The article examines contemporary priorities and instruments of industrial policy — defined as policies aimed at structural change in the economy — in the context of increasing geopolitical instability, technological competition, and the growing importance of structural transformation. An original index of the economic complexity of government financial support is proposed, based on the methodology of economic complexity, which allows for cross-country comparisons of the orientation of industrial support. An analysis of more than 6,500 unique regulatory acts from the GTA Corporate Subsidy Inventory shows that developed countries tend to support sectors with high technological complexity, while emerging market economies are more inclined to assist less complex but systemically important industries. It is also revealed that targeted SME support is often concentrated in traditional or simple sectors, serving functions related to social stability and inequality reduction. A positive correlation is found between a country’s overall economic complexity and the complexity of its industrial policy portfolio. At the same time, it appears that the industrial support provided by developed countries is relatively simpler compared to the complexity level of their national economies, whereas the priorities of emerging market economies are more often aligned with relatively complex sectors within their domestic contexts. Thus, catching-up economies aim to accelerate structural shifts toward technologically complex sectors, while developed economies can afford a more balanced approach to economic growth.

The study of the consequences of the application of individual sanctions instruments at the level of industries or segments of the economy allows us to assess the components and factors of overall sustainability, the effectiveness of the state policy. The paper provides an econometric assessment of the impact of US SDN list sanctions on Russian entities in 2014—2023. Sanctions are considered as a lasting impact on the economic performance. The resulting effect of sanctions on revenue and profit indicators is estimated by comparing the dynamics of sanctioned companies and entities from the same industries outside the SDN regime. The modeling was carried out in constant prices, for a balanced panel, with robust standard errors. The final impact of SDN list sanctions on Russian organizations is generally insignificant. The introduction of sanctions was carried out rather for political and declarative reasons than to maximize the damage to be inflicted; the impact was either not felt at all or mitigated by counter-sanction measures. For the IT sector, it was accompanied not by a deterioration, but by an improvement in performance. Thus, political interference in economic activity in the form of targeted (personal) sanctions, even from a strong global player such as the United States, can be mitigated though we don’t know whether such mitigation is the result of market or management decisions, or a retaliatory state counter-sanction policy.

The article presents methods for calculating integrated indicators of food security and tests them at three levels: national, regional, and household. The study aims to create a unified monitoring system for analyzing the dynamics of changes. While the MSU methodology is already used at the national level, there has been no similar tool for regions and households before. The integrated assessment at the national and regional levels includes five key blocks: food availability and system sustainability, economic accessibility, physical accessibility, food safety, and nutritional adequacy. At the household level, food security is determined through the economic accessibility of products and a balanced diet. At the national level, the integrated indicator of food security decreased in 2018—2022, but in 2023, its growth was recorded. At the regional level, there is a narrowing gap between the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and convergence with the average Russian value. At the household level, an improvement in food security was also recorded in 2023 due to increased economic availability of food, although the imbalance in the dietary structure remains. The developed methodology allows identifying both national trends and regional characteristics, which makes it an effective tool for government monitoring and development of targeted support measures.

As a result of the reform of the Russian electric power industry in the 2000s, the Russian electricity market was formed, where large generating companies operate in the production sector. Oligopolistic relations can reduce the social efficiency of the market mechanism. The task of identifying signs of manifestation of market power does not have a clear and generally accepted solution. In this article, the authors propose an approach to solving it, based on the analysis of the dynamics of fuel costs over several years. It allows us to assert that there are signs of market power for companies that provide about a quarter of electricity generation. At the same time, the observed manifestations are not related to the size of the companies, the presence or absence of cogeneration. A general trend towards a decrease in the market power of companies over the past few years has been identified. In addition, there has been a decline in the competitiveness of companies owning generating capacities specializing only in electricity compared to companies with cogeneration capacities, which is most likely a consequence of the specific structure of the Russian electricity and heat market.

Economic theory and empirical research link economic growth with education, a key component of human capital. Yet high levels of education do not guarantee economic growth if a weak institutional environment hinders the productive use of knowledge and skills. By studying the nexus between institutions and education in different countries, we conclude that weak institutions are usually paired with low levels of education. Some post-socialist countries, as well as a number of other countries with relatively high levels of education that have experienced institutional deterioration after major crises are among exceptions. The argument about the unproductive use of human capital due to institutional problems is most applicable to such countries. Using system GMM on a panel of 134 countries over the period 1970—2015, we obtain significant positive estimates of the impact of both institutions and education on economic growth. Our results indicate that weak institutions markedly constrain economic growth even in countries with educated population.

The issue of the relationship between socio-economic inequality (SEI) and economic growth remains relevant amid global uncertainty and the growing role of state financial regulation (SFR). The study’s relevance stems from the need to clarify the nature of these relationships to develop effective SFR measures, particularly in the context of Russia’s national goals, which include reducing the Gini coefficient by 2030 and 2036. The research aims to refine the impact of SEI levels on economic growth dynamics, with a focus on testing Simon Kuznets’ hypothesis of a nonlinear relationship. The main objectives included systematizing theoretical and empirical approaches, conducting a detailed analysis of SEI influence channels on economic growth rates to develop an econometric model, and verifying the hypothesis of nonlinear relationships between the studied indicators. The methodological foundation relied on the gradient boosting method, applied to panel data from 175 countries over the 2000—2022 period. Results confirmed an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth rates and the Gini coefficient for post-tax income, identifying an optimal Gini range (0.35—0.65) for maximum economic growth rates, as well as a G-shaped relationship, suggesting the need to reduce tax burdens in countries with low SEI levels. Conclusions highlight the limited universality of the Kuznets hypothesis and the necessity for a differentiated approach to SFR of SEI. Key recommendations include enhancing income redistribution in countries with low per capita incomes and reducing excessive fiscal burdens in developed economies with low SEI. A theoretical spiral model of the long-term relationship between economic growth dynamics and SEI, accounting for long-term technological cycles, is also proposed. The results hold practical significance for optimizing SFR in Russia.