Opening remarks

Dear readers!

We are proud to bring to your attention the next issue of the Electronic Journal of the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

This issue contains articles that consider the issues of antimonopoly regulation in the digital economy, expand the understanding of the negative environmental burden from production activities and offer a comprehensive understanding of the negative residual value at the macroeconomic level, show the im-pact of fiscal stimulus on economic development in the context of the coronavirus epidemic, and give assessment of the prospects for the development of the Russian economy and Russian civilization as a whole.

The journal continues the good tradition of publishing articles not only from renowned scientists, but also from talented beginning researchers under the guidance of a famous professor. Their paper pro-vides an analysis of the impact of the tobacco industry on the environment and assesses the harm it causes to nature.

The article "Realisticity of Individual Choice Model Does Matter: On Cartel Prosecution" is devoted to the theoretical and economic aspects of choosing an antimonopoly enforcement regime in connection with the discussion of the projected changes and the application of the norms of Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which takes into account possible differences between the organization, the conclusion of a cartel agreement and participation in it. It is shown that there are various options for the relationship between the concept of concluding and participating in an agreement, including an anticompetitive one. On the basis of the principle of methodological individualism and the concept of bounded rationality used in economic science, restrictions on the projection of the ratio of conclusion and participation in an agreement for legal entities on the actions of individuals are demonstrated. The article considers practical issues of designing criminal punishment for cartels, taking into account various legal concepts, including forms and types of guilt, as well as on the basis of comparison with other articles of the Criminal Code that include punishment for collective illegal actions. In connection with the problem of reproduction of an inhospitable tradition in the Russian antitrust, the risks of objective imputation (risks of type I errors) and insufficient punishment of the organizer of a cartel (risks of type II errors) were identified in case of underestimation of the value of the above approach.

The article "Digital Protectionism: Myth or Reality?" explores the elements of digital protection-ism - a regulatory regime that sets barriers to the cross-border transfer of personal data, and is associated with the creation of advantages for domestic companies within the framework of antitrust regulation. The purpose of the article is to identify the risks of applying personal data protection mechanisms and instruments of antimonopoly policy in relation to digital companies in the logic of protectionism. The analysis carried out includes two stages: comparison of the motives for personal data protection and the regime of digital protectionism and assessment of the presence of protectionist motives in the framework of antimonopoly regulation. As a result, the study has identified risks of using digital protectionism tools and includes recommendations for industry and antimonopoly regulators on their accounting.

The article "Theoretical and Methodological Approach to the Study of Residual Value" expands understanding of the negative environmental load from production activities. The author applied the methodology of environmental and economic accounting in connection with an in-depth analysis of the negative residual value, in particular, the allocation of final and recovery costs. The study proposes to take into account the final and recovery costs in the framework of the dynamics of environmental sustainability. This approach forms a comprehensive understanding of the negative residual value at the macroeconomic level in the formation of the concept of capital. In addition, the paper analyzes macroeconomic indicators while taking into account the negative environmental burden caused by production activities.

Review of the 149th meeting of the Dispute club “Economic Policy Knots” of the Association of the Russian Economic Think Tanks on the Topic “Fiscal Stimulation in a Pandemic Crisis - How Much, From What Sources, How?” presents the discussion of a number of issues related to the effectiveness of the fiscal stimulus measures taken by the Russian authorities in the context of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants in the dispute noted that under the influence of the pandemic, a negative economic situation has developed, and fiscal policy is also aimed at combating it. However, today in Russia its effectiveness is far from optimal, which affects the economic development of the country. To increase its pace, it is extremely important to carefully analyze the measures taken, the consequences of their implementation, and work on any arising issues.

Another review is devoted to the results of the international scientific conference "Russia in the Remaking: Civilization, Technogenesis, Economy" held at the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Mos-cow State University, organized by the laboratory of economic philosophy in cooperation with the scientific council of the Center for Social Sciences of Moscow State University. This review reflects various outlooks on the state and prospects of the development of Russian society and economy, as well as the development of Russian civilization as a whole. The presented points of view allow us to take a fresh look at what is happening in the country and the world during the period of “COVID” challenges.

Section "Works by Young Scientists" contains the article “Smoke or Breathe? Assessment of the Impact of the Tobacco Industry on the Environment” dedicated to the evaluation of the impact of the to-bacco industry on the environment. For this, all stages of the existence of tobacco products are considered: from growing tobacco leaves to disposing of cigarette butts. Each of the stages contains obvious and latent threats to the environment. The study was conducted based on the experience of China as one of the largest tobacco producers and consumers. China is a country with serious environmental problems, but plans to reach the level of carbon neutrality by 2060. The result of the study is a quantitative assessment of the harm, including CO2 emissions, caused by the tobacco industry to the environment of China, as well as recommendations for reducing the calculated effect.

We are looking forward to your feedback on the articles published in this issue and welcome possible fu-ture cooperation and contributions.

Editor-in-Chief
The President of the Faculty of Economics
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Professor Vasiliy P. Kolesov

Deputy Chief Editor
Head of the Department of
Philosophy and Methodology of Economics of the
Faculty of Economics of
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Professor Leonid A. Tutov

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