The active digitalization of the life of modern society observed over the past 20 years has led to real changes in the economy. The financial sector is at the heart of a digital transformation that has been spearheaded by FinTech, which is now shaping a new segment of modern financial markets. At the same time, the most wellknown objects of FinTech are cryptocurrency and token. Cryptocurrencies, regardless of the attitude of regulatory authorities to them, have become a virtual reality of the financial sector and are actively used to pay for goods and services. The peculiarity of cryptocurrencies is its anonymity and unaccountability of the state that defines a range of risks to society and the state. However, cryptocurrencies, along with risks, create opportunities — from the development of innovative technologies to the creation of new jobs and replenishment of the national budget. The penetration of FinTech into the financial market segments traditionally occupied by banks gave rise to a discussion about their future. However, it will probably not be the displacement of the banks but their FinTech transformation. An example of this is the payment industry, which has become one of the main consumers of the latest financial technologies and provides a wide range of opportunities for FinTech companies to develop. An important element of FinTech is RegTech (Regulatory Technology), which allows companies to bypass trade barriers and helps build a constructive dialogue with regulators. In turn, SupTech (Supervision Technology) is used for analysis and forecasting purposes. At the end of the article, based on the analysis of foreign experience, we formulated the main approaches, the implementation of which allows states to stimulate the introduction and development of new financial technologies, as well as we analysed the experience of interstate coordination of cooperation in the field of financial technologies in the EU and the EAEU countries.

The market economy is subject to its own special laws. Its spontaneous character is revealed during crises — the unknown phenomena of world economic life, the nature of which has not yet received a generally recognized explanation in economic science. This article is an attempt to comprehend the causes and consequences of economic crises, to classify them by the nature of the forming processes, as well as to give an economic and mathematical justification of the scientific conclusions of the proposed research. The conclusions presented in the article are based on the results of processing a wide array of unique statistical data for more than 200 years of development of the world economy. A significant part of the work is devoted to verification of the findings of the study through economic and mathematical modeling using the software platform “Infoanalytic”, the intellectual basis of which is the methodology of the regularizing Bayesian approach (modification of the “traditional” Bayesian approach) and Bayesian intelligent measurements designed to generate stable estimates under conditions of significant uncertainty as a priori, and the actual information coming in the current mode as well as. The article highlights the results of a retrospective analysis of the development of the world economy since the industrial revolution of the XVIII century. The revealed regularities allow forming the hypothesis explaining the causes of differences in the realization of economic phenomena at all stages of the long-term cyclic process.

The purpose of this article is to determine the influence of the portfolio structure on the stability of insurance companies’ activity. With this objective, we examined how the structure of insurance portfolio affects the risks of companies’ activity.

The author has proved that if insurance companies focus on voluntary property insurance it increases the probability of revocation of their licenses. These results were derived from a binary logistic regression using 112 observations. Parameters of insurance portfolio, as well as regional macroeconomic indicators that reflect the operating environment of the insurance business were used as variables for the model. Indicators of the insurance portfolio include voluntary and compulsory insurance. In the course of the research, it was revealed that one of the possible directions of development of insurance market regulation may be the organization of the mechanism of supervision over insurance companies, which allows soft impact on the structure of insurance portfolios in order to increase the stability of insurers. The introduction of this approach in regulation will allow the Bank of Russia to stimulate the development of the insurance market. Based on the results of the presented study, the Bank of Russia may develop guidelines to determine the optimal structure of the insurance portfolio. These recommendations can be one of the means of the surveillance policy over insurance companies. The orientation of the insurance company to certain types of insurance determines the stability of its functioning. In this regard, the Bank of Russia should develop an early warning system for disrupting the smooth functioning of the insurance company due to an incorrect focus on certain types of insurance. 

In the article, the author analyzes the impact of factors affecting the global financial system in the payment sphere. The analysis is based on a comparison of the set of impact factors, as noted in the materials of the World Economic Forum, with trends in the development of payment infrastructure. We show the manifestation of this influence in various aspects and properties, both for separate payment systems, and the payment sphere as a whole.

