The authors substantiate the importance of choosing efficient financing instruments for the successful functioning of economic mechanisms that ensure the implementation of strategic priorities for economic development. The study shows that the spheres of science and education have a direct positive impact on the growth of the economy, being important priorities and drivers of economic development. Accordingly, it is necessary to develop clear strategic guidelines for the development of these areas and define financial instruments embedded in economic mechanisms to ensure their practical implementation. In this regard, the aim of the study is to conduct a retrospective analysis of science and education funding, considering international and domestic experience, to propose the conceptual content of sectoral strategies for the development of science and education at different levels of the economic hierarchy, and to identify financial instruments to ensure appropriate strategies. Based on the use of theoretical, empirical, comparative, institutional, and evolutionary analysis of international and domestic experience in science and education funding, the expediency of implementing an ecosystem approach to the development and funding of these areas is substantiated, which makes it possible to unite all interested participants in socio-economic ecosystems through partnerships and resource flows. The paper substantiates the importance of distinguishing between sectoral strategies for the development of science and education and suggests the content of the corresponding strategies at the macro-, meso-and micro-levels of the economy. The research contains a comprehensive analysis of the financing instruments and economic mechanisms for the development of science and education in Russia from 1992 to the present, taking into account their effectiveness.

It also includes the study of new promising instruments for science and education. Based on the results of this analysis, the authors conclude that it is advisable to rely on those financing instruments that have a self-reproducing nature and allow forming the economy of science on the basis of the ecosystem approach and assume a balance of private and public funding.

The choice of the optimal capital structure is one of the biggest challenges that the company’s top management faces due to the fact that the right strategy secures the company’s financial stability, sustainable development and capital-raising potential. This study aims at establishing a connection between the capital structure of Russian companies and corporate governance. Literature background of the paper consists of foreign and Russian authors’ works in the field of behavioral finance. Observations from 60 Russian companies were employed in the study. The major findings obtained by economic and mathematical modeling are as follows: 1. positive connection was established between the size of board of directors, number of independent directors and debt in capital structure; 2. positive connection between CEO’s age and short-term debt in capital structure; 3. no correlation between gender of directors and debt. The findings of this study may be used for determining the optimal capital structure strategy. Moreover, this information may be taken into account by top-management, directors, etc. for internal valuation of a company’s operations including sound valuation of the corporate governance factors that influenced the company’s capital structure.

The purpose of this study is to explore the expansion of merger and acquisition (M&A) literature in the context of Indian studies and examine the impact of mergers and acquisitions on various financial performance parameters of India’s Agri-Food companies. The period of study is from 2011 to 2019, and Wilcoxon Sign Rank methodology has been used. The study hypothesized that there is significant growth in Indian literature of M&A and there is a significant difference in the operating performance, financial performance and shareholders’ return of acquiring firms during the period of pre-M&A and post-M&A. The study findings state that the literature of M&A in India increases significantly, and the operating ratio, financial ratio, and shareholder return also exhibit a significant improvement whereas the expense ratio related to the operating ratio shows no improvement in performance. The study concludes that the India Agri-Food company’s financial performance has improved overall for the acquiring firms during the post-M&A period.

The paper explores the excess value created (EVC) metric, which is an aggregated measure of the financial performance of a company over a multi-period measurement interval. The relevance of the study is due to the demand for practical solutions in the field of financial performance monitoring and incentive compensation, which makes it possible to achieve congruence between the interests of shareholders and the decisions of managers. The aim of the study is to build and justify a periodic financial measure that takes into account not only the current result but also the long-term consequences of management decisions. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the determination of the EVC metric via the TEVA indicator and providing the rationale for the new design of the performance measure. The result of the study is the derivation of formulas for calculating the EVC measure on multi-period and one-period intervals, which are free from restrictions on changes in the capital structure and the cost of capital, allow for a time-varying systematic risk of operating activities and possess the advantage of computational simplicity important for practical applications. The study concludes that the measurement of value created using the EVC indicator determined via TEVA makes it possible to achieve close conformity of the metric constructed to the real-world conditions with the unification of calculations in its retrospective and forecast components based on data available from historical and Pro Forma financial statements and information from the capital market.

