COVID-19 has affected all aspects of public life, sectors of the national economy, and the standard of living of the population in both positive and negative directions. The government of Kazakhstan played a significant role in reducing the negative consequences of the pandemic on the socio-economic situation of the population by implementing state support measures. However, systemic social problems, both globally and nationally, have not been resolved. The World Health Organization was not ready for the global coronavirus crisis. The search in the global world for ways to combat new modifications of the viral epidemic remains relevant. The global community must be prepared for unexpected viral diseases. The purpose of the study is to conduct a qualitative analysis of the main changes in the socio-economicsphere of Kazakhstan associated with the spread of coronavirus in the world in order to determine the necessary socio-economic and institutional processes and impacts that can have a significant impact on society in the long term. The article highlights social problems, the solution of which will contribute to the development of human capital and the economic growth of the country. Complex methods of systemic and empirical analysis were used in this article. Analysis of socio-economic development confirmed the proposed hypotheses. As a result of the study, the features of the socio-economic development in the current situation are determined. An attempt has been made to identify the main trends, and processes necessary for fundamental changes in the socio-economic life of the country in the post-pandemic period.

The purpose of the study is to propose a model for a comparative assessment of the degree of «greenness» of the economy of each country, to identify weak determinants to increase the degree of «greenness» of the countries included in this model, as well as to scientifically substantiate possible ways of developing weak determinants. However, approaches to the «green» economy model and the method of its measurement differ. It is more appropriate to include indicators related to the sectors of the economy that generate carbon emissions in this model. The article defines 5 subindexes for quantifying the «green» economy model: growth parameters and socio-economic essence, environmental and resource efficiency, natural resources group, environmental quality measurement group, economic opportunities, and policy group. The results of the study show that over the past 30 years, the sub-index «Ecological quality of life», which is part of the Green Economy Index in Azerbaijan, has significantly decreased. However, as in other oil-rich countries, the main factor preventing the transition to a green economic model in Azerbaijan is related to oil production. As in other countries rich in oil and gas, Azerbaijan’s economy is based on oil and gas rents. The main conclusion obtained during the study is related to the transition of the country’s economy to a «green model», and it is also recommended to replace economic growth with green growth and invest in the development of industries that reduce the number of pollutants released into the environment.

The purpose of the scientific article is to study the problem of increasing the business activity of the rural population in the conditions of the «new» economy of Kazakhstan and to develop proposals for stimulating the economic activity of personal subsidiary farms. The use of classical methods of scientific cognition and literature review allowed us to study the theoretical foundations and reveal the economic essence of the categories of «business activity» regarding its applicability to the economy of the household. Based on the macroeconomic analysis, the main indicators and trends of the development of the economy of Kazakhstan were studied, the share of the agricultural economy in the country’s GDP was determined. It is revealed that the agricultural economy in the overall structure of the national economy can become a priority industry in the long term, which is justified by the effectiveness of the activities of agribusiness entities in conditions of developed competition. It is confirmed that 58% of the rural population are self-employed, and 46% of the population cannot provide for their basic needs, since the only source of income is transfer payments (social benefits) from the state budget. It is determined that the inflation rate has a significant impact on the real income of households. The model of economic stimulation of the business activity of personal subsidiary farms is presented, taking into account their peculiarities of formation and development as a form of agribusiness organization, which clearly affects the agricultural economy of Kazakhstan.

