The paper considers the contribution of Richard Thaler, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner - 2017, to contemporary behavioural economics as an independent area of economics research. It covers the interactions of behavioural economics with experimental and empirical research, and the use of behavioural models to explain various phenomena of individual decisions, group interactions, financial market behaviour etc. Specific attention is paid to the practice of behavioural “nudging” and its methodological foundations (libertarian paternalism), as well as the role and place of behavioural research in modern economics in general.

The classical monetarism passed away. However it was substituted by a new school that rose in 2005-2010 under the name of “new” monetarism. The new direction is rather young and its area of influence is limited to modeling. Several ideas of “old” monetarism are used in the practice of monetary policy: for example, monetary policy rules, monetary targeting in developing economies and using of money as an economic variable in the monetary analysis. Some important principles of monetarism have remained in the modern macroeconomic analysis. In particular, price stability is the ultimate, but not unique goal of any central bank. The public commitment of the central bank is the key for confidence to monetary policy. Monetary policy (but not fiscal policy) is considered as the main tool of short-term macroeconomic stabilization.

We study the influence of the program-targeted planning mechanisms on the civil service efficiency in the subjects of the Russian Federation. Our hypothesis is that the criteria for assessing effectiveness of civil service development programs are to increase the efficiency of its functioning and focus on solving problems of socio-economic development. The research methodology is based on the generalization of statistical data on the regions of the Central Federal District (CFD) of Russia in 2003-2016, and on the construction of some indices for civil service and socio-economic development. We have analyzed 67 programs of civil service development. Due to lack of financing Russian regions are forced to abandon many measures of the civil service reform. The average values of efficiency coefficients do not reach 30%, which indicates the existence of significant reserves for increasing the civil service development programs effectiveness. We have revealed that a crisis condition of socio-economic development resists the effective civil service development in the regions. At the same time, the region’s advanced positions in the economy do not automatically lead to a comparable high level of civil service development. This conclusion is important for extrapolating to regions of other federal districts and to the federal level in Russia.

The concept of the flypaper effect is used in analyzing fiscal incentives of the budgets of subjects of the Russian Federation receiving non-earmarked federal grants. The calculations for 2005-2015 revealed an absence of the flypaper effect in general. A federal grant produces downward pressure even on aggregate spending of a recipient budget, reflecting negative fiscal stimulus and loss of well-being, and demonstrating the negative effect of intergovern_mental relations in the current arrangement of the budgetary system of Russia. Depending on the evaluation parameters, the flypaper effect was identified in the budgets of the subjects of the South and North-Caucasian federal districts and was absent in North-West, Ural and Far East districts. Vertical imbalance and the use of discretionary balancing grants are ruled out as factors of the flypaper effect. At the same time, the effect of inelasticity of budget expenditures and indirect taxation are confirmed to generate the flypaper effect.

The article studies the influence of various types of intergovernmental fiscal transfers on economic growth in Russia. With the help of econometric models, the authors show that the Russian practice testifies to the influence of certain types of intergovernmental fiscal transfers on economic growth; in addition, the hypothesis about the effects of transfers for specific purposes on the transformation of the regional economy structure is confirmed. In particular, this conclusion is put forward by the example of the industry “Agriculture, hunting and forestry”.

The present paper focuses on identification of relative “poverty line” and a threshold of high poverty risks. The paper also studies key poverty factors in contemporary Russia. It demonstrates that the relative approach to poverty which is widely used in Western countries is applicable in Russia too. However, the relative poverty thresholds set at 0.5 and 0.75 medians per capita family income identify quite different groups of the poor. The threshold of 0.5 median income indicates deep poverty happened mostly to the unemployed workforce. The relative poverty threshold equal to 0.75 median income identifies the poverty of the elderly who are not considered as the poor by the absolute approach because pensions of Russians have been recently equalized to the subsistence level. Above all, the paper provides econometric estimates of socio-economic determinants of both absolute and relative poverty. It was revealed that the relative deep poverty of the working population was primarily caused by “bad” jobs rather than by “bad” human capital. Absolute poverty of workers is more or less determined by both factors.

The article attempts to explain the low life expectancy in Russia, especially among men. It is shown that negative investments in health capital, in particular, smoking and refusal to exercise, are the main reason for this phenomenon. A hypothesis is being tested that the most important reason for smoking and neglecting sports is the people’s reluctance to calculate the long-term consequences of their decisions. This reluctance can be described by the concept of investment myopia. This term is understood as the exclusion from consideration of future results, beginning with a certain threshold moment of time. Investment myopia is considered as the most important consequence of disbelief in the future, which, in turn, can be generated by pessimism, uncertainty or ingrained psychology of the “provisional ruler”.

The article analyzes the issues of enhancement of the state regulation mechanism of Russian oil and gas complex, determines the tasks and reveals the main shortcomings of its functioning. The method of calculating rentals as an instrument of state regulation that promotes the increase in efficiency of subsoil use and economically sustainable development of Russian oil and gas complex is proposed.