Aleksei Martinenko

The timeliness of the study stems from the fact that the effectiveness of formal institutions determines the economic well-being of a country. The purpose of the article is to identify the role and functions of formal institutions in the context of Coase’s theorem. The study concluded that in the case of high transaction costs, formal institutions should play a key role in economic exchange, ensuring the transfer of property rights to the most effective agent. In the case of low transaction costs, formal institutions should provide the most favorable conditions for the voluntary exchange of property rights.

The relevance of the study is due to the fact that there has been an increase in the upward trend in income disproportion in the past 30 years in the world, which can worsen the socio-economic situation and provoke social tension in society. The purpose of the article is to assess the severity of this problem in Russia and offer fiscal instruments to compensate for it. According to the results of the study, it was found out that disproportion in Russia and in the world had increased over the past 30 years; the reasons for this phenomenon in Russia are determined; social transfers and a progressive scale of taxation are considered as compensation methods.

At the moment, the bulk of Russia's GNP is produced precisely by the entities of natural monopolies, and this determines the relevance of the problem under study. The purpose of the article is to define the essence of natural monopolies, as well as to assess the role that they play in the economy. Based on the results of the study, the authors reveal the approaches to determining the essence of a natural monopoly as an economic category, that is, its concept and features; specify its functions; identify the problems associated with the insufficient functioning of natural monopolies entities in Russia, and justify the need for government intervention.

The concepts of market failures and government failures are often given as arguments of supporters and opponents of government intervention in the economy, that is why the problem under study is urgent. The purpose of the article is to analyze the effects of market failures and government failures on the economy. According to the results of the study, it was found that the market can cope with many failures (information asymmetry, external effects), and government intervention can sometimes aggravate the situation.

Anti-Russian sanctions have been an influential factor in the development of international economic relations since March 2014, and this determines the relevance of the problem under study. The purpose of the article is to consider the extent of anti-Russian sanctions impact on economic processes. According to the results of the study, such negative consequences of anti-Russian sanctions were revealed as slowdown in the Russian economy and restrictions in international economic relations. A positive aspect was the development of the domestic agricultural industry within the framework of the import substitution program, the establishment of the MIR national payment system.