The author notes that not only regulation based on international standards, but also changes in market conditions and technological innovations have a significant impact on the development of payment systems of central banks. The impact of factors in the Russian national payment system (NPS) and the role of the Bank of Russia are revealed.

The author concludes that the degree of influence of the factors manifested in the implementation of planned and possible measures for the development of the NPS can be estimated by the dynamics of growth (deviation) of the share of payment traffic carried out in significant payment infrastructures. Quantitative indicators of the NPS development, presented in terms of factors and related activities affecting the global financial system, make it possible to assess the degree of mutual influence. 

In the article we analyzed international and Russian methodological approaches for classification of risk in project finance and identified crucial criteria which provide further framework for development of principles and management mechanism of specialized credit portfolio at commercial bank. Considering relevant literature and taking into account the main purpose of the study, the practical use of aggregation of project finance risk taxonomy was concluded and three groups of risk were proposed: product risk, counterparty risk and portfolio risk. For each group, it was highlighted list of significant risks all of which shall be subsequently integrated into overall assessment of risks’ concentration of specialized credit portfolio together with some management tools.

The authors consider the problems associated with the activities of microfinance organizations, and directions to eliminate them. The subject of the study is the need to introduce machine learning to solve urgent problems. Machine learning methods are increasingly being implemented to analyze financial and economic information, which reduces and eliminates some of the difficulties. Although currently these methods are not widely used in the field of microfinance institutions (MFIs), there are opportunities for their application. The aim of the work is to determine the prospects for the use of these methods in MFOs. The article describes the subject area of research, associated with MFIs. The authors identify the main groups of problems related to MFOs, consider the possibility of introducing machine learning for data analysis in this area and determine the main directions of the possible use of machine learning for MFIs. The authors concluded that such methods are applicable for assessing the performance of MFIs.

The article is devoted to the competitiveness of universities in the international educational space, taking into account the realities of the new economy and modern factors of consumer choice. We stress the importance of the process of internationalization of teachers’ teams and students, the importance of enriching the content of curricula with international and intercultural experience. Further, we discussed directions of development in Russia of management and economic education taking into account preservation of national identity in a difficult institutional environment of the world market of education. We presented the results of a survey of 120 graduates of master’s programs in economics, management and MBA programmes, identified the factors that affect the students’ choice of the educational program, as well as estimated demand from students for international experience in the learning process in their country. These factors include, among others, the possibility of obtaining international experience during studies and the prestige of the university, whose diploma has a graduate. The identified factors are also considered by employers as key and affect career development. Two key directions of development of internationalization of economic and management education in Russian universities are defined. We showed the experience of the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University on the inclusion of international aspects in the educational programs of the master’s level and MBA programs.

The article considers one of the little-studied scientific problems — the problem of adaptation to digitalization in the sphere of production. This problem is investigated by the authors on the example of American companies. The researchers set themselves the task of analyzing various aspects of this problem — to identify the features and stages of adaptation of American companies in the implementation of digitalization in the field of production. The analysis of various scientific, analytical and expert sources allowed the authors to formulate not only the peculiarities of the processes of adaptation of American companies to digitalization in the field of production but also to identify the logic of the transition to the main levels of this adaptation from the lowest to the highest. The novelty and complexity of the problem of adaptation of the company in the process of informatization, according to the authors, significantly increases the role and responsibility of company managers, their ability to accept and actively contribute to new management practices. The study conducted by the authors showed that in the process of developing a strategy for the adaptation of American companies to digitalization in the field of production, various aspects should be taken into account, new technologies and management practices should be developed. The analysis of the problem allowed the authors to make significant progress in understanding the complexity of the adaptation processes of companies that start the process of digitalization.

