Criminal prosecution of monopolistic activities in the form of market cartelization is the most sensitive tool for individuals, which can have both a serious deterrent effect and limit behavior that is beneficial to public welfare. This paper discusses the theoretical aspects of the issue of choosing a regime of antitrust enforcement in connection with the design of amendments and enforcement of the norms of Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, taking into account possible differences between the initialization, conclusion of a cartel agreement and participation in it. The article shows that there are various options for the relationship between the concept of conclusion and participation in the agreement, including anti-competitive one. However, this requires the application of realistic assumptions regarding the behavior of individuals. Practical issues of designing criminal penalties for cartels are considered taking into account various legal concepts, including the form and types of guilt, as well as on the basis of a comparison with other articles of the Criminal Code that punish collective unlawful acts. In connection with the problem of reproduction of an inhospitable tradition, the Russian antitrust identified the risks of imputed imputation (risks of I type errors) and insufficient punishment of the cartel organizer (risks of II type errors) in case of underestimating the importance of economic concepts based on the principle of methodological individualism and the assumption of bounded rationality of individuals.

Many governments continue or even return to protectionism, with a special influence on digital protectionism that has emerged in the era of digital development. Compared to the traditional protectionism the digital one usually differs due to the expansive growth of digital companies and the enormous amounts of data they gather. The authors focus on the two main elements of digital protectionism – a regulatory regime that creates barriers to cross-border data transfer and benefits in antitrust legislation in respect of internal companies. The purpose of the article is to identify the risks of applying special regulation of personal data protection and using antitrust policy to regulate digital companies functioning as means of protectionism. The analysis includes two stages: comparing of personal data protection and digital protectionism aims, assessing the protectionism motives within the framework of antitrust regulation. Based on the results of the study the authors come to the conclusion that industrial and antitrust regulators should take into account the risks of implementing digital protectionism to the competition.

The purpose of this article is to expand the understanding of the negative environmental load from production activities. It is based on the theoretical foundations relating to residual value. It also makes use of environmental and economic accounting introduced for deep analyses of hidden residual values, in particular in discussing concluding terminal costs and remedial costs in the context of dynamics of environmental sustainability. A complex understanding of the hidden residual value is suggested on macroeconomic in the capital concept and global levels. The macroeconomic measures (indicators) are considered in accounting the hidden environmental impact resulting from production activity.

The tobacco industry has a long history. The use of tobacco products caused controversy among leading doctors, scientists and economists for a long time. A huge number of studies have revealed the undoubted harm of tobacco use on human health. Despite the adoption of laws in many countries that prohibit or restrict smoking, the tobacco industry is still one of the leading branches of the economy. Whereas the harm caused by tobacco products to the human body has been thoroughly studied, and the composition of cigarette smoke has been identified with an accuracy of 7,000 different chemical elements, the damage caused to nature has not yet been discovered. In this study, we will assess the impact of the tobacco industry on the environment. In order to do this, we will consider all stages of the existence of tobacco products: from the cultivation of tobacco leaves to direct consumption and subsequent disposal of cigarette butts. Each of the stages contains clear and threats to the environment. The study is based on the experience of China as one of the largest tobacco producers and consumers. China is a country experiencing serious environmental problems, but plans to reach the level of carbon neutrality by 2060. The result of our analysis will be a quantitative assessment of the harm (in particular, CO2 emissions) caused by the tobacco industry to the environment in China, as well as recommendations for reducing the calculated effect.

The work is devoted to a review of the results of the 149th meeting of the Dispute Club “Economic Policy Knots” of the Association of Russian Economic Think Tanks (hereinafter referred to as ARETT) on the topic "Fiscal stimulus in a pandemic crisis – how much, from what sources, how?". The purpose of the event was to discuss a number of issues related to the effectiveness of the measures of fiscal stimulus of the economy adopted by Russian authorities in the context of crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic. The debaters were Oleg V. Buklemishev, head of the Center for Economic Policy Research of the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University, and Evsey T. Gurvich, head of the Economic Expert Group. The review presents the key ideas of the disputants, and also summarizes the main results of their answers to questions.

The article presents an overview of the plenary conference of the international scientific conference «Russia in the remaking: the Civilization, Technogenesis, the Economy» organized by laboratory of philosophy of economic together with the scientific council «Center of Social Sciences of MSU» held on December 9–11, 2020 in the online format at Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University. Reports that consider from various positions the state and prospects of the Russian society, the Russian economy and, broadly, the Russian civilization, were presented at the plenary session. The presented points of view allow us to take a fresh look at what's happening in the country and in the world in times of COVID-19 challenges.