In the author’s 2018 papers, an attempt was made to describe the mechanism of the evolution of Western countries from the 14th to the 20th centuries as the interaction of four groups of factors: technological progress, civic culture, institutions, and welfare. The focus was on the ascending branch of the evolution of Western countries. In this paper the results obtained are clarified, and a hypothesis is proposed that the potential of this mechanism has been exhausted, giving rise to a crisis in the economic and political systems of these countries, as well as in the system of international relations. It is shown that this crisis has resulted from a number of trends: a slowdown in technological progress and the spread of distorted innovations, a decline in economic growth, a decay of civic culture associated with the effect of destructive altruism, and the degradation of institutions of competition caused by the “dirty hands problem”. Trump’s policies, largely driven by the imperial syndrome characteristic of the US ruling elite, are incapable of reversing these trends and are leading to the destruction of the world order. The paper also discusses the hypothesis that a possible way out of the crisis may lie in the formation of institutions of cooperation through the combined efforts of the European Union and Russia. 

The paper studies the applicability of Thomas Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolutions to economics. We analyze three key “revolutions”: marginalist, Keynesian, and Lucasian (rational expectations), identifying their stages and characteristics. The focus is made on the asymmetry between crises (external and internal) and theoretical responses to them, as well as on the complex interactions among economic theory, policy, and ideology. The presented analysis suggests that Kuhn’s model is useful for describing periods of turbulence in economics, albeit with significant caveats. 

The article analyzes the deceleration of the global transition toward a sustainable development model — a process that, in Russian academic and public discourse, is often addressed in a rather superficial or speculative manner. The study seeks to provide a scientifically grounded assessment of two key questions: (1) what is the current state of this transition, and does it exhibit signs of deceleration or stagnation, as evidenced by quantitative indicators; and (2) what are the principal causes and factors underlying this slowdown? To address the first question, the paper examines the dynamics of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index and trends in responsible investment. The results indicate that since 2019, the global transition to a sustainable development model has indeed slowed, although there is no empirical basis to suggest its complete cessation. In response to the second question, the article identifies and classifies global factors contributing to the slowdown into three major groups: (1) short- and mediumterm global processes; (2) the emergence of new “growth problems” replacing the earlier “formation problems” without corresponding policy adaptation; and (3) inherent contradictions within the sustainable development paradigm itself. The findings provide a foundation for forecasting the future trajectory of the sustainable development model at both global and national levels. Further progress will depend on comparing current inhibitory factors with those that previously spurred the expansion of sustainable finance — a key mechanism in advancing the new model — and on assessing emerging economic, technological, and behavioral drivers capable of reinvigorating the global transition toward sustainability. 

The article assesses the impact of sanctions imposed by unfriendly countries and the parallel supply mechanism on the dynamics of Russian imports of investment goods. The study period includes Q1 2012—Q2 2025 and involves examining two waves of sanctions imposed by unfriendly countries, beginning in 2014 and 2022. The study considers a two-period sanctions model (sanctions of the first and second waves), as well as a three-period sanctions model, identifying within the second wave: a) the stage of the initial launch of the parallel supply mechanism (Q2 2022— Q4 2022) and b) the stage of active application of the parallel supply mechanism (Q1 2023—present). The effects of sanctions and the parallel supply mechanism are estimated using a demand model for investment goods imports, incorporating microeconomic (price of capital goods), macroeconomic (exchange rate, income dynamics, and the level of entrepreneurial confidence of firms), and institutional factors (sanctions, parallel imports). Using the full study sample, including supplies from neutral and unfriendly countries, a comparatively high sensitivity of Russian demand for investment goods imports to price changes (elasticity coefficient of –0.7), as well as to changes in the dynamics of firms’ income and changes in the real exchange rate of the ruble (elasticity coefficients are 0.3 and 0.5) is revealed, with a near-zero sensitivity to changes in the level of entrepreneurial confidence of firms for the study period. A comparatively low impact of the first-wave sanctions on the physical volumes of supplies of foreign-made equipment is revealed with opposite effects for unfriendly and neutral countries, and it is also shown that the active stage of the parallel supply mechanism made it possible to offset, on average, more than 20% of the negative impact of the second-wave sanctions on the volume of Russian imports of capital goods. Within the three-period sanctions model, a U-shaped distribution of the sanctions’ effects over time is observed. It was found that neutral countries actively exploited the historical opportunity to expand their presence in the Russian market during the period of trade sanctions imposed by unfriendly countries. A list of product groups that, all other things being equal, respond most actively to the authorization of parallel supply mechanism was developed, which can be used to adjust import substitution policy. 

