This paper introduces a new approach to identifying and operationalizing the business political connections of banks.  We manually collect data on 2,598 bankers who owned or worked in 115 Russian banks from 2015 to 2021 and use this dataset to describe the types of political connections of Russian banks and to unveil their institutional patterns by applying cluster analysis. We confirm the widespread and heterogeneous nature of political connections in the Russian banking sector and provide a more detailed understanding of the degree of penetration of political interests into the activities of banks. We propose and explore a set of variables catching the origins, relevance, and maturity of political connections which produce additional variation among banks and could be used to facilitate a better and more theoretically grounded assessment of the effects of political connections on the business choices and the financial performance of banks.

In weighted congestion games, players’ weights and resource functions are predefined. This way, they can be applied for modeling traffic intensity, exploring market competition, and analyzing other problems with a congestion effect. In some normal-form games however, players’ weights and resource functions are not defined explicitly and players may be unaware of their existence. This article finds the necessary and sufficient conditions for representing a normal-form game as a weighted congestion game. Axioms are formulated that guarantee there exist positive weights of players and positive-definite resource functions. It is proved that a normal-form game satisfies the axioms of Positivity and the Independence of Irrelevant Choices (Konishi et al., 1997) if and only if it is a singleton weighted congestion game. This result indicates that the payoff functions of players in hedonic games are represented in the form of a weighted congestion game. It is demonstrated that a normal-form game satisfies the axioms of Non-Negativity, Transfer, Resource Marginal Contribution, and the Independence of Irrelevant Choices if and only if it is a full weighted congestion game with player-independent resource functions.

Innovation has long been at the center of debates in economics, management, and organizational studies. However, innovation is never free of uncertainty and risk. Every act of innovation implies a departure from established paths and a willingness to embrace the unknown. From the beginning it's never clear if there is an audience which appreciates the innovation. This inherent exposure to uncertainty gives rise to the central dilemma of this collection: whether to be innovative or to play it safe, and how to manage the inevitable risk of failure. The ways in which organizations and societies face this dilemma are profoundly shaped by culture. Cultural values and institutional norms determine how risk is perceived, how uncertainty is tolerated, and how failure is interpreted. Failure, in particular, is at the heart of this discussion. It can be understood as both a barrier and an opportunity.

Beyond cultural meanings and institutional incentives, risk itself emerges as a multifaceted phenomenon. It involves measurable probabilities and uncertainties, as well as narratives of trust, legitimacy, and responsibility. This interplay between ambition and prudence highlights the importance of striking a balance. Innovation cannot advance if all risks are avoided, but reckless exposure to uncertainty can threaten the very foundations of organizational and social stability. This collection seeks to explore these dilemmas by bringing together diverse and complementary perspectives. The volumedemonstrates, how organizational cultures shape behavior in the face of uncertainty, and how societies seek to balance ambition and responsibility. Altogether, the Work underscores the journey from culture to balance: beginning with the cultural foundations of risk-taking, moving through the mechanisms that reward experimentation, addressing the strategic problem of defining acceptable levels of risk, and culminating in the societal task of punishing innovation with safety.

Grain production – basic branch of the Russian agro-industrial complex, - is one of the few sectors of the Russian economy that have demonstrated sustainable development over the past two decades. What were the main sources of growth in total factor productivity in Russian grain production? On the microdata of agricultural organizations in Russia with help of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method, the article shows the changes in overall grain productivity that occurred along with the formation of market institutions due to a trade liberalization, land privatization and technical re-equipment, and has resulted in the boost of sector productivity. The fastest growth in total factor productivity occurred between 2002 and 2007 and slowed by 2016. Changes in factor use in the grain subcomplex contributed the most to total factor productivity growth across all periods. At the same time, the technological efficiency of the leading grain farms grew, that is such farms demonstrated a more efficient distribution of available resources. The high increase in total factor productivity in the grain industry in the period from 1995 to 2002 allowed the Russian Federation to enter the world grain market, becoming a key player.

This article aims to shed light on the economic consequences of the nonviolent campaigns (NVCs) across the  world. The current era is shaped with various political transformations that are often driven by political movements  that engage in NVCs. Some of them are successful and result in regime change while others fail and are unable to  reach their goals. At the same time, there is contention among researchers as to what are the outcomes of NVCs.  Economic outcomes of NVCs are understudied: some authors state that democratization (which can be a result  of a NVCs) can lead to positive economic outcomes, while others believe that NVCs are detrimental to various  economic parameters. These critical gaps are addressed in this work by focusing on the establishment of the causal  effect of NVCs on economic growth and analyzing its variation depending on campaign’s type– successful, failed  or leading to democratization. Our dataset, that enhanced NAVCO 1.3 by addition of previously overlooked cases,  encompasses time period from 1950 until 2022. The results show that at average NVCs have a weak, but significant  short-term and medium-term negative effect on national income. At the same time, democratizing NVCs do not  lead to negative economic outcomes in medium-term albeit there is a negative and insignificant short-term shock. In  other words, campaigns that initiate a democratic transition effectively neutralize the long-term negative economic  consequences of instability and shock caused by NVCs.

This study investigates the relationship between climate risk and bank liquidity creation (LC) in MENA using a dual threshold–quantile method, complimented by a quantile-on-quantile  approach. Using data from 126 banks in 19 MENA countries over the period 2006–2022, we find  that climate risk has a positive effect on LC only above a certain threshold. Furthermore, this effect  shows heterogeneity, varying across different levels of both climate risk and LC. Our findings  contribute to the literature by providing empirical evidence on the complex interplay between  climate risk and banking liquidity under varying economic conditions.