The paper considers the influence of war experience on the norms and values of the Great Patriotic War veterans and studies the intergenerational transmission of the values created by the war to the veterans’ descendants. The study conjectures that the war developed higher civic culture and fostered ability to collective action, altruism, and self-reliance. The war enlarged the “space of freedom” for its partici- pants, providing the new experiences of autonomy and grassroots self-organization and promoting the feelings of dignity and common belonging to the destiny of one’s native land. The paper shows that similar norms and values are, ceteris paribus, more common among the veterans’ (grand)children than among the other Russians.

The paper presents the estimation of sanctions influence on the results of domestic companies on the basis of spillover effects. It is shown that the strength of sanctions influence is mainly determined by the processing chain in terms of industry foreign trade relations structure. During the whole period under analysis (from 2005 to 2012) the companies’ earnings were influenced mostly by German investment (import, export and horizontal country spillovers are significant). Investment from China also affected national companies during the crisis of 2008-2009. Import-driven (productive) industries suffer from sanction regime that is confirmed by the significance of import and export spillover of FDI from the countries, which introduced the sanctions.

Problems of national farm industry dependence on imported agricultural components are shown in the article. Conditions for the effective agro-industrial complex operation, capable to provide import substitution are analyzed. Special aspects of both national-based and foreign-based innovations production development are emphasized. Availability of resources and measures to ensure import substitution on the agri-food market are considered. The method for cost-based product price calculation is proposed taking into account fluctuations of the foreign currency. Farmers’ views on factors determining the situation in agriculture are presented. To sum it up, potential capacity and conditions providing food import substitution are determined.

This paper analyzes borrowing by non-financial sector of the Russian economy. Its topicality is determined by the importance of credit for a successful implementation of the “window of opportunities”, a decrease in credit availability and high credit risks in a number of industries. The comprehensive analysis of lending to non-financial sector of the economy is based on financial statements of corporations and credit institutions as well as on evaluations of the Bank of Russia. The paper highlights performance dynamics of businesses in non-financial industries and their current indebtedness and the role of Russian banks in providing them with credit. Imbalances and risks for growth of lending to the non-financial sector of the economy are revealed.

The article presents a long-term forecast of costs and benefits associated with the implementation of additional energy efficiency policies in Russian buildings. In Russia, buildings are directly and indirectly responsible for 38% of primary energy use; at the same time, they have a large energy efficiency potential. The 10 assessed scenarios of implementing packages of policy measures to improve energy efficiency illustrate that it is possible to halve fossil fuel use while providing energy services to the buildings stock which is expected to double by 2050. Additional benefits are considered, such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution and improved indoor comfort, employment growth, improved affordability of housing services for both residents and the public sector. The paper estimates the costs and economic benefits of the implementation of energy efficiency measures and policies in the buildings sector. It shows that a new model of economic growth in Russia should be based on improving the overall economic efficiency, including energy efficiency.

The article develops the approach to the phenomenon of large corporations in Russian economy based on the concept of economic power. The analysis of dynamics and structure of revenues of the largest Russian companies demonstrates the long-term tendency to increase the concentration of economic power. The paper considers the effects of this increase and of the preferences given to large corporations including those aimed at the development of the territories with sustainable resource specialization.

Several approaches exist that help explain the motivations for corporate charity and philanthropy. Structural functionalism associates these to the idea of solidarity, according to institutional approach they provide legitimacy for businesses, critical theory implies that they play an ideological role in sustaining the leading position of the dominating social class. This paper complements the existing models by treating these phenomena as a patrimonial type of exchange between business and government: the state provides the opportunity for the companies to do business on its territory in exchange for their loyalty.

Within the conceptual framework of cognitive theory the author presents a concept of social transformations based on information exchange - the target-oriented construction of the social reality in past and present. The paper focuses on cognitive logic of reforms, reconstructing the frames of general information, elaboration of dominant reform projects, the process of priorities selection, the modes of cognitive domination maintenance used by reform elites. On this ground the Russian reforms style is analyzed as the stable and self-reproductive cognitive stereotypes, the system of formal and informal institutional regulations, their transformation in the process of reforms, implementation of varied strategies and technologies of information control as precondition of the reforms’ success. The accumulation of historical experience provides the possibility to rethink the strategy of Russian reforms at the current stage.