The article is devoted to the study of modern trends in the development of functions and instruments of central banks (CB). The article aims to identify new CB approaches to crisis management and the used tools’ analysis and to study the transformation of CB activities and their current role. The authors use general scientific and special research methods, including comparative legal analysis and the method of systematization. The article focuses on the current international discussion on the evolving role of CB, provides an overview of experts’ opinions on issues related to assessing how CB activities influenced the formation and development of the 2007 global financial crisis. The spread of the latest crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was different from the spread of the 2007 crisis when financial markets were first hit and then stress spread to the real economy through reduced confidence and tightening credit conditions for businesses and households. The authors note that the pandemic crisis developed differently: first, the real economy was affected, which was accompanied by a fall in GDP, and then conditions in the financial sector worsened. The authors systematized the CB measures in response to the pandemic and analyzed them by groups of countries: the CB measures of the advanced economies and countries with emerging markets were broadly similar. Based on a comparative analysis of the monetary instruments, the authors conclude that the advanced economies CBs have extremely limited opportunities to use interest rates to manage the crisis, while the emerging markets CBs still have some space for their regulation. The paper also analyses other CB instruments used during the crisis caused by the pandemic. The authors note that the measures implemented by CBs reflect their increased role in modern economic systems and the change in the long-known traditional functions. This research may be useful to state bodies in the implementation and coordination of the policy in the field of regulation of CB activities.

The article presents the key provisions of the developed model of financial incentives for innovation activity for companies in the industrial sector. The subject of the study is economic relations formed in the process of financial incentives for innovation activity of industrial companies. The aim of the study is to present the authors’ model of financial incentives for innovation activity in the industrial sector, as well as to evaluate its effectiveness using forecasting methods. The relevance of the study is due to the existence in modern conditions of significant obstacles to financial incentives for innovation in the industrial sector: the lack of equity capital of companies, sufficiently high costs for the implementation of innovation projects, the existence of financial risk of loss of solvency by the company, as well as a lack of budget financing of innovation and state material support. The novelty of the research consists in the development of a model of financial incentives for innovation, which could be used in practice by companies operating in the industrial sector in order to increase production potential through the implementation of innovation and R&D projects. The authors apply the following methods: statistical analysis, correlation and regression analysis, forecasting, scenario analysis and construction of the trend of the GDP of the Russian Federation. Results: the authors define the structure of the modern model of financial incentives for innovation activity for industrial companies, evaluate its effectiveness using the interdependencies between the GDP of the Russian Federation and key parameters reflecting the increase in innovation activities of Russian entrepreneurship. Statistical data for forecasting the GDP of the Russian Federation were collected for the period 2010–2021. The authors conclude that the most effective scenario for the Russian innovation economy is the practical use of the developed model of financial incentives for innovation activity in highly active and mediumactive companies.

The research is focused on determining the factors influencing the formation of the types of financial behavior of economic entities. Determining the types of economic entities’ financial behavior is necessary for implementing state economic policy measures. The subject of the study is the types of financial behavior reflecting the propensity of an economic entity to perform economic operations. Entities may exhibit active, adaptive, and reactive financial behaviors. The purpose of the work is to determine the key factors that influence the formation of types of financial behavior of economic entities. The study suggests that the formation of financial behavior types is caused by the influence of human, social and financial capital. The formation of financial behavior types is influenced by the basic characteristics associated with age, perception of the external environment, etc. The significance of certain factors is assessed using statistical analysis. The combination of these factors has a different impact on the formation of the type of financial behavior of an economic entity, but they can be significant under certain external conditions related to the economic situation. Because of the significance of individual factors, all economic entities form ‘yadernye’ (core) groups demonstrating a certain type of financial behavior, as well as groups of entities that change the type of financial behavior depending on the influence of the external environment. The change in financial behavior types is associated with a change in the strength of the impact of various factors that need to be considered in the dynamics. Entities with an active type of financial behavior, whose actions transform the external environment and stimulate other categories of entities to commit economic actions, are of significant interest for the analysis. The latter is especially actual for the financial market when entities with a reactive type of behavior under the influence of the information background commit rash actions leading them to financial losses. Based on the available sociological data, the study examines the main factors that lead to the formation of an active type of financial behavior. As a result of the construction of the econometric model, the authors conclude that the amount of available funds, the age of the respondent, the level of professional competence have a significant impact on the formation of an active type of financial behavior.

Nowadays, the increase of competition has made organizations constantly strive to increase their productivity and reduce their costs. The rapid growth of systems based on electronic technology led to a significant change in banking services. Information technology has made it possible for electronic channels to perform many banking services that were traditionally performed over the counter. Albanian banks are making efforts to provide high-quality products and services to satisfy their customers as well as to increase customers’ trust and loyalty to banks. The purpose of this study is based on the current state of e-banking in Albania to measure the impact that trust and loyalty have on the satisfaction of e-banking customers. The study is based on primary data collected by the administration of 400 questionnaires in Gjirokastra region. The data were analyzed using regression analysis and analysis of variance components, which resulted in both variables included in the model to be statistically significant, but among the above two factors the most important turned out to be trust, because according to the model if trust improves by one degree then satisfaction is expected to increase by 0.39 degrees. Albanian banks need to consider this effect of trust and loyalty on e-banking customer satisfaction, striving to increase them.

