The financialization genesis of the global economy centered in the United States is on the bifurcation point now— a fictive capital’ expansion is damaging with the social capital regeneration mechanism disaster. The method of identifying and estimating the fictive capital’ extension is absent for now. The fictive capital exists as a metaphor on the science papers but not as an institutional basis of the capital flows directions. The paper aims to update the configuration of the global financial system, its dependence on the performance of US corporations and banks; to identify the sources of vulnerability of world finance and global liquidity from the fictitious capital of American financial markets. The methodology is theoretical pattern’ of financial capital movements and its real statistical market indicators comparison. The empirical base is statistical data about the financial flows and financial results especially about the US as a global financial center. Based on the results the authors have revealed an origin of fictive capital on the US bank sector by the justification for the conclusion of liquidity above the profitable as the purpose of financial operations. This conclusion is confirmed with the scale of off-balance sheet transactions of banks. Besides the regression between the prices of derivative’ basis assets and stock indexes has been shown. Also, the market capitalization of American companies is not sensitive to change in market liquidity indicators. The authors concluded that global financialization is supported by significant internal contradictions in the US economy. The source of contradictions is the financial mechanism for withdrawing liquidity from the sphere of production and circulation into the sphere of financial markets. Capital investment using instruments of the US financial market entails the threat of losing their liquidity. Forecasting the dynamics of the global economy without taking into account the role of fictitious capital, which is emerging in the American financial markets, leads to global vulnerability and may cause the next financial crisis.

In the context of global economic instability, the problem of ensuring food security and sustainable development of agriculture at the international, national and regional levels becomes urgent. Existing methods for assessing the state of food security and sustainable development of agriculture, as a rule, have two main drawbacks: first, they are often static, and second, they include a scattered list of indicators that are difficult to systematically interpret in the analysis. Therefore, the aim of the study is to develop an adequate methodology for assessing the food security of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The construction of a thematic index is carried out in three stages: 1) a system of indicators is formed; 2) the values of indicators are normalized; and 3) sub-indices are calculated. The analysis of domestic and foreign literature on food security provided the methodological basis of the study. The system of indicators was clarified, which were combined into three groups (numerical indicators of the sphere of production, distribution, consumption, and food). The authors extended the retrospective assessment of food security at the meso-level by ranking and clustering Russian regions using hierarchical analysis and a new data filtering algorithm. The hierarchical procedure is based on a system of mathematical filtering of data, which is fundamentally different from existing methods for analyzing hierarchies. The authors replaced the fuzzy “what if” logic with a clear subordination of ranked indicators (subindices). The group of leaders was selected considering the accepted priority of indicators, the rest of the regions were united into a new subgroup, among which leaders and outsiders were singled out. At each new stage, new groups are ranked after excluding leaders and outsiders, they are in the “center of the circular convolution of data”, the procedure for stopping the procedure is the presence of two groups. This is a fundamental feature, scientific novelty, and value of the mathematical apparatus for multidimensional ranking of Russian regions in terms of food security. The authors concluded that in modern Russia the problem of food security has not yet been resolved due to the insufficient use of general economic and special levers to increase the stability of the food system. The results of the study can be applied in the process of updating the state policy in the field of ensuring the sustainability of food systems at the macroand meso-level of management.

The authors investigate the prospects for the spatial development of modern Russia highlighting the supporting regions considered in the budgetary aspect. The relevance of the study is due to the insufficient evidence for the effectiveness of the current policy of “equalization”, as well as the need for breakthrough growth of the Russian economy within the framework of national development goals. The present paper aims to identify one of the key elements of the supporting framework of the spatial organization of Russia in terms of the level of fiscal capacity. The research methodology is based on the use of complex, statistical and comparative analyses. The authors used official data of Rosstat on the population, tax and non-tax revenues, gratuitous receipts in 2010 and 2019 by regions of Russia. The authors highlight the key aspects of the spatial development of the Russian economy in the regional context: human capital development, economic development, the functioning of spatial structures of various types, fiscal capacity, environmental component, location of information and communication infrastructure, and geopolitical position. The influence of the fiscal capacity parameter on the sustainable socio-economic development of the region is justified. The fiscal capacity index of the constituent entities of Russia is analyzed at the end of 2010 and 2019, the main trends are identified. The study presents a cartographic visualization of the Russian regions by per capita fiscal capacity for tax and non-tax revenues of the consolidated budgets in 2019. The authors carried out a comparative analysis of the revenues of consolidated regional budgets on the macro-regional level, as a result of which the leading regions were identified and their budget parameters described.The present paper outlines one of the key elements of the supporting framework of Russian spatial organization from the point of view of fiscal capacity and identifies potential regions supporting spatial development in the context of macro-regions. The authors conclude that the supporting framework of the spatial organization of Russia, formed by the level of fiscal capacity, characterizes the financial potential of the territories, which can contribute to the development of interregional cooperation, including through the use of mechanisms for ensuring “horizontal” inter-budgetary transfers and budget loans. The prospect for further research on this topic consists in assessing and shaping other elements of the spatial development of Russia and identifying, by uniting them, supporting regions that can stimulate the development of not only the semi-periphery and periphery of their macro-regions but also of the entire country.

