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Svetlana Kirdina (2013) defends the need to develop new version of holism - methodological institutionalism. This paper elaborates on this idea on the basis of comparative analysis of the opposing methodologies and suggests the concept of institutional configurations, i.e. models of interactions of institutions and their stakeholders in concrete economic space. Methodological institutionalism is considered as a methodology for the configuration mesoanalysis of social and economic systems holding intermediate position between holism and institutional individualism. The paper demonstrates the usefulness of the “switching mode” of methodologies between individualism and holism.

The method for evaluating protectionism rate in regional public purchases is developed. It is tested with data for 2011-2013. The presented regional rankings of protectionism show that high-level protectionism covers a majority of regions accumulated steadily about 80% of total regional public purchases’ volume. The federal contract system is considered as an instrument of public regional policy that could contribute to the interregional trade and strengthen internal economic space. Main forms of allowable protectionism in regional public purchases are identified (regional list of protected products, territorial price preferences) and suggested to be legalized.

Intensifying crisis of the world economy, including the Russian one, warns against using stereotypes that have not brought by now to constructive results. The paper grounds the necessity of cardinal theoretical revising the ongoing economic processes. The authors pay attention to four main items of the current economic situation that are to be solved immediately. The country must, first, consider the economy as a part of common cultural landscape. Second, it ought to use the chance for reorientation of the economy from external markets alone to creating large internal market niches. Third, it should implement the transition to quant economic growth with a notion of potential as a leading one; in the course of analyzing this problem the portion concept of electronic arc developed by academician G. Mesyats has been used. Fourth, the complication of market and changing parameters of economic space getting much more many-tier ought to be taken into account by policymakers.

The article highlights integration processes and the rising demand for the use of national currencies. The creation of an integrated currency market of the Eurasian Economic Space should enhance the role of national currencies. Formation of the single exchange space would generate direct market quotes and conduct exchange operations with national currencies directly without US dollar and euro, carry out cross-border payments in national currencies.

The article is devoted to the problem of optimization of economic space in Russia on the basis of coordinating transformation actions at the local level. Positive experience of solving the given problem is generalized, drawbacks in realization of corresponding transformations are presented as well. Conceptual positions and specific proposals aimed at the increase of their efficiency are formulated.

During 15 years of its existence the CIS’s economic space has become less and less integrated. The article spotlights institutional, structural, and political causes of inevitable raveling out of this space that has formerly been a single whole. Russia as its gravitation center steadily loses its attractiveness for most of the partners, though continues to feed them up with hidden subsidies. Disbalance between growing costs of such subsidies and melting expectations of the integration has reached the critical level in 2005. Disintegration of the Commonwealth evidently has crossed the reversibility line.

The authors introduce the notion of institutional economic space of the functioning of business firms taking into account their corrupt behaviour. Based on the survey of the firms’ CEOs they construct a taxonomy of the companies in this space, analyze the factors, which influence the choice of certain business strategies, evaluate the efficiency of each strategy. The authors draw from the empirical information the peculiar properties of corrupt interactions between firms and bureaucratic structures.

The paper is based on the concept of integration as "integration of markets". It identifies factors, which make post-Soviet governments take suboptimal decisions to deny integration, despite significant resources of social integration. For this purpose three concepts of institutions are used - rational choice institutionalism, social constructivism institutionalism and mediated-conflict institutionalism. The paper analyses possible mechanisms of institutional design for common economic space. It considers relations between disintegration of the post-Soviet space and internal disintegration of markets in the CIS countries due to the deficit of trust and the deficit of law.

In 1991, when Russia opened again, the world became a global world, where the regions organised by metropolises turned into global economic players. According to the newest research, a metropolis is an urban centre of not less than a million of inhabitants, concentrating upper service and control functions, disseminating prosperity to its hinterland and acting as "commutator" with the world economy. Empirical evidence shows that the existence of one or a few metropolises is the important condition of the wealth and competitiveness of countries. The paper investigates the question whether the overcentralised and non-metropolised post-Soviet economic space could become a mighty global economic player. The transformation of some Russian big cities besides Moscow into real metropolises is required in that respect.

In 1991, when Russia opened again, the world became a global world, where the regions organised by metropolises turned into global economic players. According to the newest research, a metropolis is an urban centre of not less than a million of inhabitants, concentrating upper service and control functions, disseminating prosperity to its hinterland and acting as "commutator" with the world economy. Empirical evidence shows that the existence of one or a few metropolises is the important condition of the wealth and competitiveness of countries. The paper investigates the question whether the overcentralised and non-metropolised post-Soviet economic space could become a mighty global economic player. The transformation of some Russian big cities besides Moscow into real metropolises is required in that respect.