The article examines the financial wealth that affects macroeconomic dynamics from a comparative perspective for some countries. The purpose of the study is to identify changes in financial wealth and determine their impact on macroeconomic dynamics, taking into account the assessment of the impact of the level of social indicators — inequality and poverty, in particular, on changing the goals of economic development — growth rate, human development index. The methodology consists of empirical, structural, comparative analysis, econometric modeling, which is reduced to the construction of multiple regressions based on the Gretl 2020b software module, multiplicative models by the type of production functions. Taking into account these methods, an analysis algorithm has been developed to assess the impact of financial wealth on macroeconomic dynamics. The implementation of this algorithm made it possible to carry out a comparative analysis of the results for Russia, the G7 countries and China in terms of the influence of financial wealth on their development. The main empirical result is that financial wealth has a stronger effect on economic dynamics and social indicators of development than non-financial wealth, and is associated with the growth rate of highly developed countries. For Russia, the growth of financial wealth, albeit small, was associated with high growth rates, however, the econometric analysis revealed that financial wealth did not have a decisive influence on growth rates, reducing the human development index, unlike other countries, this affected the increase in this index. The authors conclude that the Russian economy showed the lowest sensitivity of GDP to financial wealth, but high to the Gini index, with only China and Russia having a higher sensitivity to non-financial rather than financial wealth compared to other reviewed countries. The prospect of using the results is to adjust macroeconomic policy, monetary and financial instruments, taking into account the sensitivity of target macroeconomic parameters to financial wealth, including the differentiation of policy instruments for each country.

The subject of this article is the set of economic and financial relations that develop in the process of inter-budgetary regulation and equalization of budgetary provision and balance of heavily subsidized budgets at the subnational level. The purpose of the study is to identify the degree of influence and effectiveness of the existing system of inter-budgetary regulation and fiscal decentralization in Russia in relation to heavily subsidized budgets at the subnational level in the context of their socio-economic, budgetary and financial condition and development. The methodological basis of the study is based on the Russian budgetary legislation, as well as domestic and foreign scientific studies devoted to the theory of fiscal decentralization (federalism), mechanisms for equalizing budgetary provision at the subnational level, approaches to assessing the degree of influence of fiscal decentralization on stimulating economic growth in regions and states. In the course of the study, the author applies a systematic approach, as well as general scientific and special methods: coefficient method, comparative, structural dynamic retrospective analysis. The analysis of the relationship and dispersion of the financial parameters of subnational budgets using the Pearson pair correlation coefficient, as well as the coefficients of variation and oscillation. The study reveals the problematic aspects of the effectiveness of the existing system of inter-budgetary regulation and the convergence of the socio-economic state of heavily subsidized regions in recent years. This result contradicts most budgetary practices and the theory of fiscal decentralization, which justifies the need for a qualitative change in the existing system of inter-budgetary regulation. The main conclusion of the study is that the existing mechanism of inter-budgetary regulation and the existing instruments for equalizing budgetary provision do not contribute to a significant change in the fiscal and socio-economic parameters of the development of heavily subsidized budgets at the subnational level. The nature of the use of the gratuitous aid received for this category of subjects of the country is reduced to short-term coverage of the gap in financing expenditure obligations but does not change the model of either the organization of budget regulation or the regional economy. Soft budget constraints create weak incentives and lead to financial and economic problems — increased dependency and subsidies.

The scientific study examines the ways and methods of assessing the contribution of the Arctic zone to the level of economic development of the subjects of this zone and the country as a whole through the process of ensuring national security. The relevance of the study is due to the relationship between the indicators of territorial development of the subjects of the Russian Federation belonging to the Arctic zone and the indicator of the gross domestic product as a whole as the main indicator for assessing the level of economic development. The aim of the research is to improve the mechanisms for assessing the contribution of the Arctic zone to the level of economic development. The authors apply dialectical scientific cognitive methods based on a set of recognized private scientific and general scientific methods: formal logic, comparative law, statistics, and cross-sectoral legal analysis. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the identification of major risks that affect the processes of national security assurance in the Arctic zone, as well as their impact on national economic development and private business. The authors conclude about the potential of the Arctic zone for the formation of innovative projects with the growth of spatial risks, considering the peculiarities of the economy of the North. The results of this study may be used in practical activities by the state executive authorities of the Arctic zone in order to adjust existing regulatory documents, as well as to develop new directions of state policy in the field of ensuring national security in this region.

