2017. vol. 21. No. 2

The goal of this article is twofold. First, we present the foundations of modern economic approach to lie (cheating) and survey its experimental measurements, which are being actively developed in recent years. Second, we describe design and results of several experiments in Russia performed at the laboratory of experimental and behavioural economics of HSE. Our results confirm the hypotheses that decisions to lie depend crucially on the potential gain from cheating, as well as on moral considerations, such as dignity and self-respect, which have to be sacrifized in case one decides to cheat. In particular, cheating in Russia was found to be even lower than in most analogous studies in other countries, especially among the mature and responsible experimental participants.

Gravity models, which relate volume of exports from one country to another to the economic size of those countries and various trade costs, have long been successfully used in empirical analysis of international trade flows and their determinants. Recent decades saw a substantial increase in a number of methods to estimate such models due to the emergence of theoretically founded modifications of the gravity equation. This paper surveys these advances in the estimation methodology. First, alternative techniques to account for structural multilate­ral resistance terms (introducing remoteness measures, using price indices, non-linear estimation and its linear approximation, importer and exporter fixed effects) are examined. Variants of gravity specifications on panel data (country-pair fixed and random effects, Hausman – Taylor model) are then reviewed. Next, common errors in gravity modeling associated with atheoretical calculations of bilateral trade and economic size variables are analyzed. Finally, ways to consistently estimate gravity models in the presence of zero trade flows using Poisson regression, Tobit and Heckman models are discussed.

All the methods considered have their own advantages and drawbacks. The choice of estimator in an application is not obvious, and depends on properties of available data and goals of research. A good practice in the modern empirical literature is to utilize simultaneously several techniques, at least for robustness checks.

This paper investigates the determinants of demand for and supply of retail loans (by type of credit and by currency of credit) on the different phases of credit cycle in Russia over the period of 2005–2016. The analysis is carried out through the vector error correction models (VECM) with the use of monthly data on macroeconomic development and the consolidated balance of banking system. Applying the VECM-models for each segment of the market for retail loans we estimate the long-term relationships between demand for and supply of various types of loans to households. Several outcomes emerge from the analysis. First, the unemployment rate, consumer confidence and current inflation are shown to play the major role from the demand side of retail loans, while deposits attracted in national currency, borrowers’ creditworthiness and liquidity stand for the most important determinants from the supply side of loans to households. Second, during the credit crunch phases (2009–2010 and 2015–2016) the contribution of demand exceeds respective contribution of supply roughly twice – on the level of aggregated market and in the segment of Rubble denominated loans. Concerning the market for mortgage loans, we found viable correction mechanisms only from the demand side; on the contrary, for the market of non-mortgage loans we found the opposite. Third, we show that it was possible to foresee the transition from the growth phase to the crunch phase of credit cycle on the eve of credit crunch at the end of 2014, but the depth of crunch was significantly underestimated. Fourth, even in the case of macroeconomic improvements in 2017–2018, the transition from the credit crunch back to the growth seems unlikely to occur.

This paper provides a literature review on different strategies of mutual fund management companies. Most of the considered strategies are used to increase total net assets under management. These include: fee competition, changing fund names, fund incubation, favoritism, mergers and acquisitions of management companies and their parts. There are two main goals of this article. The first one is a warning of potential investors about additional risks of investing in mutual funds. The second goal is a consolidation of different scientific facts for the regulator about peculiarities of management company’s strategic development. Restricting or prohibiting the most of the considered strategies will help to protect the interests of investors and make investing more transparent in terms of risks.

I also examine the possibility of employing the favoritism strategies in Russia. In summary, this question is remained open. On the one hand, possibility of employing IPO allocation strategy is restricted. On the other hand, presence of opposite trades is possible. According to legislation, the opposite trades in Russia can be done either on stock exchange or as an OTC deal. In the latter case a convertibility of shares of two funds is the only restriction. According to the results, OTC deal price can strongly deviate from stock exchange price of an instrument. The presence of this deviation can be weakly explained by variation of market risk, but I was not able to find any relation between the size of deviation and the market risk. This means that OTC deals can be used as a mechanism of cross-subsidization in Russia.

The article addresses the features of “green” finance and the prospects of its development on a global, regional and national scale. The aim of this research is to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of “greening” the global financial system in terms of opportunity to solve two types of global problems – 1) financial and economic; 2) devoted to environmental, climate and natural resources issues, changes and threats. The methodology of research includes systemic analytical approach to explore “green” finance, comparison of the national and regional examples of its practical application and statistical analysis of datasets provided by international organizations, national authorities and financial institutions. We consider the expanded classification and typology of “green” financial instruments and institutions in the focus of global banking, securities and derivatives markets’ functioning, specify the condition of “green” infrastructure, evaluate the scope and distinctive features of global financial “greening” in 2010s. As the result of research we came to a conclusion that rapidly developing practice of “green” finance is a perspective and creative direction for global development and tackling several types of global problems, it captures the interdisciplinary approach and the ideas of sustainable development and responsible financing. The special emphasis is placed on the active participation of developing countries in the processes of drafting, local testing and promoting “green” initiatives at a global level. It is forecasted that “green” financial reforms will bring the synergetic effect and multilateral benefits in the form of financial recovery and eco-advantages for global economy.

Recently emerged, auction theory has become a well-established branch of theoretical economics with important practical applications. As the theory progresses, its basic assumptions become the subject of further investigation and thus new directions emerge. Microeconomics in general and auction theory in particular too often assume away aftermarket interactions, which are a common feature of real markets and have a powerful impact on strategies and incentives. Lately, however, a body of literature emerged that incorporates the possibility of resale into game-theoretic analysis of auctions. This paper reviews this literature. It highlights the role of bargaining power on the aftermarket as one of the main issues in this literature. It then reports how standard auction formats – first and second price auctions in particular – compare in terms of the seller’s revenues they generate. Then, this paper shows generalizations of Myerson’s approach to constructing optimal auctions when resale is possible; the discussed models require delicate assumptions. Next, the survey covers more specific issues: different approaches to modelling the aftermarket, decisions to enter the primary auction, effects of disclosing information from the primary auction and the role of speculators. Finally, the paper overviews empirical research on auctions with resale, the newest branch of this literature that is developing rapidly.