The article discusses advantages and disadvantages of various methodological approaches to analyzing socio-economic situation of the working population. The expedience of relying on the concept of work-related well-being is substantiated. While encompassing the crucial indicator of earnings sufficiency it pays special attention to non-monetary aspects of individual situation in the world of work. It is shown that the concept lies at intersection of several approaches that characterize the world of work from different sides and comprehensively reflects the social aspect of employment quality, focusing upon the needs of the employee as the most vulnerable side of labor relations.

Digital economy has created both new possibilities and new risks for consumers. Researchers have noted that there arise obfuscation effects, instruments that digital ecosystems use to manipulate the optimal choice of individuals under high search transactional costs. Intertemporal price dispersions and dynamic pricing are based on the situations where clients express inattentive aspects as a result of their informational overloading in the periods of numerous price changes. Periodic up and down price oscillations hamper price understandings for consumers and serve as a beneficial focus in supporting collusive discipline within digital platforms. Newly formed price strategies on the basis of obfuscation phenomenon are out of the current competition policy and are not duly regulated.

The paper examines the prospects for the possible confiscation of state assets of the Russian Federation in favor of Western countries. The case of confiscation of private assets is briefly considered. The precedents of the confiscation of sovereign assets are analyzed. The legal inconsistency of the intentions to confiscate Russian assets has been demonstrated. Despite the fact that Western countries are actively working on a regulatory solution to the issue, it is shown that the implementation of such a scenario carries serious risks to the international monetary system, can act as a driver of significant erosion of the Bretton Woods system and dollar hegemony in general. In this situation, any action, as well as inaction, leads to a deterioration of the situation, which refers us to the title of the article, causing an association with zugzwang.

The article examines measures, that took place in the regulation of foreign direct investment and their impact on the configuration of investment flows. It is noted that for some countries and economic unions in current geopolitical situation, FDI policy is becoming a part of the national strategy for economic security and technological sovereignty. The dynamics of the introduction of FDI restrictive and regulatory measures indicates an increase in protectionism, which leads, in particular, to a reconfiguration of global capital flows. The changes in the FDI inflows /outflows volumes and in their distribution by different regions and countries allow us to conclude that, on the one hand, the localization of a part of FDI within geopolitically close states is taking place, while on the other hand, in order to reduce political and economic risks the diversification of investment partners is going on.

The paper analyzes the main trends in economic cooperation between Russia and the Central Asian states for the period 2021–2023 years in the context of Russian interests. The factors of economic interaction are analyzed taking into account the growing potential of the countries of the region. It is established that amid geopolitical tensions and large-scale anti-Russian sanctions of the West, the geo-economic importance of the Central Asian countries for the Russian Federation has increased significantly. The dynamics and structure of trade, investment and migration relations between Russia and the countries of the region are studied. The role of intermediated trade and relocation in enhancing economic cooperation is particularly noted. Joint projects in the transport and energy sectors are being considered. Industrial partnership stands out among the promising areas of cooperation, including through the joint formation of industrial zones.

The author studies the impact of market prices on the geographic sales changes of aluminium, which is historically one of the key Russian exports. The increase in supplies to the markets of China, South Korea and Turkey after February 2022 was accompanied by price decline. The regression analysis has shown that without the factor of sanctions risks in this market situation, imports from Russia would have decreased, as it steadily happened with supplies from other countries. The article also examines other market factors of the deterioration of the financial situation of the Russian aluminium industry – the rise in the costs of imported alumina due to a change of suppliers, as well as Russia’s weak energy advantages over other countries due to low prices for oil and gas. The measures of the state industrial policy to restore the global competitiveness of the industry were proposed.

The article describes the current status of the hedge fund segment and their investment strategies using the analysis of financial statements, business models and the index method, when a group of hedge funds adhering to the same strategy are combined into an index. CAPM modeling, OLS and calculation of efficiency coefficients (including the Sharpe coefficient) were used. The results of the assessment allowed us to conclude that the most impactful in modern conditions is the global macro strategy of hedge funds investment. To evaluate future profitability within the framework of a given strategy, a model of dependence on market indices was developed.

The current conditions have made the issues of governance, both state and corporate, particularly important in the context of strategic development goals. This is due to the combined effect of several factors: attempts to find new growth drivers, in particular through development institutions in the present system of the Russian economy; geopolitical challenges for Russia, digitalisation, and so on. The Scientific and Expert Council of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences held a discussion on “Development Institutions: Strategic Goals and Russian Practice” on 26 March 2024. Scientific researchers, consultants and business representatives were invited to the discussion. The meeting focused on such issues as the priority directions of development institutions, the results achieved with their involvement, including the ones of assessing the effectiveness of development institutions’ activities.