The authors examine the impact of foreign trade on the development of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The relevance of the study is related to the role of foreign trade in the integration processes of the EAEU countries. The purpose of the study is to identify, on the basis of a modified gravity model of international trade, the possible contribution of changes in the foreign trade policy of the EAEU countries to the growth of their foreign trade. The authors apply a pseudo-maximum likelihood estimation method, which is Poisson regression. Based on the results of the gravity model, covering the data of 97 countries with volumes of 95% of world GDP and 85% of international trade flows, the authors identified the potential contribution of possible changes in the foreign trade policy of the EAEU countries to the growth of their foreign trade turnover, including the reorientation of country directions. The authors gave a quantitative assessment of the foreign trade potential of the EAEU countries in trade with the main partners. The study presents an assessment of the impact on the volume of foreign trade of Belarus of its possible accession to the WTO, which could increase this volume by 11.4%. Particular attention is paid to modeling the trade potential of the EAEU countries with 40 leading trading partners. An analysis of the foreign trade of these countries shows no noticeable changes in the structure of its directions, and the foreign trade turnover continues to grow at an insufficient rate. The simulation results led to the conclusion that the EAEU countries have significant trade potential with the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Sweden, Malaysia, Spain and Brazil, and the actual volume of trade with these countries is less than 50% of the potential. Realization of this potential requires, as shown in the study, significant changes in the foreign economic orientation of the EAEU countries and modification of foreign trade policy.

The neoliberal model of globalization promoted the outstripping growth of financial assets over the development of the real sector. The functioning of the international monetary system (IMS), based on one key national currency — the US dollar, has led to the financialization of the world economy and the formation of global imbalances. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the need to replace US-centric financial institutions with new institutions at the regional level and to transform the IMS in the direction of monetary polycentrism and regionalization. The paper discusses the mutual responsibility of the core and periphery countries for the formation of global imbalances. The financial and economic indicators of sovereign states, transnational companies and transnational banks are compared according to the “scale” of globalization. The study shows chronic disproportions between the dynamics of global capital growth and economic growth rates, leading to the state’s loss of control over the reproduction process. It is substantiated that the current transformation of the IMS in the direction of monetary polycentrism and regionalization is a natural reaction to these imbalances. The article reveals a negative relationship between the implementation of procyclical and anti-crisis monetary policies by the central banks of developed countries and the competitive positions of developing countries in international financial and commodity markets. The factors of using the oligopoly of the Big Three credit rating agencies as a “soft power” to maintain the US global hegemony and the status of the US dollar as a key reserve currency are systematized. The author concludes that in order for developing countries to form their own international liquidity, it is necessary to stimulate the internationalization of their currencies by developing pan-Asian financial institutions and encouraging competition between them and the existing institutions of the IMS.

This study examines the problem of modeling the joint dynamics of conditional volatility of several financial assets under an asymmetric relationship between volatility and shocks in returns (leverage effect). We propose a new multivariate asymmetric conditional heteroskedasticity model with a dynamic conditional correlation matrix (DCC-EGARCH). The proposed method allows modelling the joint dynamics of several financial assets taking into account the leverage effect in the financial markets. DCC-EGARCH model has two main advantages over previously proposed multivariate asymmetric specifications. It involves a substantially simpler optimization problem and does away with the assumption of conditional correlation time invariance. These features make the model more suitable for practical applications. To study the properties of the obtained estimators, we conducted a simulated data analysis. As a result, we found statistical evidence in favor of the developed DCC-EGARCH model compared with the symmetric DCC-GARCH process in case of considering data with the presence of the leverage effect. Further, we applied the proposed method to analyze the joint volatility of Rosneft stock returns and Brent oil prices. By estimating the DCC-EGARCH model, we found statistical evidence for both the presence of the leverage effect in the oil price data and the presence of the dynamic correlation structure between the time series, which motivates the practical application of the proposed method.

The aim of this empirical study is to determine the compliance of the audit reports of the financial statements of large companies in Kosovo for 2015–2019 with the requirements of the International Standards on Auditing (ISA). The relevance of the study is due to the fact that many countries are now actively moving to the application of the International Standards on Auditing while feeling the lack of detailed methodological materials, which makes it difficult to effectively apply these standards in countries that do not have experience in this area. The basis for the study is a random sample of published audit reports of large companies in Kosovo, about 37% of the total population, which can be considered sufficient. The authors analyze the misstatements (errors) made by the auditors of domestic audit firms in Kosovo when preparing audit reports on the financial statements of large companies in Kosovo in 2015–2019. Based on the analysis, the authors conclude that the quality of the audit in Kosovo is insufficient. The level of non-compliance with ISAs remains high, and licensed auditors and audit firms are not adequately trained to satisfactorily fulfill their legal obligations. The results of this study have implications for national audit regulatory bodies (ARBs) and professional accountancy organizations (PAOs) that want to improve overall audit quality.