The humanities and social science

The advance of the population aging process leads to new socioeconomic consequences, including the formation of the so-called sandwich generation — 55-65 year olds, predominantly females, who care for their elderly parents, raise children (or grandchildren), and perform their professional duties. One of the key problems faced by people in this situation is psychological adaptation to the changing life conditions. This article considers changes in the 50-65 year old population in Russia and identify generation gap problems faced by this age bracket.

This paper analyses the risks and expected benefits associated with the transformation of the Russian economy in line with the WTO requirements and provides a theoretical framework for the adaptation of the Kaliningrad region’s economy to Russia’s membership in the WTO.

This article analysis the changes in the level of requirements for and the expected competencies of professional marketers in the age of digital communications. The article discusses the role and evaluates the contribution of mar-keting specialists to the economic and financial performance of companies and organisations. The author analyses the applied methods and indicators that used to assess the level of specialists' competencies in the area of marketing.

This article presents the results of research on motives for entrepreneur-ship. The author examines the psychological criteria for successful business, as well as the social and psychological factors whose influence increase the level of business activity. Special attention is paid to the psychological features of businessmen relating to the level of their ambitions, and the social and psy-chological characteristics of the subject of entrepreneurship.

This article is devoted to the urgent issue of analyzing the innovative potential of an organisation’s employees. The study aims to develop a methodology for identifying the potential at the level of enterprises. The author presents an original method for assessing the innovative potential of an organisation’s employees and a mechanism of its identification. The most significant factors affecting the innovation potential of personnel are as follows: the availability of resources for innovation, susceptibility to innovations, the organisational management component, and the socio-psychological climate

This article stresses the insufficient amount of scientific knowledge on the object of economic security studies. Therefore, there is a need for an in-depth analysis of the key component of economic security — its object of study. The article presents a classification of objects of economic security studies.

This article deals with the legal regulation, development, and mechanism of consumer loan insurance in Russia. The author presents statistical data of the Central Bank of Russia and identifies the current "bottlenecks" of the banking services market

The issue of structural policy in the Kaliningrad region remains pressing. Russia’s commitment to modernisation based on innovative development, overcoming the dependence on raw materials, and the current crisis phenomena require a transformation of the structure of region’s economy.
An effective structural policy requires assessing the structural transfor-mation potential, identifying the rates and criteria of structural changes, and developing a mechanism of reforming the structure of economy in view of the availability of highly specialized professionals in the region and based on the practices of developing traditional industries in the Kaliningrad region.

This article identifies the features of analytical approach to studying the sectoral structure of economy, including the general economic, socio-economic, and investment performance. It is concluded that the gross regional product shows steady growth, structural differences from the national average are insignificant, manufacturing produces the greatest output, and wholesale and retail trade is dominated by real estate operations.

This article presents an approach to developing a comprehensive model of demand for agricultural produce in the Kaliningrad region within the re-search problem of ensuring regional food security. The comprehensive model includes the regulatory and statistical patterns of consumption and a model of demand for resources among agricultural manufacturers. The article presents the results of statistical modelling and a forecast of regional consumer demand based on a survey of Kaliningraders held in October 2014 using the STATISTICA™ package.

This article considers the problem of food security in the case of the Kaliningrad region. The key threat to regional food security is the increasing dependence on import. It is proved that the region’s food security can be ensured through self-sufficiency.

This article analyses possibilities for minimising energy threats to the economy of the Kaliningrad region — an isolated Russian exclave. The au-thors consider the key aspects of the region’s economic security, identify threats, and provide a critical assessment different solutions to this problems. The research is based on the data of Rosstat and international statistics (IEA), analytical materials, and publications on the problems of global and regional energy security.
The articles suggests that the optimal solution to the energy security problem is to integrate the region in the common energy market of the Baltic Sea region, which would serve the interests of all Baltic Sea states.

This article addresses the choice between long- and short-lived equipment. The author considers the impact of taxation on this choice. The main choice parameters and the comparative effect of taxation are identified.

The problem of waste generation lies in that it is a major source of an-thropogenic pollution on a global scale, as well as an inevitable result of the consumer’s attitude to nature and a low coefficient of resource use. Recycling consists in the extraction of useful materials engaged in the technological pro-cesses and found in waste and their restoration for reuse. Recycling of the re-source cycle waste is required to achieve to goals: saving natural resources and protecting natural systems. Different methods for treating the collected waste depending on its type gave been developed in Western Europe. A necessary prerequisite for recycling is early sorting. The most popular methods of waste storage and disposal are tailings, sludge dumps, landfills, repositories, dirt filling, injection disposal, etc.

This article considers the socioeconomic characteristics of foreign direct investment and identifies the features of investment activities with foreign capital participation in the exclave region. The author analyses the dynamics of foreign direct investment inflow to the regions of North-West Russia and the industries preferred by foreign investors and identifies the position of the Kaliningrad region among the regions of North-West Russia

This article stresses the need for the deoffshorisation of Russian economy and the creation of an integral system of legal regulation. The authors con-sider the urgent issues and elements of this process, analyse the “anti-offshore” legislation provisions, and suggest avenues for its further improve-ment.

This article analyses international investment contracts with Russian participation. The author considers universal and regional contracts and bi-lateral agreements on the encouragement and mutual protection of capital in-vestments. The main guarantees provided to both Russian investors abroad and to foreign investors in the Russian Federation are identified.

This article addresses government support for education through tax benefits in Russia and some other countries. The author considers the issues of using tax benefits by the subjects of educational relations. It is concluded that it is possible to adopt the international experience in improving the legal regulation on imposing taxes on educational organsiations and granting the subjects of education relations tax benefits in Russia

This article analyses legal issues relating to the German ratification of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Mon-etary Union. The author analyses the key decisions of the Federal Consti-tutional Court of Germany on this issue. Special attention is paid to the need to implement some of the Treaty provisions as the core problem of the ratifica-tion process.