Keyword: «world values survey»

The article discusses the possibility and necessity of including the cultural factor in the analysis of cross-border cooperation between Russia and Finland. The author considers the general scheme of actions when analyzing sociocultural factors and their influence on the level of cross-border cooperation. The article also summarizes the existing methods of quantitative analysis of socio-cultural factors, highlightes the techniques that are most suitable, according to the author, for the purpose of analyzing the influence of culture on cross-border cooperation.

Despite the long history of good-neighborliness and cross-border cooperation between Russia and Finland, the Ukrainian crisis has led to a chill in bilateral relations. Searching for ways to activate cross-border cooperation, the author of the article proposes to pay attention to socio-cultural factors, which have recently become the subject of economic analysis. The article examines the socio-cultural profiles of Russia and Finland according to the methods of G. Hofstede and the World Study of Values, analyzes their similarities and differences. The obtained estimates of cultural differences can become a starting point for further empirical research of informal institutions.

In the second decade of the 21st century, the growth rates of the Russian economy slowed down significantly. Deteriorating foreign economic conditions, falling incomes of the population and a decrease in domestic demand, an increase in the debt burden of the population, a pandemic – these and other factors distinguish today's Russian economy from the situation observed in the 2000s. Searching for new sources of growth is an acute issue. The author suggests paying attention to institutional factors, in particular, trust as part of social capital. The article analyzes data from the World Values Survey, characterizing different types of trust in Russia since 1989. Generalized trust remained low throughout the period under review, while institutional trust grew in the last wave of research, primarily due to trust in the army.