The purpose of this work is to study the process of telemedicine implementation in the context of digitalization of Kazakhstan to identify problems. Development of recommendations for solving these problems, both in the public and in the private sectors of medical services. The scientific significance of the work lies in the contribution of new knowledge on the issue of telemedicine in the example of Kazakhstan, since this issue has been underxplored. The results of this study can be used to further develop the digitalization process of healthcare in the Republic of Kazakhstan. A qualitative method is used, a semi-structured interview with experts in the field of telemedicine implementation was conducted. Atlas.ti software is used for data processing. As a result of the analysis of the interviews, the limitations and problems of the implementation of telemedicine in the country were identified, such as high costs for the provision of IT services and the quality of the Internet, as well as the government’s weak interest in cooperation with the private sector. However, despite these obstacles, the private sector is interested in implementing telemedicine. Analysis of world official data showed that the telemedicine market is growing rapidly, and there is a demand for consultations using telemedicine in the Kazakhstani market. Therefore, there is a need to develop this direction. Recommendations were offered to solve the problems of telemedicine implementation in Kazakhstan. Eliminating the identified problems can accelerate the process of healthcare digitalization, which is a contribution to the development of this area.

An ability to innovate is more commonly observed as a crucial element in obtaining a sustainable competitive advantage. Although the issue of innovational development within product companies has been an object of research, there are still questions to answer regarding how innovational management should be conducted in service organizations, especially in the context of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The main aim of this investigation is to develop the new theoretical concept of stimulation of innovative processes among service providers in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Thus, the central question in this paper asks what measures should be taken to increase the competitiveness of domestic companies offering services by virtue of managing the market of innovations taking into account the national peculiarities. The results of this study provide an important opportunity to advance the understanding of the innovation market as the unique sphere from other industries can benefit from. As the result of the investigation, the authors proposed the theoretical concept including the element of a customer, whose role of co-producer is especially important in the service sphere. Also, because of the difference in the innovational activity and economic differences among the territorial division of the country, it is more effective to grant the local innovational offices more power to set the priority directions in service innovation for each region. The current research sets a new ground for the following investigations in the area of innovation management in the service industry in Kazakhstan.

The article reveals the main factors influencing the dynamics of the severity and depth of poverty in rural areas of Almaty region, and proposals for ensuring employment and equalizing the incomes of the rural population. The introduction presents the goal of the research: analysis of the socio-economic factors of poverty in rural areas of the Almaty region and their regulation. Also presents the characteristics of the Almaty region and the relevance of the problem. The literature review provides an analysis of modern research on the problem of poverty in rural areas of the Almaty region, the latest scientific approaches to its solution in the context of urbanization, and changes in traditional business models. The methods and materials describe the characteristics of the research methodology based on the use of analysis, synthesis, anduniquel economic and socio-statistical methods. The application of economic and statistical analysis, method of relative evaluation is justified. The results of research reveal the analysis of the effectiveness and risks of development schemes for the Almaty region and the impact of factors such as urbanization, redistribution of budget financing schemes, internal migration processes on the depth and severity of poverty. The discussions substantiated the disproportions of the territories of the Almaty region and their risks of increasing the depth and severity of poverty. This requires a state policy to strengthen the transport, trade, and industrial infrastructure of rural areas. The conclusion describes recommendations, integration of depressed rural areas into the trade and production infrastructure and support of backbone enterprises.

The article is devoted to the development of the border territories of Kazakhstan, in particular, the study of the border territories of settlements of the North Kazakhstan region. The author presents his own vision of the development of border depressive regions and develops proposals for improving state policy and management of regional development of territorial spaces. An organizational and institutional mechanism for the development of border territories based on the formation of special economic zones as investment and innovation platforms for the development of production and infrastructure facilities is proposed. The problem with the formation of such special zones is the lack of economic resources consisting of production and human potential. The Northern macroregion has great potential in the development of the agro-industrial complex, however, the lack of human resources, due to large migration to neighboring regions of Russia and other regions of Kazakhstan, as well as the deterioration of the socioeconomic situation of the population, due to a lack of investment and budgetary resources, environmental problems can lead to the extinction of many settlements of the North Kazakhstan region. The solution to such problems, while remaining the prerogative of the state, requires their solution at the present moment. The development should be based on cross-border cooperation of neighboring countries based on the modeling of foreign economic relations based on the functional features of borders in the new conditions of cross-border and integration interaction of countries.

