ABSTRACT
The article examines the methods of public governance during the first wave of coronavirus infection in the context of ensuring the national tax security. The authors use the experience of Russia and Poland - two post-socialist countries having the same foundations of administrative and legal systems. The purpose of the paper is to identify and evaluate the effectiveness of public governance methods used by public authorities to support the economic systems of Russia and Poland from the point of view of their impact on national tax security. The methodology is based on the philosophical theory of security which served as a basis for designing the characteristics of security risks and threats, as well as the principles of its provision. The authors also used the formal legal interpretation of legal acts to select normative legal acts fixing the applied methods of public administration as well as to clarify their provisions in accordance with the rules of formal logic and jurisprudence. The comparative method was used to select and compare Russian and Polish normative legal acts, Russian and foreign doctrinal sources in the field of theory and practice of public administration, administrative and tax law. The empirical basis of the research consists of normative legal acts and state statistics of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Poland, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The characteristics of tax risks caused by the coronavirus pandemic are revealed, and their correlation with threats to tax security is established. The authors classified tax risk governance methods in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and characterized administrative and economic measures that directly and indirectly affect the tax system. Conclusions are made about the effectiveness of the main tax risk governance measures applied in Russia and Poland, while the Russian measures differ in a wide variety and a high proportion of proactive support measures. The theoretical and practical significance of the research lies in the fact that it allows to identify the existing potential of governance decisions in case of another wave of the pandemic or the emergence of new crisis phenomena in the economy, accompanied by a reduction in supply and demand in the markets (military conflicts, natural and man-made emergencies, etc.).
ABSTRACT
The article overviews the COVID-19 situation in Japan and its impact on the country's economy. As of the beginning of August 2021, the cumulative cases of coronavirus in Japan reached 0.9 million, of which about 15 thousand were lethal. At the same time, the cumulative cases in the world exceeded 198 million, and deaths - 4.2 million. The top five countries in terms of cumulative cases include the United States, India, Brazil, Russia, and France. According to this indicator, Japan ranks 33rd in the world. In Japan, the COVID-19 situation is not as serious as in the abovementioned states. However, its economy has also suffered significant damage. Japan's GDP decreased by 4.7 % in 2020 (its decline was estimated in the range from 4.7 to 7.3 %). Three additional budgets to finance anti-crisis packages have increased state budget borrowings. As a result, the share of borrowings amounted to 64.1 %, which is significantly higher than in 2009 (52.1 %) - the year of the global financial crisis. Unemployment increased for the first time in 11 years, and automotive industry, tourism, and public catering were among the industries most affected by the pandemic. The Olympic Games in Tokyo were held without spectators (both foreign and local), and local firms could not gain the 4 trillion yen which was estimated to be the expenses of foreign tourists. The pandemic also had a negative impact on value chains, reducing Japan's foreign trade in the first half of 2020. However, its dynamics recovered quickly. COVID-19 caused an increase in online trade, and also provoked a "restructuring" of the national labor market (due to anti-epidemic measures, the share of remote workers has significantly increased). In general, the pandemic has had a negative impact on the economy and society of Japan. But the national government sees an opportunity in every crisis. Thus, it is expected that one of the consequences of the pandemic will be structural changes in the economy, and local firms will invest more in digitalization and green technologies.
ABSTRACT
Recent studies highlight that economic expectations are a crucial determinant of citizens' satisfaction with democracy (SWD). This article relies on a cross-sectional analysis of European survey data collected in the aftermath of COVID-19 disease to investigate the relationship between citizens' expectations about future economic prospects and their SWD. Our findings support the idea that citizens' expectations about future economic prospects are correlated with SWD. Furthermore, they reveal that perceived conditions of material wellbeing moderate this relationship.