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Research Article
Marketplaces vs. Banks: Increased Competition in the Financial Market
Sergei Lavrov
,
Sergey Neklyudov*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 5, October 2026
Pages:
314-319
Received:
17 June 2026
Accepted:
24 August 2026
Published:
4 September 2026
Abstract: Competition between marketplaces and banks is one of the main intrigues in Russian fintech today. The largest platforms are actively building their own financial ecosystems, while traditional banks see this as a threat to their businesses and demand a level playing field. Russian marketplaces (Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex) have created their own banks to reduce transaction costs, control payments within the ecosystem, and retain customers, as well as offer a range of proprietary banking products to their existing client base (primarily consumer loans, overdrafts, guarantees, factoring, deposits, and various transaction services). Largest Russian banks could not ignore the emerging situation. In the end of 2025, they escalated this issue to the Central Bank of Russia and State Duma demanding bank discounts for payments made with cards from "their" marketplaces. Objective of the study– to analyze genesis of the situation, review cases of competition between marketplaces and banks, and suggests trends of further development and potential outcome of this “battle” and its effect to a financial. Scientific novelty of this research is in structuring and systematization of the key points of conflict between marketplaces and banks, and their cause-and-effect relationship analysis. The basis for this conflict lies in the area of unequal regulation for banks and marketplaces, battle for data between them and risk of market fragmentation. This conflict is not unique for Russia, but it is governed in a different way in different parts of the world: from direct administrative restrictions in Chian to liberal approach in US. Adaptation in Russia looks like "Chinese control without the Chinese drama." The state is not eliminating fintech marketplaces (like China), but integrating them into a general system of strict banking supervision with an "open architecture."
Abstract: Competition between marketplaces and banks is one of the main intrigues in Russian fintech today. The largest platforms are actively building their own financial ecosystems, while traditional banks see this as a threat to their businesses and demand a level playing field. Russian marketplaces (Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex) have created their own banks...
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Research Article
Regional Digital Trade Rules and Digital Service Exports
Junbo Zhao*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 5, October 2026
Pages:
320-328
Received:
15 July 2026
Accepted:
25 August 2026
Published:
4 September 2026
Abstract: This study selected 44 countries worldwide as the research sample from 2005 to 2021. Based on the TAPED database, the depth index of regional digital trade rules was quantified, and an empirical test was conducted to examine the impact effect of regional digital trade rules on bilateral digital service exports. The study found that the improvement of the depth of regional digital trade rules significantly promoted the scale of bilateral digital service trade exports, and this conclusion remained valid after a series of robustness tests. From the perspective of the impact path, this promoting effect was mainly achieved through export diversification. Heterogeneity analysis revealed that the data-related clauses, market access clauses, and trade promotion clauses had the most significant trade-promoting effect on digital services; compared with capital-intensive sectors, regional digital trade rules had a more significant trade-creation effect on technology-intensive sectors, while they had a certain inhibitory effect on knowledge-intensive sectors. This study is of great significance for all countries to promote digital economic development through institutional openness and to facilitate the transformation of international digital trade rules from fragmented bargaining to inclusive governance.
Abstract: This study selected 44 countries worldwide as the research sample from 2005 to 2021. Based on the TAPED database, the depth index of regional digital trade rules was quantified, and an empirical test was conducted to examine the impact effect of regional digital trade rules on bilateral digital service exports. The study found that the improvement ...
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Research Article
Enhancing Digital Competencies and Digital Literacy of Civil Servants
Eugenia Vladimirovna Andryushina,
Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Panova*,
Lilia Vladimirovna Bondareva
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 5, October 2026
Pages:
329-334
Received:
3 July 2026
Accepted:
28 August 2026
Published:
14 September 2026
Abstract: This article investigates structural transformations in public administration, emphasizing how digital technologies reshape governance processes from traditional e-government to data-driven decision-making, and generate critical demand for advanced IT competencies among civil servants. The paper analyzes the evolving framework of highly demanded capabilities and digital literacy required by officials, while identifying discrepancies between digital state requirements and current public sector capacities. To achieve this, the study utilizes a comparative conceptual and operational analysis of digital literacy and competency models, drawing on contemporary theoretical discourse and global empirical benchmarks, including international E-Government Surveys and national reports. The analysis indicates that digital literacy has expanded beyond basic computer literacy to encompass advanced data management, strategic foresight, cybersecurity, and ethical human-AI collaboration. To ensure robust digital state conversion, governments must transcend purely technical training. The article concludes that public organizations must implement holistic professional development systems that seamlessly integrate core technical skillsets with leadership, agile collaboration, and adaptive socioemotional capabilities to effectively overcome critical institutional skills shortages. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that highly trained public administrators facilitate the creation of synergistic policies that are robust, adaptable, and strictly aligned with the multifaceted dimensions of digital state development. Ultimately, advanced digital capabilities, including artificial intelligence proficiency, are no longer optional but constitute foundational prerequisites indispensable for functioning within contemporary digital government frameworks.