In recent years the development of public program evaluation has received growing attention in Kazakhstan. An institutional and legal base for program evaluation has been established. However, the examination of literature has evidenced that there have been rudimentary attempts to interrogate evaluation practice, particularly at the regional level. It is still not well known how effective or valuable it is. It is imperative to run a diagnostic and assess the evaluation system to answer this question. This article aims to evaluate the quality of regional program evaluation practice in Kazakhstan. It applies a meta-evaluation tool to understand the extent to which such practice complies with three fundamental and recognized evaluation standards: namely, value, validity, and utility. As a sample, the study used evaluation reports conducted by regional Audit commissions. This research is the first attempt to apply established evaluation standards to the Kazakhstani context. Therefore, it was assumed that some discrepancies with the standards may occur. Having confirmed this hypothesis, the findings indicate that regional program evaluation falls far short of these standards. The paper identified many conceptual and methodological problems, which seriously compromise the validity and soundness of evaluation practice. It is expected that it will stimulate discussion in academic and subject matter expert circles. Furthermore, having identified key areas for improvement, the study may help reform the evaluation field and contribute to better policy- and decisionmaking, thus saving taxpayers’ money and improving people’s wellbeing. In the end, the research put forward several recommendations for strengthening evaluation practice.

In the conditions of sustainable development, special attention is paid to the balanced development of the territory. In regional studies, the study of the state of depressed settlements has scientific and practical relevance. In this regard, the conceptual analysis of the concept «depressed region» and «vulnerability of settlements» allows us to define important parameters for the study. The aim of the article is an empirical analysis of the socio-economic problems of vulnerable settlements. Based on the literature study, the conceptual bases of depressiveness and social vulnerability of settlements are highlighted, and the main parameters of its assessment are singled out. The method of data collection was a questionnaire. As a result of a sociological survey of the population, the sample consisted of 300 respondents from vulnerable areas in East Kazakhstan, Zhambyl, and North Kazakhstan regions. According to the results of the survey, several socio-economic issues among the settlements can be identified: lack of livelihood, there is no opportunity for development, poor infrastructure, lack of jobs and opportunities to earn money, poor living conditions, poor environment, problems with getting vocational education, retraining, etc. According to the survey, it is important to develop infrastructure. To address the development of depressed and vulnerable settlements, it is necessary to create transport and social infrastructure: road network, communications, Internet, development of organizational and economic mechanisms: increasing state support for local businesses, strengthening the role of local authorities, providing soft loans and subsidies to the population, providing settlements with social facilities, providing grants for the development of their businesses.

The purpose is to research the environmental and economic practices used by households in urban agglomerations. As is known, ecological behavior is a very important part of the value paradigms. Improvement of the environmental situation at the global level is possible only with the active participation of civil society, while country and regional specifics determine the research and development of effective approaches of a reasonable environment attitude. Kazakhstan with large territories has urgent problems in terms of air quality, water quality, waste management, biodiversity conservation, etc. The authors used a directional approach in the formation of a questionnaire, considering the peculiarities of residence at the place of residence and the characteristics of the respondents. This as result of the understanding that residents of urban agglomerations have wide access to information, infrastructure, communities and movements, which positively affects the dynamics of the formation of important skills, as well as more environmentally responsible behavior in behavior. Based on international experience, a research methodology included conducting a survey in three large Kazakhstan’s cities. The regression model used for quantitative results, which mathematically describe the degree of influence of individual variables on the overall indicator. As part of the research, three hypotheses determined how individual factors effect on environmental behavior, which made recommendations and conclusions. The results presented in the research used for a comparative analysis of the manifestation of the ecological behavior of the inhabitants of agglomerations. The results used for a comparative analysis of the ecological behavior of the inhabitants of agglomerations.

