I got known about EERC organization research grants in early 2000’s from two my colleagues, Sergey Kokovin and Evgeny Zhelobodko. At that time my regular salary was about $100, and the EERC grant seemed extremely attractive: $10’000, and additional support for computer and books. And importantly, the terms did not require switching from your favorite research topic to another one. At that time I was working intensively on general equilibrium of incomplete markets and overlapping generations, together with my French colleagues Monique Florenzano and Pascal Gourdel, under the joint research program of French CNRS and Russian academy. We had written several common GE papers, including GE of infinite-dimensional commodity spaces. It became clear to me that correct formulation of coalitional domination and other cooperative notions for incomplete markets – is an open theoretical problem, fascinating for me and probably demanded by the theorists. I suggested a new “contractual approach” to modeling cooperative behavior, based on barter contracts as the cornerstone notion. I invited my colleagues to apply for EERC grant on this topic, and we did.
Being uncertain about success, I still believed in this barter idea and hoped that EERC experts will be able not only to appreciate it but also to advice important directions of its development. Then, being invited to EERC workshop I really saw the friendly and intellectually challenging working atmosphere. The EERC experts, including Richard Ericson, Victor Polterovich, Shlomo Weber and others turned out such a nice resource persons, that the great amount of helpful important comments became a real surprise for me. I got known new opinions and new literature on the topic, and would feel satisfied even if the project was not supported, but it was. So after seminar I was satisfied and simultaneously filled responsibility for the project. Then, my French colleagues left the project, but I felt responsibility for it and successfully completed it at summer EERC workshop in Kyiv, 2002. Soon the Expert Committee of EERC awarded this project "Contracts and domination in incomplete markets" with Zvi Griliches prize as the best study of the year and I felt very proud.
Having this lucky experience and understanding now how valuable are EERC workshops, I was surely eager to apply again, but did not hurry, to satisfy the high quality standards of EERC. The idea was to further elaborate the contractual approach. So, I presented my second proposal in winter 2004 workshop, and suggested to study the contractual version of disequilibrium dynamic of GE economy. It was one of new ideas emerging at previous EERC workshops. It happened that having submitted the application, I suddenly saw a lacuna in my proof of convergence for a new process proposed. Immediately, I wrote a letter to EERC explaining the impediment found and suggesting to cancel or postpone the application. Nevertheless, I was invited to the next workshop and even win a grant, because the experts were thinking deeply enough to appreciate the main idea, the difficulties and possible resolutions of the problem. And really, after 1,5 years of work, in 2006, I did successfully completed this investigation. The third, EERC grant I have won at winter 2008 workshop, and successfully finished it in June 2010. This study further elaborates the contractual approach, now applied to an economy with asymmetrically informed agents. Again, I am developing the idea that was suggested (in a general form) within the experts’ comments on my first EERC grant. Generally, my experience of cooperation with EERC, and similar stories of many my colleagues make me thinking that steady and wise efforts of this organization played a crucial role in developing the qualified economic research in Russia and CIS and, moreover, breeding the community of “new” economists. Efforts and contribution of Russian ministry of education and science in this field look much weaker.
It is a pity that according to the EERC rules application for a grant can be down not more than three times and I exhausted all possibilities and other form of collaboration with EERC is also not provided.
October 2010