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удк 330.34 Ye.G. Reshetnikova
INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS OF ENSURING FOOD SAFETY
The author analyzes some trends in the food consumption sphere, specific features of income differentiation and food poverty dynamics. The paper presents possible directions of social policy modernization at the present stage.
Key words: food consumption, food poverty, income differentiation.
Е.Г. Решетникова
ИНСТИТУЦИОНАЛЬНЫЕ АСПЕКТЫ ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЯ ПРОДОВОЛЬСТВЕННОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ
В статье анализируются тенденции в сфере потребления продовольствия, особенности дифференциации доходов и динамика продовольственной бедности. Рассматриваются направления модернизации социальной политики на современном этапе.
Ключевые слова: потребление продовольствия, продовольственная бедность, дифференциация
доходов.
New aspects in the approaches to the problem of improving affordability of food and reducing food poverty include theoretical and methodological development of the concept of major macro corporations regulation in the food market in the context of incomplete institutional reforms in the agro food sector, regulation should be based on the changes in state revenue and tax policy and designed to maintain a dynamic, economic and social balance of the food market.
One of the main directions of state policy to ensure food safety is the implementation of measures aimed at reducing poverty, providing priority support to the most needy. There should be continuous food help for low-income families in order to prevent chronic malnutrition [2, p. 15].
The current economic structure does not facilitate bridging the income gap between the rich and the poor, so it is necessary to restore a principle of social justice in the ratio of incomes of the population employed in various sectors of economy and in the budget expenditures on the social sector and other purposes, increasing the share of wages in GDP , increasing the minimum wage bringing it in line with the regional cost of living.
Currently, the law “On State Social Assistance” (1999), and the law “On the state policy with regard to average annual family income and income of a citizen living alone for the recognition of the low-income status and providing them with state social assistance” (2003) are in effect in the Russian Federation. According to latter (Article 7) citizen income is calculated before tax and fees which lowers the number of low-income population. We believe that, based on the experience of developed countries, those with incomes below the subsistence level should be exempt from paying taxes.
The risks and threats to food safety include low level of effective demand for food and social risks posed by the gap in living standards between rural and urban areas.
The monitoring of parameters of consumption and income carried out at the Institute of Agrarian Problems, RAS, leads to the following conclusions. Food consumption at the modern stage is characterized by the following trends:
- Consumption level of the most affluent part of the population has reached or exceeds the level of rational standards of consumption, consumption of a number of basic foods by the least wealthy of the population falls short of the minimum physiological norm, i.e. low-income groups suffer from food poverty;
- As food consumption per capita grows, parameters of differentiation of food consumption in social and family (income groups) and regional (urban and rural) sections decline;
- With rising income of the low income families there is a growing demand for food and that during insufficient supply leads to the inflationary spiral. In this situation there is a necessity for dynamic development of the national agricultural sector with state support for major integrated companies, and enterprises of small and medium-sized businesses. This is also important for the process of import substitution.
Socio-economic differentiation is an essential element of a market economy. However, excessive inequality causes poverty, leads to a situation where for a certain segment of the population consumption of basic food products in accordance with the minimum standards that ensure the preservation of human health and the maintenance of normal healthy life becomes unaffordable.
Increasing income differentiation can take many forms. In Russia, it is due to more rapid income growth of most affluent part of the population. Half of the Russian citizens spend on food from 40 to 50% of all consumer spending, only 10% of the most wealthy allocate 15,7% of their income for buying food. In developed countries this figure is 10 -15% on average for all social groups. Obviously, due to lim-
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ited income demand on food is much lower than needs for food and it can not secure standards of rational consumption of food as required by the doctrine of food security.
Analysis of the dynamics of the Gini coefficient and the funds coefficient indicates that the maximum income inequality is observed in the most prosperous and economically developed regions with successfully functioning economy. It should be noted that in regions with strong income differentiation the number of poor people (income below the subsistence minimum) is less than on average in Russia. In some regions the number of poor people reaches a third of the population, which raises concerns for the social climate in the region, volume of effective demand, degree of satisfaction of basic needs, first of all, for food. If we consider that the official poverty line is equal to a living wage which has been repeatedly criticized by experts for its low standards, the picture of poverty becomes even more complicated.