The development of the digital economy causes cardinal socio-economic shifts, including those in the field of labor relations. Therefore, the study of basic processes of functioning and development of the labor market is an urgent task. Research methods: generalization, comparison, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, structural-logical analysis, monographic method, statistical modeling methods, machine learning methods, neural network modeling, fuzzy logic. The purpose of the article is to develop a methodological approach to the study of basic processes of functioning and development of the labor market under the conditions of digitalization. The hypothesis of the study – the digitalization of the economy activates structural shifts in the labor market, which can cause imbalances that can be eliminated through the development of human potential. In the course of the study, it was found that the existing methods and tools in this area are not sufficient for diagnosing the labor market under the conditions of digitalization. The article proposes the author’s methodology of analysis, based on two complex parameters: flexibility and social protection. Also, using the tools of fuzzy logic, an approach to assessing the level of social security and protection of the population was developed. The use of the approaches proposed in the article will make it possible to determine the specifics of the development of labor resources and the ongoing transformations in the structure of employment under the influence of modern technology and will also make it possible to substantiate measures of state regulation and support adequate to the challenges of our time.

The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship between factors of demographic transition and the demographic dividend in developing countries on the example of Kazakhstan. This literature review made it possible to identify two main factors that indirectly impact economic growth: the working-age population and the labor force. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relationship between these factors, taking into account urban and rural areas. The SPSS program was used to confirm four hypotheses. Where Working Age Total is the dependent variable and Women Working Age Urban Population, Women Working Age Rural Population are independent variables for the first two hypotheses. In the third and fourth hypotheses, Labor Force Total is the dependent variable, and Fertility Rate, Fertility Rate Urban, Fertility Rate Rural, Death Rate, Death Rate Urban, Death Rate Rural are independent variables. Data from the official open source information of the Bureau of National Statistics between 2007-2020 was used. According to the results, three hypotheses were partially accepted, one was rejected. The results showed little effect of changing demographic structure in rural areas on the working-age population, except for mortality rate. The birth rate has a positive impact on the working-age population only in cities. The female population of working age, although predominant in terms of the number, has a negligible effect on the labor force. The results of this study can be used to develop and improve existing programs and strategies for managing demographic factors by  the government at various levels and in science.

The workforce’s competency defines the efficiency of production in the country and, therefore, the welfare of the population. Higher education institutions play a considerable role in this as they prepare the workforce for the organizations in the country. Designing a high-quality workforce requires universities to keep up with the new technologies and innovations in higher education. Thus, managing innovation is the highest priority for higher education institutions. The present article aims to investigate the perceptions developed among the teaching personnel of higher education institutions, which will serve as an evaluator of innovation management efficiency. The research method has been adapted to fit the research problem and goals. The limitations of the research are that it is limited to several universities located in one city and may not fully reflect the situation in other cities. To fulfill this aim, an expert interview has been prepared, which assesses the perception and attitude towards innovations and innovation management efficiency. The analysis incorporated answers of 20 respondents employed at higher education institutions. The expert interview answers have been categorized and synthesized to reveal the hidden patterns and prepare practical recommendations for policymakers and future researchers. The analysis findings are that the teaching personnel has sufficient knowledge of the innovations in the educational sphere. Moreover, they are willing to engage in innovative processes by creating or using existing solutions. However, the study reveals funding-related issues and a necessity to adjust the university remuneration and internal policy to motivate greater engagement in innovation management.

The purpose of this article is to identify new threats and opportunities in the reform of state-owned enterprises in Uzbekistan to improve the efficiency of state-owned enterprises and the national economy as a whole. In the course of this study, the problem of corruption, methods of reforming state enterprises in developing countries, their consequences and directions of development were studied. And also, a critical view is given and recommendations are proposed for the reform of state-owned enterprises in the domestic economy. Based on the results of the analysis and analysis of state programs, special problems were identified in state-owned enterprises in the field of subsoil use, extractive industries and the activities of enterprises with a state share. The results of the study indicate the need to strengthen supervision over the activities of state-owned enterprises, since their profitability or unprofitability directly affects the degree of associated fiscal risks. State- owned enterprises often perform quasi-fiscal functions, attracting funds from both the state budget and external sources to finance industry projects. In the field of reforming state-owned enterprises of Uzbekistan, key conclusions have been made regarding the communication to the public, the goals, objectives and the need for ongoing transformations. There is no doubt that the reform of state-owned enterprises requires significant changes in legislation in the field of antimonopoly regulation and protection of competition, the banking and financial system, improving the protection of private property and consumer rights, social protection of the most vulnerable segments of the population and the unemployed.