The article characterizes the dynamics and relationship between exports and economic growth in China over the past 20—40 years, determines the export elasticity of GDP, analyzes the structure of China’s GDP by expenditure, and assesses the contribution of total commodity and net exports of goods and services to PRC’s economic growth. Net exports occupy a secondary position in the structure of China’s GDP by expenditure compared to domestic consumption and investment. A comparison of GDP and export dynamics reveals the predominant export inelasticity of China’s growth rate and its high resilience to changes in export volumes. The contribution of exports to China’s economic growth is currently inferior to domestic factors of consumer and investment demand, demonstrating a slight increase in its share in recent years to 30—40% of GDP growth. Overall, exports have a positive stimulating effect on economic growth, they are an important element of China’s national expanded reproduction, and increase domestic consumer and investment demand. Exports ensure technological leadership for the country, which is a priority for further economic development. Imports, investment and technology are other important components of China’s economic dependence on external factors that require further analysis. 

This paper examines the hypothesis of asymmetric responses of bank interest rates to restrictive and accommodative monetary policy conducted by the Bank of Russia across different market segments, industries, and macroregions over the period 2017—2025. Using a Markov-switching error-correction model, the study estimates the effects of monetary policy shocks, households’ inflation expectations, firms’ price expectations, and a business climate indicator on loan and deposit rates with maturities ranging from 30 days to three years and longer. The results provide strong evidence of pronounced asymmetry in the interest rate channel of monetary transmission, particularly for short-term rates: for maturities of up to one year in the corporate lending segment and up to 90 days in household lending. No statistically significant asymmetry is found in the household deposit market. Retail loan rates with maturities from one to three years generally respond more strongly and more rapidly to monetary tightening than to monetary easing. By contrast, corporate lending rates exhibit reverse asymmetry and are less sensitive to monetary tightening, especially in manufacturing and agriculture, as well as in construction in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises. At the macroregional level, the Siberian and Southern macroregions display the most pronounced asymmetry in credit markets. At the same time, the effectiveness of a uniform monetary policy is not undermined: bank interest rates respond significantly and with short lags (one to three months) to monetary policy measures across all considered dimensions. To enhance the performance of the interest rate transmission channel, the paper recommends placing greater policy focus on the identified segments, industries, and regions that give rise to heterogeneity and incomplete transmission. 

The study analyzes the economic nature of public utilities. It demonstrates that they are provided by economic entities with a monopoly position in local (settlement) markets, which necessitates state regulation of their activities. At the same time, utilities are a mixed (club) good and have such a characteristic of a public good as non-rival consumption. For paid services, this means the need to ensure both technological and financial accessibility for all consumers. Currently, financial accessibility is maintained through caps on the rate of increase in utility payments made by households. The use of this approach has led to a decrease in tariff revenues of resource supply organizations and a crisis in the utility sector. It is substantiated that the most effective mechanism for ensuring the availability of services to consumers while maintaining the financial stability of resource-supplying enterprises is to improve the targeted system of subsidies to households for housing and utilities. The study proposes introducing a criterion for the financial accessibility of public services in the form of the maximum proportion of households receiving subsidies for services, as an indicator of the possibility of tariff increases for the population. The assessment of the introduction of this indicator for tariff dynamics, income of resourcesupplying organizations and budget expenditures has been carried out. 

The article proposes a concrete example of developing a positive intradisciplinary discourse, based on a new perspective on the Edgeworth box model within the context of a discussion about the prospects of higher economic education in Russia, which unfolded, among other places, on the pages of the journal Voprosy Ekonomiki. By relaxing the explicit and implicit assumptions of zero transaction costs and the availability of structural alternatives for organizing economic exchanges, the paper demonstrates how conceptual diversity within economic science can manifest in relation to a specific model. It further shows how, in this context, critical thinking skills — as understood in the context of economic education — could be engaged both by established researchers and students for the development of a model of positive intradisciplinary discourse. The exposition is built on the idea of a specific form of metalanguage for intradisciplinary discourse, a function performed by neoclassical economic theory as it is presented in university microeconomics courses.