An attempt was made to explore the subject areas of human activity, into which the ideas of the systemic nature of being have penetrated, the system theory has found further development, and the methods of system analysis are used in solving practical problems. In the end, there were 10 such areas – ​philosophy, biology and medicine, cybernetics, military science, systems engineering, economics and management, information technology, ecology, synergetics, culture and sociology – ​each of which was analyzed in the context of the triad: influence on the development of general systems theory – ​availability of specialized system theories – ​application and development of the system analysis methodology. The ideas of well-known scientists, scientific schools and manufacturing companies were analyzed that made a significant contribution to the development of a systematic approach in the subject area under consideration.

Although the theory of transaction costs has long been fruitfully used in the analysis of the economy, some of its aspects still have an ambiguous understanding among the researchers. The purpose of the article is to analyze such alternative interpretations. It is shown that transaction costs include mainly accounting components, and in some cases also subjective estimates of opportunity costs. Based on the analysis of the literature, the erroneous interpretation of transaction costs as unproductive has been demonstrated, and situations have been identified in which the minimization of transaction costs certainly contributes to the growth and development of the economy. The final section shows that the notion of transactional benefit (transactional value), which some researchers believe is a development of the theory of transaction costs, is in fact nothing more than another name for such a well-known concept as the benefits of joint activity, or the benefits of trade. It is shown that taking into account the benefits of joint activities and trade has always been part of the institutional analysis of the economy, starting with the work of R. Coase, D. North and O. Williamson, due to which the mentioned concept of transaction benefits is unlikely to make a meaningful contribution to the development of the theory of transaction costs.

The article presents a theoretical and historical analysis of the state transformation processes, starting from the household patriarchal form of paternalism up to its later transfer to the state, creating the basis for “paternalistic state”, which differs from the patriarchal model by the collective nature of generating public interests and democratization possibilities of the public choice process itself. In this context the problems of democratization of non-market decisions, with their inherent risks of distortion of public choice, are considered, and the fundamental contradiction of the modern political process is formulated. As one of its consequences, the article draws a fundamental conclusion about the exhaustion of the “welfare state” model and the onset of the next stage of evolution, the feature of which is the transformation of the welfare state into a paternalistic state. This conclusion is combined with other results of this study, which highlighted the main stages of state evolution, including the initial phase of the “patriarchal state” and the stage of the “decline of the paternalistic state”, associated with the “failure of society”. The matter here is such a state, when the society's broken protective mechanisms no longer prevent the choice of paternalistic state goals that do not correspond to the interests of society, and the erroneous strategies of their implementation. The article formulates an assumption about the possibility of restoring society's “immune system”. Having reached the stage of a developed paternalistic state, society faces zevolutionary cross-roads. In one case, the process of paternalistic state degradation starts, accompanied by a reduction of the field of social choice and a transition to autocracy, and then to the liquidation of the mechanisms of social choice. In another case, there are prerequisites for recovery of society's immune system connected with the development of social networks, creating an essentially new channel of communication between politicians and society that contributes to the formation of informal institutions, providing expansion of the public choice field.

The purpose of the presented study is to develop the new theoretical approaches to determining the role and place of private companies in the processes of system formation in the economy. Within the framework of the goal set, on the basis of dialectical logic and the conclusions of system theories, the author made an attempt to dialectically connect the ability of self-sufficient companies to self-structuring their internal organization with the mechanism of downward causation, and to self-development (to endless self-motion) and with the mechanism of upward causation. Based on developments in institutional economic theory, the article examines the possibilities of self-sufficient companies for self-structuring and endless self-promotion through integration into a community of their own kind in modern economic systems. The thesis is substantiated by integration of private companies that makes it possible to understand the dialectic of interaction between the conservative structure-forming element represented by the state and always mobile, rapidly changing labile elementary composition of systems represented by modern self-sufficient companies that participate in relationships, some of which become structural. Particular attention is paid to the theoretical formulation of the issue of changing the role of private business in the context of societal crisis of post-COVID reality. It is shown that the state, as a conservative principle in the processes of system formation in the economy, is in a contradictory unity with private companies as elements of the system, without which there would be no structure, and, consequently, the state. At the same time, without the state, the system would never become integrity, since the structure is engaged in its provision, and without this, private firms would be deprived of the future, since there would be no process of system formation. In this context, it is concluded that the state and private companies represent a typical dialectical pair that predetermines the formation, change and transformation of man-made systems.

