The paper investigates resource, technical, economic and market potential of solar energy and its ecology and economic efficiency in Azerbaijan. The authors have distinguished six regions in the territory of Azerbaijan with different levels of solar radiation. The resource potential of the regions is calculated by the AutoCad program. As well, technical and economic potential was calculated by special methodology. The authors concluded that Azerbaijan has so much solar energy resource potential and it is possible to replace traditional carbon types of energy with solar energy, even by using the modern technical equipment. However, it is impossible because of economic disadvantages and very low electricity prices. The price of 1 kWh electricity from carbon fuels is several times cheaper than 1 kWh electricity from solar energy. That is why it is difficult to attract investments to develop solar power. There is a necessity to develop a new electricity price policy to stimulate attractiveness of solar power for households and industry.

The impact of research and development (R&D) expenditure is crucial for understanding contemporary economic development strategies. This study investigates the relationship between R&D spending as a percentage of GDP and economic growth, focusing on the South Caucasus countries (Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia) and Israel, which is notable for its substantial R&D expenditure (5.71% of GDP in 2020). The objective is to evaluate the impact of R&D expenditure on economic development through the application of rigorous empirical methods. By employing a quantitative approach, this study aims to offer a detailed analysis of the impact of R&D investment on economic growth across various countries. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyzes the association between R&D expenditure and GDP levels. Granger causality tests are utilized to investigate the causal relationships. The results demonstrate a significant positive relationship between R&D expenditure and GDP across all studied countries. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that GDP growth stimulates increased R&D investments in Azerbaijan and Armenia, as evidenced by Granger causality tests. To sum up, this paper underscores the critical role of R&D spending in driving economic development and highlights the necessity for policy initiatives focused on strengthening R&D frameworks.

In this paper, there was investigated tourism demand and supply functions in the case of Azerbaijan. The authors have applied the 2SLS method to identify these functions. The authors came to the conclusion that the demand function of tourist trips to Azerbaijan varies depending on the level of income of tourists’ origin countries and the price level in Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic impacts not only the restriction policy of origin countries, as well as income in these countries. By decreasing the income levels of the population in these countries will be decreased the number of tourists to Azerbaijan.

Consumer Surplus Changing in the Transition from State Natural Monopoly to the Competitive Market in the Electricity Sector in the Developing Countries: Azerbaijan Case