Relevance. Kleptocratic economy, as an institutional system, is oriented towards a key function that involves gaining wealth by the ruling elite through the introduction of non-market transaction costs for companies and households, which is based on administrative, bureaucratic, and political violence. For this purpose, the kleptocratic states create such systems of state institutional management that give the authorities the possibility of rent-oriented behaviour, which impedes the functioning of the real sector of the economy and encourages the shadow one. Under such circumstances, transaction costs are redirected to administrative intervention into the market mechanism, rather than aimed at increasing its efficiency; property rights are not clearly specified; the level of uncertainty about rules and norms of economic behaviour increases, and the motivational system of business activity is distorted. As a result, on the one hand, inefficient allocation of resources and slow economic growth (decline) are observed, and on the other hand, there is the redistribution of income in favour of the ruling elite and its excessive enrichment, that is detrimental to the welfare of the majority of the population. The aim of the article is to analyse the political-economic formation of a kleptocratic basis, which in the future transforms the state and its economy into kleptocratic formations; defining ways of counteraction and institutional capacity for transformations in the direction of Ukraine’s aspirations for European integration. Methodological basis. The methodological basis of the research is the work of domestic and foreign scientists in the field of institutionalism and kleptocratic economy. The models of the development of a kleptocratic state and the influence of kleptocratic factors on the socio-economic processes in the country have been studied with the application of the method of analysis, systematization, and generalization. Results. It is determined that in order to liquidate the grounds of kleptocratic economy, it is of primary necessity to eliminate institutional obstacles that interfere with the unification of the legal and shadow sectors of the economy and ensure their institutional formalization. This requires the introduction of effective ways of restraining the ruling elite in order to restrict corruption abuses of the government and its close reigning coalition with special privileges and bureaucracies and form an institutional structure, in which firms and households have clearly defined property rights and also have the possibility to protect contractual rights provided by formal institutes. Particular attention should be paid to the ways of civil society’s monitoring the state information policy and methods of adopting laws, which is, the institutional foundation that guarantees the openness of information as to the actions of government institutions. According to the results of the study, definite measures are proposed, the implementation of which will ensure the opportunities for Europeanization, particularly in Ukraine. The emphasis is placed on the fact that the important factors of counteracting the kleptocratic economy are the wage reform and the “transparent” selection of employees in the public administration sector on the basis of their professional qualities only.
The article is concerned with an analysis of Ukraine’s European integration challenges, which are considered from the position of the effectiveness of foreign trade, as well as in light of the institutional challenges of the European integration course. According to the results of research, both the dynamics and the structure of Ukraine’s foreign trade relations with the EU Member States, the CIS and Asia countries are analyzed. It is defined that the focus on the European Union market prevented domestic exporters from reaching the pre-crisis levels of 2013. The resource nature of the national exports to the EU is underlined. The high level of interdependence in the sphere of foreign trade relations with former partners of Ukraine in the CIS – the Russian Federation and Belarus, especially in the field of imports of fuel and energy resources, and export of nuclear reactors, boilers, machines, railway locomotives, products of inorganic chemistry, is emphasized. It is determined that Ukraine’s implementation of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement is at a low level of 43%. The authors characterize the main tendencies in Europe as to the quality of life of the population on the basis of two indicators - the proportion of households that barely make ends meet (Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Portugal, Romania), and have unsatisfactory living conditions (Cyprus, Latvia, Hungary, Portugal, Slovenia) - the values of which are much higher compared to the average level in the EU. The general conclusion on the ambiguity of the issue of the effectiveness of the national economy’s orientedness toward the market of the European Union has been drawn. The need to take into account the multi-vector nature of the modern globalized world in the process of researching the impact of European integration on the economic development of Ukraine is reasoned.
Purpose. To assess institutional factors and the results of education reform in Ukraine, considering economic and social development of the country; to specify the main institutional European integration tendencies of Ukraine in the field of education taking into account the factor of human capital. Methodology. The methodological basis of the work proposed involves such universal methods of scientific knowledge as analysis; synthesis; inductive method; deductive method; causal modeling; combined application of complementary approaches and methods based on the principles of general scientific methodology, in particular, competency-based, person-centered, culturological ones. Findings. It is found that the conditions for reforming Ukrainian education taking into account the global educational and European integration trends provide for institutional processes in the socio-economic sphere and radical changes in the content, forms of organization and methods of teaching and education. Namely, this refers to designing the educational process as an institution of successful personal and professional socialization based on EU requirements, which will lead to the growth of national capital through accelerated human accumulation and bring Ukraine closer to complete European integration. Originality. The study identifies key trends in Ukrainian, European and world educational spheres, as well as the reasons that negatively affect the development of education in Ukraine and do not allow it to significantly influence the competitive potential of countries and deliver on European integration opportunities. In contrast to previously suggested investigations, this approach focuses on the institutional and socio-economic factors of the educational trend. Practical value. The results of the research can be used by experts in the formation of institutional requirements for designing the trend of the education system in Ukraine, taking into account the requirements of European integration.
Purpose. To analyze the kleptocratic economy as an institutional arrangement that is focused on the key function of generating sources of income for the ruling pseudo-elite by introducing corrupt non-market transaction costs for firms and households, which are based on administrative, bureaucratic and political violence. Methodology. In the proposed scientific research, we distinguish three types of research methods: firstly, inherent in cognition as a whole (general logical) methods such as analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalization, induction, deduction, analogy; secondly, general scientific, primarily empirical, research methods, namely observation, description, measurement; thirdly, the theoretical methods of cognition used by the economic science, in particular: idealization, formalization; the axiomatic method for constructing theoretical knowledge; a hypothetical-deductive method for constructing and developing theoretical knowledge. Findings. The socio-economic structure of Ukraine is analyzed from the point of view of the factors that are determined by the impact of formal and informal institutions in kleptocratic economy and affect corruption risks. Recommendations are provided for modernization of the institutional environment in Ukraine in the context of the modern methodological paradigm of searching for points of contact within the interaction of government, business and society. Originality. The proposed study carried out a comprehensive analysis of the institutional environment of the Ukrainian economy, which provides convincing grounds to characterize it as kleptocratic, and such where the fundamental modernization proposed in the work has yet to be implemented, accounting for the European integration prospects. In contrast to previously proposed studies, the presented approach focuses on the correlation between key performance indicators of institutions, GDP per capita, and corruption indices in Ukraine and in the studied countries of the European Union. Practical value. The research results can be used by specialized experts when forming the institutional requirements for creating an effective system for preventing corruption.
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