Vestnik Instituta ekonomiki RAN

The article analyzes issues related to the institutionalization of support population points as a new spatial priority of the state policy for the socioeconomic development of the Russian Federation. It has been shown that the Strategy for Russia’s Spatial Development until 2030 with a perspective until 2036, published in 2024 maintains continuity with the 2019 Strategy while also defining new approaches to solving the problem of socio-economic differentiation of the country’s territories. The author assumes that the institutionalization of reference settlements, involves both the formation of a set of conditions that create a favorable institutional environment for them to perform the functions and priorities for which they were introduced, and the provision of a unified institutional framework for spatial development of Russia. It is considered the issue of inevitable interconnectedness of support population points and municipalities and the resulting need to ensure complementarity in reforming the institutional framework for spatial development in our country to ensure a synergistic effect in the functioning of the two named institutions.

The effectiveness of budget investments is largely determined by the structure of capital expenditures and the allocation of resources across investment projects at different stages of their implementation. In this context, particular importance is attached to the analysis of unfinished construction as a collection of unfinished projects, making it possible to diagnose deviations in the investment cycle and assess their prevalence from the perspective of budget efficiency. The study aims to develop and test an approach to assessing the structure of unfinished construction based on the classification of its projects. The methodology is based on budget reporting data and formalized criteria characterizing project status and investment cycle parameters. An empirical analysis of data from eight constituent entities of the Russian Federation shows that only 27,6% of investment projects are implemented without significant deviations, while these projects account for 36,7% of total expenditures incurred. The majority of the analyzed unfinished construction projects either exhibit various forms of investment cycle deviations or lack sufficient information for assessment. The proposed approach transforms budget reporting data from an accounting tool for capital construction projects into a tool for managing unfinished construction from the perspective of budget efficiency.

The article analyzes the Bank of Russia’s initiative to create a specialized AI agent for selecting financial products, which was announced in April 2026. It examines architectural and regulatory approaches to implementing agentic systems in financial advisory services. Based on a synthesis of international and Russian research, the study explores the economic nature of AI intermediation as a mechanism for overcoming information asymmetry, which simultaneously creates new challenges: technical vulnerabilities of algorithms, institutional risks, user interest manipulation, market latency, and the problem of liability distribution. Special attention is paid to the evolution of regulatory approaches abroad, the identification of factors determining the success of agentic systems implementation, as well as the analysis of international precedents. The author proposes a classification of maturity levels for AI financial intermediaries. Recommendations are formulated for the governance of the AI agent aimed at balancing technological autonomy, fiduciary responsibility, and competitive neutrality.

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the convergence of innovative financial technologies driving the transformation of the global financial architecture (GFA) in the 2020–2026 period. Based on systematized data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Financial Stability Board (FSB), and the World Economic Forum (WEF), three key technological vectors are examined: tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), central bank digital currencies (CBDC), and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial sector. The author’s contribution consists of a quantitative verification of factors determining the CBDC implementation stage, using panel data from 85 countries for the 2020–2024 period with ordered logistic regression. The study finds that cryptocurrency penetration, quality of the regulatory environment, and financial sector depth significantly increase the probability of a country advancing to a more developed CBDC project stage. It was found that the intensity of institutional response – the adoption of the MiCA regulation in the EU and the GENIUS Act in the US – is a valid indicator of the transformative impact of platform solutions on financial institutions.

The article presents the results of the assessment of the dynamics of Russia’s non-resource non-energy exports to the BRICS+ countries for the period from 2015 to 2024, based on mirror statistics from partner countries. It has been established that most of these countries represent unstable markets with volatile demand dynamics. Countries with significant potential for increasing Russian non-resource non-energy exports are identified. The study identifies the characteristics of the trade structure and the sustainability of export flows, and highlights priority areas for trade cooperation. A correlation analysis is used to demonstrate the relationship between the import of Russian non-resource non-energy exports by each BRICS+ country and variables such as the oil price, GDP of these countries, and trade complementarity with Russia. However, the strength of these relationships and their nature vary across countries. It has been established that significant factors in the demand for Russian non-resource non-energy exports are the dynamics of the importing country’s GDP and the situation on the global oil market. Based on the results of the study of the dynamics of non-resource non-energy import volumes from Russia to the BRICS+ countries, a number of recommendations for increasing supplies to these markets are proposed.

This article analyzes the impact of the 2026 Middle East crisis on international food security and the channels through which this shock is transmitted to food parameters in the EAEU. The research methodological framework includes an index assessment of price dynamics (consumer price inflation indices for food), the calculation of per capita production coefficients, and a method for constructing multivariate matrix scenarios to assess the probabilistic impact of cascading external shocks on logistics and food security in the studied macro region. It is shown that the overall impact for the EAEU is ambiguous: for the EAEU, as a net exporter of grain, oil, and fertilizer, new export opportunities are opening up, but at the same time, inflation and logistics risks are increasing, and the importance of technological and infrastructure cooperation within the Union, as well as foreign trade diversification, is growing. The study’s originality lies in its seamless synthesis of a retrospective analysis of the EAEU’s agricultural sector development with the integration of the latest empirical data from the first quarter of 2026, reflecting the reaction of global markets to the disruption of Middle East trade routes. This allows the author not only to assess the current state of the industry but also to identify the underlying mechanisms by which EAEU economies absorb external shocks.