Currently, the e-commerce market in Kazakhstan is developing rapidly, establishing game rules within market relations and self-regulation. However, the immaturity of the state regulation system of the e-commerce market does not allow it to contribute to its development fully. The work is devoted to studying the foreign experience of state regulation of the e-commerce market in terms of its applicability in Kazakhstan. There were methods of systematization, analysis and synthesis, criterion analysis, and comparative evaluation in research. In the article, the authors justified the need for state regulation of e-commerce in Kazakhstan, which is due to the presence of positive and negative effects of the presence of electronic methods of commerce in the economy. To develop recommendations on state regulation of the e-commerce sphere, the experience of such countries as the United States, China, and Singapore, which have achieved significant success in the promotion of e-commerce, is studied. In particular, the specifics of government policy regarding regulatory impact, tax regulation, and support for e-commerce businesses are examined in detail. The significance of the study results lies in the priority development of the e-commerce market in Kazakhstan, which is called the driver of economic growth of the country, according to the provisions of the «Roadmap for e-commerce development in Kazakhstan until 2025» implemented under the state program «Digital Kazakhstan». In addition, the study results can be used to prepare training materials in the undergraduate and graduate educational programs in the «E-commerce» discipline.

This research aims to study foreign experience and review the literature on methods for assessing financial literacy levels. Including analysis of financial literacy level in Kazakhstan based on official data from the AFRD. As a result, recommendations were developed for further improvement of the assessment methodology in Kazakhstan, based on the literature review. The research novelty lies in the systematization of the methods and approaches of various organizations and scientists to assess financial literacy in foreign countries. Additionally, development of recommendations for further improvement of financial literacy assessment based on foreign experience. Literature review results showed that many studies have standard features. Firstly, analysis of several factors may differ while the focus of their research interest. Secondly, the goal is to analyze t h e financial literacy of the population or specific groups of people. Secondary data analysis shows that financially illiterate citizens are inefficient participants in the securities market, have large debts, and use sources of financing irrationally. In terms of income – pensioners and youth. Therefore, there is a need for further development based on the experience of developed countries, where the level of financial literacy is high. The scientific significance of the work consists of the development of recommendations for improving the financial literacy of Kazakhstanis based on a methodological apparatus that considers integrated approaches and national restrictions. This is very important both for the theory and for the practice of further development of the state policy on improving the financial literacy of citizens of Kazakhstan.

The purpose of this research is to study the positive and negative aspects of pension savings early withdrawal. A review of foreign experience and literature was conducted; the opinion of expert practitioners in economics, in particular, the financial sphere, was taken into account. Since the recent reforms carried out in the early withdrawal pension system have an impact on future pension payments, there is a need to study this issue. A qualitative research method was applied to determine the positive and negative aspects of the early withdrawal of pension savings using the QDA Miner Lite software. An analysis was carried out on the leading four indicators – factors, advantages and disadvantages, and government readiness. The international experience that has been analyzed shows that in any country, if contributors in their pension fund do not have enough savings to ensure an adequate level of replacement rate, then early withdrawal of funds is not allowed. Their further savings and investment are provided. The opinions of experts regarding the premature use of pension savings are divided. Suppose some believe this situation will lead to an imbalance in the pension system and insufficient pensions in the future. Others believe that it will improve the current well-being of the population. Experts also note that the efficiency of the UAPF will not improve in any way, and the effect on the economy and the population’s welfare will be indistinct and short-term. The results of the study can be used for further development of the pension system.