The author analyzes the dependence of regional budgets in Kazakhstan on transfers and proposes to overcome this situation by reallocating to regional authorities receipts from the value-added tax on domestically manufactured goods.

A synopsis of the World Bank 2011 report on railroads of the world is given. The authors' ideas are compared with Russian realities, and discrepancies with the World Bank's recommendations are noted.

The article discusses the plan for developing a high-speed line from Astana to Almaty in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The current condition of railroad transportation infrastructure is described. Based on an analysis of international experience, individual recommendations are made for improving...

The authors discuss the current conditions of Russian railroads and their significance for country's economy as well as describe the main problems of railroad transportation and methods to solve them.

In its institutional aspect, structural reform of Russia's railroad transportation is in its final stage. However, the reform has not solved problems of the railroads' engineering and technological basis (although some positive steps have been taken in the proper direction). The article...

The article surveys the ideas that constitute the basis of contemporary trap theory. Theoretical diagrams and constructs are presented as well as empirical facts that reveal how institutional and technological traps originate and function. Ways in which systems get out of traps are considered,...

The aspects of institutions' influence on economic growth and the priorities of their development are studied in the article. Two complementary analytical techniques are suggested. The first one, based on the discrete institutional alternatives method, is aimed at the "institutional design"...

The article assesses official transportation strategies in terms of their orientation to overcoming the two main transportation and economic barriers restraining Siberia's development: the barrier of its intracontinental position and the barrier of the limited transportation accessibility of a...

The article examines the economic development achievements and shortcomings of the Commonwealth of Independent States since they gained their independence. The imitative nature of government reform is emphasized, and deep-seated reasons for the low ratings of these countries in international...

The author attempts to show what actual achievements have resulted from economic reforms carried out in Georgia since the 2003 "Rose Revolution," and to debunk some fundamental myths surrounding these reforms. This analysis leads him to conclude that Georgia can be regarded as a symbiosis of...