The correlation between income distribution and economic growth has been studied by economists for many years. As early as 1955 Nobel laureate in economics S. Kuznets put forward a famous hypothesis according to which at different stages of development economic growth affects the distribution of income in different ways: first, increasing inequality, and then reducing the income gap of the polar groups of the population. It was later shown that, contrary to the hypothesis of S. Kuznets, economic growth even in the poorest countries does not necessarily lead to a deepening of inequalities of the population (this was noted by D. Dollar, Buck, E. Deaton, F Bourguignon, C. Morris-son, etc.). Russian economists, first of all A. Shevyakova and A. Kiruta, argue that the combined data from the Russian regions statistically refute the hypothesis of S. Kuznets. At the same time, this hypothesis if reformulated in terms of normal inequality, is statistically confirmed [3, p. 67].
A study of transformation of the correlation between economic growth and inequality in a region (for example, in the Saratov region) in the context of transition and market economy related to the agro-food complex has been conducted. In 1990 - 2009 growth rate of agricultural output was not stable. From 1990 to 1998 there was a decrease of chain indices. Since 1999, there was a positive trend in agricultural production. The coefficient of income funds in the countryside changed as follows. In 1999 it was 13.1 times (in the city - 9.9), for the next year it increased to 19.5 times (in the city - 10.6). Note that this was the year of the most rapid growth rate of agricultural production in the Saratov region. In 2001, there was a sharp decline in the fund coefficient to 12.2 (in the city - 8.1). In 2004, again there was an increase of this parameter to 13.9, and the next year it dropped to 13.5 times, in 2009 it was 8.3. Based on these data, we can conclude that at this point in time in the rural areas of the region the hypothesis of S. Kuznets was not confirmed statistically, which is an indirect indication of the excessive inequality and poverty, especially among the rural population.
The dynamics of income flow has led to a structural transformation in consumer spending and the diet of the population in rural and urban population. The following trends can be traced in the data from budget statistics in the level of consumption differentiation of basic foodstuffs in the Saratov region at various stages of transitional and market economy. In 1999, the differentiation of food consumption in the households of the Saratov region was most pronounced in such foods as fruit and berries (funds coef-
ficient - 18 times), sugar and confectionery (9.4), milk and dairy products (7.4), meat (5,6). The minimal parameters of differentiation of food consumption were noted in bread (2.9), which is the least interchangeable. By 2009, consumption differentiation decreased in all types of food: fruits and berries (4.5), milk and dairy products (2.3), eggs (1.6), and bread (1.2) which is related to an increase in living standards of the whole population.
An important criterion of food poverty is calorie value of diet. In general, in Russia 10% of the population have diet calorie value of 1879 kcal, which is below the threshold value. The threshold value of 2150 kcal per day is exceeded in the Saratov region, starting from the third decile income group,
i.e. 20% of the population suffer from malnutrition. It is disturbing that 70 - 80% of large families in the region and in the whole country belong to this group which has diet calorie value of less than 1700 kcal per day [1, p.33].
A complex space-time analysis of food consumption in the region showed that the level of consumption of basic foods is higher in urban areas than in rural areas on average and in different income groups. Calorie diet of poor urban residents is higher than that of the village residents by 35%. In high-income groups there is an excess of the normative level of consumption of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and for some products such as confectionery products, and of the rational standards. With the growth of per capita consumption there was a decline in differentiation of consumption of the most nutritional products for all households. However, there remain significant differences in the quality and range of food consumed between population groups that have different incomes.
To ensure the sustainable development of the agrofood complex, coordination of economic and social parameters it is essential to encourage various forms of the balance method: modification of cross-sectoral balance and adaptation to the modern balance of money incomes and expenditures.
The doctrine of the food safety of the Russian Federation aims at the creation of the mechanisms of targeted help for population groups having income level insufficient for providing good nutrition. In this regard, it is reasonable to develop and adopt special federal and regional programs that determine the size of targeted food help and have a differentiated approach taking into account the specific characteristics of food consumption by the most vulnerable population groups (children, pensioners, large families with children, pregnant women etc. ).
The Doctrine of food safety underlines pays a special attention to rational consumption standards as a guideline for the development of agribusiness. It is necessary to legally formalize these rules, by analogy with the minimum standards of living wage.
Improvement of the standard method in planning the scope of food consumption should follow the path of gradual approximation of the level of minimum consumption of basic foodstuffs to the rational, as they now differ by about a factor of 2.
