risks not previously considered. The paper provides examples of principally new approaches to risk assessment and emphasizes the increasing importance of using large amounts of data. The author examines the scope of new uncovered risks of corporate development, defines concepts and systematizes such risks at macro and micro levels along with their comparison. The study compares risk assessment approaches of reputed international expert organizations, such as the World Economic Forum, COSO ERM, leading international consulting companies and the Bank of Russia. Authors of previously published works only listed new risks without developing particular criteria for their assessment, though emphasizing the big practical potential of the latter. Based on the analysis of characteristics of non-covered corporate development risks arising with introduction of financial technologies, the author offers her own approach to classification of assessment criteria and a version of the working classification of criteria for assessing two of the most important non-covered corporate development risks: the cyber-crime security risk and the IoT risk. The assessment criteria are understood as a verbal description of risk consequences and a “qualitative” assessment of probabilities without conversion to quantitative indicators. Experts can use this classification in practice with further risk rating on the basis of expert risk assessment.

Subject. Investigations carried out and scientific forums related to the problems of the holistic theoretical and methodological insight into socially oriented grounds of the market economy phenomenon in the post-Soviet period are matters of top priority for a large part of the Financial University researchers. Intrinsic, methodological and theoretical problems underlying this phenomenon are considered in the context of research findings obtained by members of the 5th International Scientific and Practical Conference “The Market Economy Phenomenon: From the Origins into Our Days” held by Financial University in cooperation with Kuban State University. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of historical, economic, institutional, reproductive and transformation aspects of the phenomenon of the market economic system. Purpose. Investigation into a wide range of up-to-date debatable methodological and theoretical problems of the market economy phenomenon. Identification of “bottlenecks” in the modern mainstream of the theoretical economic knowledge. Demonstration of the spheres of “the impotence of market mechanisms” subject to overcoming by the scientific and practical community. Methodology. The research is based on the historical and economic approach along with using methods of evolutionary and interdisciplinary analytical tools. Results. Notwithstanding permanent attempts of domestic and foreign economists to provide a conceptual justification of the non-alternative nature of the market organization of the economy, the current theoretical concepts of economic growth have not yet turned into applied tools of the market economy and the economic policy. As the research shows, the only actor able to make the transition of the Russian economy to a new technological tenor is still the state capable of running its investment activity. Conclusion. The key concern of the modern scientific economic community of Russia is to provide the basis for socially oriented theoretical and reformatory programs of the market economy regulation that would ensure the improvement of management practices and promote crisis-free, efficient and progressive socioeconomic development. Since the state investing can ensure only point breakthroughs rather than the overall socio-economic development of the country, due to considerable inherent systemic constraints, the development of investment activity of the Russian business sector should become the main driver of the economic development.