In 2018 and 2019, the author published a number of articles on progressive taxation of personal income. The concept of fair taxation, formulated using the utility function, was introduced and put into mathematical form, illustrative examples of such taxation were built. In this article, this topic is updated, but with an emphasis on the possible practical use of the results obtained. All calculations were carried out on the basis of a detailed distribution of taxable income by groups of taxpayers, built on the reporting data of 2020. This made it possible to compare the results obtained with the real taxation of personal income. Specific variants of the progressive tax function were built and analyzed, providing a reduction in tax payments for 90% of taxpayers with low incomes, subject to the condition of acceptability of tax rates applied to high and ultra-high incomes. An important conclusion was made about the possibility of applying a specific five-step scale of tax rates at the initial stage of transition to progressive taxation of personal income.

The options for adapting the agro-industrial complex of the Russia to the EU bans on the import of high-tech equipment, machinery, elite seeds, and productive livestock, which are unfavorable for its economy, are analyzed. Among the possible adaptive versions of the development of the development direction, there are cases of agrarian reform that have not been implemented before. Their main goal is to prevent the decline and rise in prices in the changed conditions of production in the economy. It is possible to adjust the practice and state support of agricultural labor by financing the largest areas of development of agricultural enterprises – ​road construction, energy supply, public amenities, and development of inter-district markets for products and means of production, increasing the amount of rental income received at the location. Recommendations are formulated to expand and reduce the cost of meat and dairy products production in the non-chernozem (non-black soil) zone by including abandoned meadows and pastures in the economic turnover. Financing of this expansion is also possible from the means of state support for enterprises with the simultaneous development of the interregional labor market.

With the collapse of the USSR, the total fertility rate per woman in Russia fell below the critical value of 2.1 children. Under these conditions, the increase in mortality threatens the country with accelerated extinction. The conclusions of the article are based on an analysis of the dynamics of birth and death rates for 1950–2021. When analyzing data for Russia, its indicators are compared with the arithmetic averages for the leading countries: Israel, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The greatest differences between Russia and the leading countries are observed in terms of mortality. In 2021, in Russia, it was twice the level of leading countries, while in 1959–1962 it was, on the contrary, lower. The sharp decline in mortality in Russia in 1950–1960 was achieved thanks to a combination of the suppression of infections with antibiotics (as in the leading countries) with the passionate breakthrough of front-line soldiers who seized on civilian life. The outpacing growth in mortality in Russia compared to the leading countries since the early 1960s is caused by social stress that destroys work motivation – ​the opportunity to provide for oneself and one's family by honest work (B. T. Velichkovsky's definition) or an unknown X-factor (Gundarov's definition) Maximum violations labor motivation fell on 2003. Since 2004, the restoration of work motivation began and the resulting decrease in mortality, which continued until 2019. In 2020–2021, a new increase in mortality began. To stop the increase in mortality, it is necessary to strengthen labor motivation. The development of entrepreneurship will solve this problem by developing a work ethic, the violation of which causes social stress. A comparison of Russia with the leading countries shows that for this it is necessary to double the number of entrepreneurs and, in connection with this, the proportion of the electorate living on income from business and property. The necessary conditions are: the institutional exclusion of the possibility for the security forces to ruin businesses and a significant reduction in the share of state-owned banks in the capital.

The article discusses the results of the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Global Transformation and Sustainability of the Economy of modern Russia”, held October 5–8, 2022 in Sochi, organized by the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, the Central Economic and Mathematical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Sochi Institute (branch) Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Krasnodar Foundation “Scientific and Educational Initiatives of Kuban”. The discussion held at the plenary and sectional sessions of the conference was attended by economists, representatives of other social sciences from a number of leading universities of the Russian Federation, as well as from Armenia. The total number of participants exceeded 60 people, including more than 40 doctors and candidates of sciences. The conference was an effective platform for the implementation of a useful exchange of knowledge and ideas between its participants, caused a wide positive response in the scientific and educational sphere. A collection of articles has been prepared for publication; certificates were also awarded to its participants.

The results of the III The International scientific and practical conference “Business Structures in the conditions of economic transformation: problems and prospects of development”, which took place on December 23–24, 2022 at Dagestan State University. The main directions were the development of business structures in the conditions of digitalization of the economy, the role of the state in the process of creating conditions for increasing competitiveness, as well as the impact of the transformation of the education system on the development of business structures. The conference was actively attended by Russian and foreign scientists, representatives of business structures and public authorities. It is planned to publish a collective monograph based on the Conference materials.

The article presents the results of discussion at the seminar in CEMI RAS (Moscow) of a new monograph “Mesoeconomy in Russia: a strategy for run-up” published in 2022 under the scientific edition by RAS Corr.-member G. B. Kleiner. A brief overview of discussion showed the ideas of the leading scientists on the problems of mesoeconomics – ​in theory and in practice – ​in application to the Russian economy. Disclosed the differences and common ideas on the branches of mesoeconomy and the allied branches of research. Given the outcomes for the prospects of mesoeconomics in the transforming world.