Achieving the goals of sustainable development and the transition to a green economy requires significant financial resources. Banks are active participants in the financing of projects and industries with a positive environmental and social impact. In this regard, the emerging responsible banking and its regulation are of scientific and practical interest, which ensures the relevance of the study. The aim of the study is to generalize and systematize the results of scientific research on the participation of banks in financing the green economy. In the context of the historical approach, the authors apply the methods of critical analysis, logical generalization, systematization, and grouping. The research is based on scientific publications by Russian and foreign authors. As a result, the authors substantiated the correlation of the concepts “green”,“sustainable”,“responsible” bank, and identified that such green financial instruments as green bonds, in some countries — green loans, green deposits, green leasing, and green insurance are being introduced into banking practices. Responsible banking is regulated using monetary and macroprudential policy instruments; in some countries, incentive-based regulation of responsible banking is mandatory. The authors concluded that responsible banking is moving towards the transformation of classic products and services into environmentally and socially oriented ones, accompanied by the transformation of business processes, management culture, and the content of banking policy. Responsible banking contributes to ensuring financial stability, but the regulator needs to use macroprudential tools to timely identify a green credit bubble, including through climate and environmental stress testing. Prospects for further research are aimed at assessing the impact of green financial instruments on the bank’s performance, the role of responsible banking in achieving sustainable development goals, at finding the most effective monetary and macroprudential tools to stimulate responsible banking and ensure financial stability.

The presented study touches upon two groups of problems that significantly affect the development of the Russian economy. The first of them is the creation of conditions for the expansion and formation of small business, which, in particular, is a priority area of one of the national projects. The second problem is the establishment of relations of interfirm trust in the domestic business environment, which is in demand in various sectors of the economy and has become, for example, the dominant topic of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Hence, the paper aims to form, on the basis of trust relations, a model of interaction between small enterprises and banks, which makes it easier to obtain loans. The object of the paper is intercorporate (B2B) trust, and the subject is the improvement of relationships between small businesses and banks on the basis of trust. The methodological basis of the study is an integral approach that combines both institutional and sociological views on the phenomenon of trust, and the traditional economic analysis of the relationship between banks and their clients, small enterprises. The analysis showed, on the one hand, the complexity of the relationship between banks and small enterprises, and on the other hand, the prospects of these clients for banks. There was also demonstrated the role of the B2B trust as a tool for establishing steady mutually beneficial contacts of the subjects under consideration. The author concluded that the model of partnership between small enterprises and banks, based on the establishment of relations of trust between the parties, will stimulate investment processes in small business and support its development. The study presents the organizational solutions for the establishment of the proposed model.

The aim of the article is to define the characteristics of platform companies and their digital platforms as new mechanisms of competition and social transformation in the global economy. The relevance of the article is due to the demand for theexperience of foreign platform companies as the main business models for the competitive development of the economy. The authors apply methods such as theoretical analysis of scientific publications (analysis, synthesis, generalization); deduction as a procedure for the transition from the general to the particular; analysis of the structure of the influence of platform companies on the strategies of competition, highlighting the differences between the platform and linear business models; determining the influence of platform companies on competition among offline partners; identification of competition between platform companies and within them; highlighting aspects of the social impact of the functioning of platforms and platform companies. The study is based on the works of domestic and foreign authors devoted to the analysis of the development of platform companies and the assessment of the social impact of these processes, as well as the interaction between the authors and developers of digital platforms. The scientific novelty of the article is provided by the analysis of a wide range of competition tools, which favorably distinguish the platform approach to modern business from the linear one. The results of the analysis make it possible to form a model of the competition ecosystem in the platform economy. The authors conclude that the basis of the competitive success of platform companies is their ability to expand the scale of activities (as a result of optimizing various types of assets), to minimize costs by involving external users in the process of creating added value, and cross-platform cooperation. The authors recommend that Russian business entities use the experience of foreign platform companies to gain competitive advantages not only in the Russian IT sector but also outside of it. Particularly important are: decentralization of quality control procedures, creation of new sales markets, collection, and processing of large amounts of data, development of strategies for entering markets as suppliers and contractors, diversification of activities at the stage of attracting investments, a social construction.

Digitalization is one of the most urgent problems for Russia; companies need to gain a competitive advantage, increase their efficiency and improve business performance. The aim of the study is to identify the relationship between the financial performance of Russian companies and the degree of digitalization of their business processes. Operating profit was chosen as the main financial indicator reflecting the results of the current core activities of the companies. To calculate the digitalization index, McKinsey information data was taken on six parameters: digital marketing, digital product experience, e-commerce, electronic customer relationship management (E-CRM), social networks. The authors used regression analysis of data from 482 companies from 20 industries for the period 2017–2019 as a research method for testing the hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that the digitalization index has a positive effect on the operational efficiency of companies, but the degree of influence differs depending on the industry, age, and size of the enterprise. The authors concluded that the greatest effect from digitalization is observed among companies with traditionally high digital maturity. These are companies from the financial, technology, or communications industry, where business digitalization is vital and where a slowdown in digital transformation processes can push such enterprises far back in the ranking. Assessing the impact of digitalization of Russian companies on their operational activities will allow the management of companies to choose the right strategy in matters of digital transformation, which will ensure the company’s competitiveness, increase its efficiency and contribute to its development. On a national scale, the results of this study can help decide which industries should be subsidized for digital innovation.