Abstract: This article investigates structural transformations in public administration, emphasizing how digital technologies reshape governance processes from traditional e-government to data-driven decision-making, and generate critical demand for advanced IT competencies among civil servants. The paper analyzes the evolving framework of highly demanded ca...
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Research Article
Tariff Concessions, SPS Barriers and Agricultural Trade Efficiency Between China and Vietnam: Evidence from Multi-product Stochastic Frontier Gravity Model
Leu Duc Duy*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 5, October 2026
Pages:
335-344
Received:
15 July 2026
Accepted:
1 September 2026
Published:
14 September 2026
Abstract: Against the backdrop of deepening RCEP regional economic integration and continuous upgrading of China-Vietnam bilateral economic and trade cooperation, agricultural trade, as a core component of cross-border commodity trade between the two countries, plays a vital role in optimizing bilateral trade structures and promoting regional industrial complementarity. In recent years, continuous tariff concession policies have significantly reduced the tariff cost threshold for China-Vietnam agricultural trade, while sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) barriers, as typical non-tariff trade barriers, have gradually become the core restrictive factor affecting bilateral agricultural trade flows and efficiency. Existing studies mostly adopt traditional gravity models to analyze the linear correlation between trade policies and trade volume, lacking targeted efficiency measurement and heterogeneous mechanism analysis of multi-category agricultural products. Based on panel data of 28 subdivided agricultural product categories traded between China and Vietnam from 2015 to 2024, this study constructs a multi-product stochastic frontier gravity model to measure the overall efficiency and loss level of bilateral agricultural trade, and systematically explores the differential impact of tariff concessions and SPS barriers on agricultural trade efficiency. Further, this paper conducts heterogeneous subsample tests based on product attributes including primary agricultural products, processed agricultural products, and tropical characteristic agricultural products. The empirical results show that tariff concessions significantly improve China-Vietnam agricultural trade efficiency and reduce trade inefficiency loss, while SPS barriers produce prominent inhibitory effects on trade efficiency; the two factors present significant interactive offset effects in bilateral agricultural trade. Heterogeneous test results indicate that primary agricultural products are most sensitive to SPS barrier restrictions, processed agricultural products benefit the most from tariff concession dividends, and tropical characteristic agricultural products have the lowest overall trade efficiency due to dual constraints of high compliance costs and strict technical standards. Regional economic cooperation mechanisms, border infrastructure construction and institutional trade openness can significantly alleviate trade efficiency losses caused by SPS barriers and amplify the positive effect of tariff concessions. This study clarifies the hierarchical influence mechanism and heterogeneous action logic of tariff and non-tariff barriers on China-Vietnam agricultural trade efficiency, fills the research gap of multi-product differentiated empirical analysis in bilateral agricultural trade research, and provides empirical evidence and targeted policy references for optimizing China-Vietnam agricultural trade layout, breaking through technical trade barriers, and improving bilateral agricultural trade facilitation and efficiency under the RCEP framework.
Abstract: Against the backdrop of deepening RCEP regional economic integration and continuous upgrading of China-Vietnam bilateral economic and trade cooperation, agricultural trade, as a core component of cross-border commodity trade between the two countries, plays a vital role in optimizing bilateral trade structures and promoting regional industrial comp...