1. Емельянов А. Продовольственная безопасность страны: угроза и факторы нейтрализации // Российский экономический журнал. 2003. №7.
2. Продовольственная безопасность России: проблемы и перспективы / под ред. А.А. Анфиногентовой. Саратов. 2004.
3. Шевяков А., Кирута А. Измерение экономического неравенства. М., 2002.
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удк 330.14 M. Ye. Serov
TRANSACTION COSTS: EFFICIENCY OF RESOURCES ON CAPITAL MARKET
The paper considers transaction costs on the capital market. The author identifies direct dependence between transaction costs on the capital market and inflow of foreign capital to economy. The typology of administrative barriers as phenomenon of transaction costs on the capital market is presented.
Key words: transaction costs, capital market, foreign investments, financial agent, investment climate, perfect capital market, redistribution of capital.
M.E. Серов
ИЗДЕРЖКИ ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЯ: ЭФФЕКТИВНОСТЬ РЕСУРСОВ НА РЫНКЕ КАПИТАЛА
В статье рассмотрены транзакционные издержки на рынке капитала. Выявлена прямая зависимость между величиной транзакционных издержек на рынке капитала и притоком иностранного капитала в экономику страны. Структурирована типология административных барьеров как феномена транзакционных издержек на рынке капитала.
Ключевые слова: транзакционные издержки, рынок капитала, иностранные инвестиции, финансовый посредник, инвестиционный климат, теория идеального рынка, перераспределение капитала.
Capital market is a mechanism for carrying out optimal allocation of resources and efficient transfer of national savings into investment, which is a factor and a prerequisite for economic growth. Capital markets help to fund investments in the economic development generating a positive effect: innovation, business restructuring, infrastructure development, large corporate transformation, expanding economic horizons and respective capitalization, and expansion of business in global markets.
In a market economy capital market acts as a communication mechanism between saving and investment, wealth accumulation and development. Transfer of free resources from savers to borrowers and investors is the first and foremost, conceptual and essential function of financial markets. Some authors call this a redistribution function [5, p. 51] which shows an organic link between the functions of the capital market and capital itself.
But it is also important to note that the redistribution or transfer of funds in the capital market leads to an objective decrease in the efficiency of resources. The reason is that the interaction causes a certain waste of resources referred to as transaction costs, or costs of interaction. This phenomenon discovered in 1937 by an American economist Ronald Coase accompanies any economic activity including reallocation of resources in the capital market. In the case under study transaction costs are understood as the costs of interaction of players in the capital market. This type of costs includes the cost of any necessary resources that are not spent directly at production of economic goods, but secure successful implementation of the process. It is because of this “securing” role transaction costs have often been compared to the cost of resources to overcome friction in the system of interaction [1, p. 12].
Thus, in the era of globalization the impact of the institutional structure (a wide range of interactions between investors and recipients of investment) of the investment market on the investment climate is defined primarily by
the fact that it determines the structure and volume of transaction costs in the investment process, which, along with the operating costs of investing are one of criteria in the decision-making about investments. Investment market institutions affect all components of transaction costs, including those that emerge prior to the transaction, and those that are caused by the interaction of partners after the transaction. In the area of investment the first group includes costs of searching for information about a potential investor (recipient) and the market situation, losses related to the incomplete information available, costs of negotiating the terms of investment and cost of the contract (for registration of the transaction). The second group includes costs of monitoring (monitoring compliance with the conditions of the investment) and preventing opportunism (avoiding the conditions), specifications cost and costs to protect property rights (costs of arbitration courts, reinstatement of infringed rights in the course of the contract and some others), costs of protection against third party claims to obtain part of the useful effect as a result of investment. It should be noted that transaction costs for foreign investment can reach a critical value which determines inexpediency of such investment because economic players executing investments represent different national economic systems that requires high level of competence from them. From this point of view, it is necessary to develop the institutional structure of investment market in the direction of the establishing an institution of international investment intermediaries.
The world economy has accumulated vast experience of the powerful and diverse network of financial and credit institutions that perform various forms of capital transfers from owners of free money to its recipients. The very existence of agents of money capital reduces unsystematic risk by diversifying investments, reduces circulation costs of public capital by specializing in certain types of financial transactions. Individuals and firms that wish to invest money but are unable to efficiently assess financial information