Distributed data storage technologies are becoming an integral part of the modern economy. In this regard, today it is very relevant to a search for formalized approaches to assessing the impact of blockchain technologies on key parameters of macroeconomic generations. The subject of the research is the system of relations between economic entities of the national economy, associated with the perception of blockchain technologies that permeate economic processes. The aim of the study is to develop a methodological toolkit for scenario forecasting of possible consequences for the national economy of the introduction of blockchain technologies into the economic sector. The authors apply methods of cointegration analysis, scenario modeling, substantiation of the studied patterns by methods of regression analysis, etc. The authors use works of foreign and Russian scientists, official data of the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation as an information and statistical database. The authors systematize positive and negative externalities; propose an algorithm for studying the influence of blockchain technologies on the dynamics of GDP through the transformation of the key parameters of the functioning of the financial and real sectors of the economy; build a model and assess the possible impact on GDP of the integration of blockchain technologies into the economy. As a result, the authors make the following conclusions: to the greatest extent, the integration of blockchain technologies into the business processes of the national economy affects the change in the financial results of credit institutions, an increase in capital liquidity of economic agents, as well as the acceleration of the processes of socialization of channels of access of business entities to financial markets (expanding access of economic agents to exchanges). Scenario modeling of changes in these factors made it possible to establish that the potential for additional GDP growth in the Russian economy can reach about 1% per year as part of the integration of distributed data storage technologies into the system of economic relations. The developed and approved methods for the formalized assessment of the impact of blockchain technologies on the dynamics of economic growth create the basis for clarifying methodological approaches to the study of the problem posed, open up new opportunities for holding discussion platforms on this topic.

The article aims to analyze the external and internal growth factors of the People’s Republic of China in 2010–2017. The authors use methods such as input-output modeling, statistical methods, content analysis of scientific publications. The study explores different perspectives on China’s rapid economic growth in recent decades. In particular, the authors consider neoclassical models that investigate and explain the dynamics of the Chinese economy due to the accumulation and development of factors of domestic production. Some studies are analyzed, which consider economic growth as a result of the final demand, both internal and external, on the basis of the input-output approach. The article examines the views that interpret the monetary policy as one of the most important factors in stimulating economic growth. The authors, based on the economic growth decomposition method, determine the components due to domestic demand and the components due to exports, both for the entire Chinese economy and for particular industries. Сalculations based on the data of input-output balances for 2010–2017 allowed the authors to draw a conclusion about the significant contribution of domestic demand to the economic growth of China in the context of active monetary stimulus. Thus, the novelty of the study is ensured by the fact that Thirlwall’s law does not apply to modern China –– stimulating the economy in China does not lead to a decrease in the trade surplus due to the monetary and financial sovereignty, industrial competitiveness, and the innovative economic development. The search for tools for adapting China’s monetary policy to the realities of Russia and the Republic of Belarus opens up opportunities for future research on the topic.

In the context of the globalization of national economies, the processes of recovering stolen assets are becoming a difficult task, requiring their tracing and detection not only in our country but also in foreign jurisdictions. Not only country’s law enforcement agencies but also corporate governance bodies should play an active role in the process of detecting and recovering stolen assets. In this regard, the improvement of methodological tools that facilitate the tracking, detection and recovery of stolen assets is of scientific and practical interest and ensures the relevance of the study. The purpose of the study is to improve the mechanisms for countering the withdrawal of assets by unscrupulous owners, interest groups. The authors apply methods of dialectical scientific cognition based on a set of recognized private scientific and general scientific methods: formal-logical, comparative-legal, statistical, intersectoral legal analysis. The scientific novelty of the research is the identification of negative factors affecting the volume of stolen assets, their impact on the economic health of the state, private sector, and the improvement of methods for detecting and recovering assets. The results of the study help the authors to identify the main problems of detection and recovery of stolen assets, formulated the directions of the strategy for the return of stolen assets, formalized the processes of tax administration in countering the legalization of illegally obtained property. The recovery of stolen assets is an extremely time-consuming process which requires not only collective action of government agencies but also effective interstate cooperation within the legal framework. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the legislation of a number of countries. The authors identify deficiencies in the Russian law, which does not fully prescribe the procedure for detecting and returning stolen assets to the territory of the country. The authors conclude that in order to improve the mechanisms for countering the withdrawal of assets, it is necessary to apply an integrated approach, improving the legislation of the Russian Federation and fostering collective action of the country’s law enforcement agencies, private sector, and society to successfully confront new challenges and threats. The results of the study may be used to improve the competence of law enforcement officers involved in detecting and returning stolen assets, as well as to develop a more successful methodological and evidence base approach in countering the legalization of illegally obtained property.