One of the most problematic issues of security methodologies of social and economic systems is determination and use of threshold (extremely critical) values of the indicators chosen for assessment and the analysis of security status. In the article, the authors presented the critical analysis of opportunities of the modern approaches to the analysis of security using threshold values of indicators. We offered the methods of the system analysis what allow partially compensating these shortcomings for practical use on the basis of an integrated approach and accounting of nonlinear dynamics of the social and economic system. The authors selected three groups of indicators. For each of groups, there is a different approach to the interpretation of threshold values: functioning of the economy; social, economic, and socio-psychological state of society; strategic development. Also, we select seven methodological bases of determination of threshold values, on each of which the group of methods can be used. On the basis of the offered technique, it can be developed information technology for use in the state system of monitoring and assessment of a condition of economic security of Russia.

Behavioral economics is a field of research, where the analytical possibilities of psychology science are applied to the analysis of economic decision-making. This approach allows more in-depth analysis of the decision-making process of economic agents and opens up new opportunities for research aimed at increasing overall social benefits.

This article examines the studies of Richard Thaler, noted by the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2017, devoted to the study of three psychological features of economic man which systematically affect the behavior of economic agents: limited rationality, the perception of justice (social preferences), and the problem of selfcontrol.

Using the system approach, the author sets a goal to carry out a complex analysis of the theoretical, methodological and practical works of the Nobel Prize Laureate, that have received world recognition. The attention is also focused on the awarded Nobel Prize in connection with the peculiarities of the Nobel Committee’s policy of awarding that has been formed over the past few years, within the framework of the development of the world economic science.

The article systematizes Thaler’s scientific contribution to economics. In addition, it concludes that awarding of the Nobel Prize in 2017 fits into the overall picture of awards in the last few years. At the same time, it notes one of the main directions of the Nobel Committee’s activities related to the “definition” of such research results and programs that could rehabilitate economic science after the past economic crisis and prevent further increase in the uncertainty of the world economic system. 

The article is devoted to the study of the regional peculiarities of the institute of public housing and communal services in Moscow — a new phenomenon for Russia, which arose during the implementation of one of the stages of administrative reform. The aim of the work is to develop socio-economic policies in the housing and communal services sector based on the identification of institutional constraints in the activities of state bodies and organizations of housing and communal services, related to the provision of services for the management, operation, and repair of housing, improvement of urban areas. The study was carried out by general scientific methods — logical, analysis, systematization and synthesis of data. We defined the specificity of budgetary institutions as the main subject of the sphere of state housing and communal services. We identified limitations in activity of formal and informal institutions in housing and communal services: the lack of criteria and mechanisms of quality control of services; staffing imbalances in the organs of management; violations of principles of confidentiality and legality of the measures taken in the consideration of the complaints of citizens; the impossibility of a full-fledged financial and economic cooperation in the chain the founder-organization; lack of coordination in owners’ activity in the management of apartment buildings. We also revealed negative informal relations in the organization of public control over housing and communal services. We concluded there is a necessity to develop the system of quality control in the field of public services with the mandatory evaluation criteria and the availability of professional staff appraisers, as well as the need for analysis of possible limitations in the implementation of the model institutions in the Russian practice. The existence of unexplored and unresolved institutional constraints provokes negative externalities in the institutional environment and cannot indicate the increment of its change.

In the current international environment — with fashion on international sanctions, in particular, limiting the possibilities of purchasing high-tech equipment from abroad and dependency of the exchange rate of the ruble against various political provocations — the Russian Federation has faced with the necessity of re-industrialization of the ‘raw’ model of the economy and stimulation of the development of its inner potential. It should be noted that, in accordance with the Plan for promoting import substitution in industry No. 1936-r of 30 September 2014, approved by the order of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of industry and trade of the Russian Federation has developed and is implementing 22 sectoral plans for import substitution in selected industries of the Russian Federation. In this regard, it is particularly important to study international experience in the field of import substitution policy. The validity and reliability of presented study are achieved by applying a systematic approach and scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction, as well as regulatory, empirical method, etc. As a result of the analysis of international experience, it was possible to identify measures that can improve the efficiency of the state policy of import substitution, including through the use of offset mechanisms in civilian industries and the development of the institution of public procurement, certification, and standardization. In conclusion, the author proposes measures that can improve the policy of import substitution. The practical significance of the article consists in the possibility of applying the results of the study in the elaboration of industrial development programs and further research.