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Research Article
Driving Mechanism of Cross-border E-commerce and Digital Border Ports on Three Margins of China’s Agricultural Exports to Vietnam
Doan Ba Toai*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 5, October 2026
Pages:
345-353
Received:
15 July 2026
Accepted:
1 September 2026
Published:
14 September 2026
Abstract: With the rapid iteration of digital trade technology and the continuous improvement of regional cross-border logistics systems, cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) and digital border ports have become core digital infrastructure driving the high-quality growth of agricultural export trade. As China’s most important neighboring agricultural trade partner and a key node of RCEP regional digital trade cooperation, Vietnam presents typical research value for exploring the digital driving logic of China’s agricultural export marginal growth. Based on the heterogeneous trade marginal theory, this paper decomposes China’s agricultural exports to Vietnam into three margins: extensive margin (product diversification), quantity intensive margin (trade scale expansion), and price intensive margin (export quality upgrading). Using panel data of HS6-digit agricultural product exports from China to Vietnam covering 2015–2024, this study adopts multiple linear regression and hierarchical regression models to systematically explore the independent driving effects of CBEC and digital border ports, as well as their synergistic mechanism on the three export margins. The results indicate that both CBEC and digital border ports significantly and positively promote the three margins of China’s agricultural exports to Vietnam; digital border ports exert a stronger driving effect on the quantity intensive margin, while CBEC has a more prominent incentive effect on the extensive margin and price intensive margin. Hierarchical regression verification shows that digital border ports play a positive moderating role in the impact of CBEC on agricultural export margins, forming a synergistic driving effect of “digital platform empowerment + port infrastructure guarantee”. Heterogeneity analysis confirms that the synergistic driving effect is more significant on labor-intensive and high-value-added agricultural products, while the promotion effect on bulk primary agricultural products is relatively weak. This study clarifies the micro driving mechanism of digital trade infrastructure on agricultural export growth, compensates for the research gap in the marginal heterogeneity of digital-driven cross-border agricultural trade, and provides empirical support and policy references for optimizing China-Vietnam agricultural digital trade layout and promoting the high-quality development of regional agricultural exports under the RCEP framework.
Abstract: With the rapid iteration of digital trade technology and the continuous improvement of regional cross-border logistics systems, cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) and digital border ports have become core digital infrastructure driving the high-quality growth of agricultural export trade. As China’s most important neighboring agricultural trade partner...
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Research Article
Trade Imbalance and Environmental Cost of China-Vietnam Agricultural Trade from the Perspective of Cross-border Virtual Water Flows
Pham Thanh Binh*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 5, October 2026
Pages:
354-361
Received:
15 July 2026
Accepted:
1 September 2026
Published:
14 September 2026
Abstract: Against the background of deepening RCEP regional integration and increasingly frequent bilateral agricultural trade between China and Vietnam, the resource and environmental externalities brought by cross-border agricultural trade have become a key constraint on the green and sustainable development of bilateral trade. Traditional trade research mostly focuses on economic scale, trade efficiency and tariff barrier effects, while ignoring the implicit water resource transfer and environmental cost imbalance behind agricultural commodity circulation. From the perspective of cross-border virtual water flows, this study takes the panel data of 28 subdivided agricultural product categories between China and Vietnam from 2015 to 2024 as the research sample, systematically measures the virtual water trade flow, structural imbalance characteristics and embodied environmental costs of bilateral agricultural trade, and constructs a multi-scenario simulation framework of collaborative water-saving policies. The results show that China-Vietnam agricultural trade presents a significant virtual water trade imbalance: China has long been a net importer of agricultural virtual water from Vietnam, and tropical characteristic agricultural products and aquatic products are the core carriers of cross-border virtual water transfer. In terms of environmental costs, the bilateral agricultural trade leads to asymmetric water resource pressure transfer, and Vietnam bears higher gray water environmental pollution costs due to large-scale agricultural product export, forming a “trade-economic gain and environmental cost mismatch” dilemma. Scenario simulation results indicate that single water-saving regulation has limited improvement effects on virtual water imbalance, while collaborative policies combining trade structure optimization, graded virtual water quota management and green trade supervision can effectively reduce bilateral agricultural virtual water waste and narrow the asymmetric environmental cost gap. This study expands the research perspective of green bilateral agricultural trade, clarifies the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics and environmental externality mechanism of cross-border virtual water flows, and provides empirical evidence and policy enlightenment for China and Vietnam to build a collaborative water-saving trade mechanism, balance trade benefits and water resource environmental costs, and promote the green upgrading of regional agricultural trade under the RCEP framework.
Abstract: Against the background of deepening RCEP regional integration and increasingly frequent bilateral agricultural trade between China and Vietnam, the resource and environmental externalities brought by cross-border agricultural trade have become a key constraint on the green and sustainable development of bilateral trade. Traditional trade research m...
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