2003. vol. 7. No. 4

This paper studies the optimal tax authority resource allocation between two functions: the investigation and imposing penalty of the tax evasion. For this purpose the dynamic control model of the tax evasion environment is built. It has three phase coordinates: total amount of income for non-investigated tax evasion cases, amount for investigated ones for which penalty is not imposed yet and amount of funds returned into state budget as a result as a result of investigation and penalty of tax evasion. Based on theoretical plausible hypothesizes about tendency of tax­payers to the tax evasion and efficiency of tax authority's work the set of differen­tial equations is presented. 
The task for finding minimum of the total amount of non-investigated and not yet fined evasions is set and resolved on the basis of Pontryagin's Maximum Princi­ple. The question of the practical realization of solutions based on deterministic ap­proximation is considered.

In this paper, economic development through knowledge-rich proc­essing industries as a potential dominating path for countries in transi­tion is examined. It is particularly important that all countries in transi­tion are richly endowed with intellectual resources which is shown to be a factor (a) critical for transition, (b) receiving a growing value-added compensation, and (c) giving potential for intellectual rent. A two- industry dynamic model considering intellectual resources demonstrates that there exists optimal distribution of investment allowing to maximize national income, that is, a way for balanced growth in knowledge-rich economy. Government can support this process through re-direction of investment flows to achieve optimal investment distribution and invest­ment into institutional capital. For successful growth through know­ledge-rich industries, R&D sector should also be enhanced to become market-oriented.

The problem of evaluation and the analysis of distribution of power is consi­dered in the State Duma of the Russian Federation for 1994-2003. Banzhaf power index is used to evaluate the power of fractions and groups in the Russian Parlia­ment for the simple and constitutional majority decision making and under different assumptions about admissible coalitions. It is analyzed how the index is changed un­der different changes in structure of fractions and groups and under different sce­narios of coalition formation. The dependence in the changes of index values is com­pared with respect to political events during this period.

The challenges of the institutional balance of power in the European Council due to the future admission of the twelve new candidate countries to the European Union are studied. Changes in the voting procedures in the European Council of the enlarged European Union are analyzed. Banzhaf index re-defined according to the new procedures accepted on the Nice Summit in December 2000 is used to estimate the balance of power among member countries.

Until the end of the 1990s, the question of regional asymmetry in the Russian Federation was raised exclusively in the context of the territorial consequences of the crisis and the decline in production. And these consequences, as numerous calculations show, have invariably manifested themselves through increasing imbalances.
Since 1999, Russia has been experiencing an economic recovery. How stable it is and what causes it is a separate issue. The main issue that is studied in the article is the assessment of territorial differentiation in connection with macroeconomic growth and the role of the transfer mechanism in its weakening.

Russian taxation system is cumbersome, complicated and inefficient. It is quite a challenge to the economic development of Russia. The discussions on that subject have been very lively in recent years but one can see the lack of theoretical back­ground in those discussions. 
This course allows students to look at taxation from the viewpoint of economic theory (with special attention to microeconomic models): economic fundamentals of taxation, basic types of taxes and basic problems of taxation. Students would be able to observe the effects of income and substitution through the analysis of influence of taxes on the investment policies of firms and on the economic behavior of house­holds. During the examination of problems of tax policy special emphasis is placed on the costs of tax administration process. 
This taxation theory course is particularly essential for students specializing in public finance and public administration.