What was, what is and what will be with the global economy? How one can find place in a changing world?

“The ideas of economists are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else” J.M. Keynes.

Leading national experts in international economic relations spoke at the plenary session. The students of the RUDN Faculty of Economics were able to ask the leading international economists many questions: Olga Butorina, Doctor of Economics, RAS corresponding member, professor, Deputy Director for Scientific Work at the Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Valery Tsvetkov, Doctor of Economics, professor, RAS corresponding member, Director of Institute of Market Problems of RAS. Foreign representatives of the co-organizing universities delivered their welcoming speeches at the plenary session in the online format.

Butorina Olga Vitalievna told the students about integration and disintegration in the world economy, as well as the problems of stratification. The report emphasized the following statements:

• Integration and stratification are two sides of the process of development of the global economy.
• Regional integration is the answer to the challenges of globalization.
• Disintegration is a new field of research and practice.

“The purpose of integration is to respond to the changing world order. It helps a group of countries achieve a more favorable global positioning and insulate themselves from unwanted outside influence. Economic benefits are important, but they are not always decisive”, said Olga Butorina.

“Olga Vitalievna talked about the problems of stratification, an example was given on trees, where social inequality was clearly shown, where someone has great advantages (tall trees), and someone may have nothing (shrubs). And this creates a ground where it is difficult to compete and almost no chance, because ’tall trees’ override all opportunities, such as ’sunbeams’”, said Serebryakova Anastasia, III-year undergraduate student of International Economic Relations (IER) program.

Tsvetkov Valery Anatolievich, Doctor of Economics, Professor, RAS Corresponding Member, Director of Science Institute of Market Problems Russian Academy of Sciences, made a report “The window of opportunity of inefficient economy in the new reality”. Valery Anatolievich raised the topical issue of modern sanctions against Russia, highlighting both strengths and weaknesses of the Russian economy. He noted that now more than ever we need to engage in import substitution and develop domestic business, which is a window of opportunity in this difficult situation. The report caused a great discussion among the students, who had the opportunity to share their opinions and ask questions to the speakers.

The final presentation was made by the young scholar Daria Sokolan, PhD in Economics, assistant of the Department of International Economic Relations, an expert in the field of foreign direct investment on Chinese foreign direct investment abroad. This topic also aroused the interest of the audience, as it raised questions of confrontation with the growing hegemony of China.

“I learned that China was buying up huge amounts of shares from EU countries, thereby having access to new technology. And even during the pandemic, China did not stop and continued to make various multibillion dollar deals. Also, China almost completely (if not already) bought up such a car company as Volvo”, said Serebryakova Anastasia, III-year undergraduate of MEO program.

“The lack of a unified mechanism for regulating foreign direct investment (FDI) in EU countries has led to the fact that EU countries have lost control over a number of technology companies”, added Darya Sokolan.

After the plenary session, the conference was divided into sections, where young scientists presented their research. As a result of the conference, scientific articles will be published in books indexed in Scopus, thanks to a partnership with the ANO “Institute of Scientific Communications.

Reference

Every year the conference is held at the Department of International Economic Relations of the Faculty of Economics. In 2022 it was timed to the thirtieth anniversary of the Department and became a big event in the life of the Faculty. “Current problems of the global economy” for 24 years of its existence has grown from youth conference to international one, and in 2022 the co-organizers included not only the leading Russian universities (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Institute of Asian and African Studies of Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University of Economics) and research institutes (Institute for Demographic Studies, Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Market Problems of the RAS, Institute of CIS countries of the RAS), but also partner universities:

• Odlar Yurdu University (Azerbaijan)
• National Polytechnic University of Armenia (Armenia)
• Belarusian State University (Belarus)
• Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Kazakhstan)
• Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University (Kyrgyzstan)
• Tajik National University (Tajikistan)
• Tashkent State University (Uzbekistan)
• International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan (Uzbekistan)
• Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Kazakhstan)
• M. Auezov South Kazakhstan University (Kazakhstan),

Asian Commission for Integration and Sustainable Development of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on complex problems of Eurasian economic integration, modernization, competitiveness and sustainable development.