The actual problems of public finance are the consistency of the ongoing budgetary policy in the field of revenues and public expenditures and its effectiveness, especially in crisis conditions. The directions of public spending are diverse and depend on the priorities of the state policy being pursued and the development of interbudgetary relations. During the pandemic, much attention is paid to the social support of citizens and the regulation of their income, leveling the level and quality of life of the population throughout the country. The focus of this article will be directed to the last circle of problems. The authors continue a series of works on the study of public finances and the quality of life of the population in the regions. For the analysis, the Central Federal District (CFD) was chosen – the largest district in terms of financial and labor resources. Based on the study of socio-economic indicators of the development of regions, the current problems caused by the corona crisis have been identified. The analysis showed that the regions differ significantly both in terms of economic recovery and in terms of the financial capabilities of regional budgets to fulfill social obligations and ensure the quality of life.

The novelty of the work consists in an attempt to substantiate the origin of the ecological crisis from the point of view of political economy. It is seen by the author in the exhaustion of the potential of industrial-capitalist development due to the completion of capitalism's historical mission - industrialization as a special stage in the development of productive forces, and thereby its own history. His goal of profit maximization was generated by the paradigm of economic growth, measured by its iconic indicator of GDP, the limitless increase of which was invariably accompanied by the predatory use of natural resources, which eventually turned into an environmental crisis, now brought to the state of ecological catastrophe. Overcoming it is a function of a different system of economic relations, focused not on profit maximization, not on economic growth, but on balanced socio-ecological and economic development, implemented now by the active introduction of ESG principles, presupposed by the formation of a new economic system in the depths of capitalism, starting from the second half of the twentieth century.

The article is devoted to one of the components of the sustainable development of cities - the creation of an urban "green" infrastructure. The development of such infrastructure in cities contributes to an increase in the flow of benefits from ecosystem services and is an important trend in the formation of a green economy. Particular attention is paid to the assessment of the economic efficiency of ecosystem services in cities. The methodological basis for justifying the introduction of eco-infrastructure in cities is the mathematical modeling of the urban area, which shows what economic benefits households and municipalities can receive from the introduction of "green" infrastructure.

The article provides an economic assessment of the "green" infrastructure (the so-called "city in the garden") on the example of the project of a new eco-district of the city of Kazan. It is shown that an integrated approach to creating an urban environment with an emphasis on the health and well-being of citizens is beneficial for the economy of the city and the country as a whole.

The study examines whether the factor of intensity of competition by firms was the reason for the recent price increase in the building materials markets in Russia. The author develops a price estimation model to explain the role of market power factor in ready-mixed concrete and crushed stone regional markets’ prices increase during 2021 by applying “difference in difference” approach. The analysis shows that it wasn’t the factor of market power that was responsible for the recent price increase in the considered building materials markets. Thus, the results based on such imperfect indicators of intensity of competition as number of market participants and market concentration, that are, nevertheless, widely used by the FAS of Russia, provide criticism for the manner of implementing instruments of antitrust policy in Russia, namely the concept of abuse of collective dominance.

In a fast-changing external environment the necessity of the development of entrepreneurial mindset among the young population is becoming increasingly relevant. The aim of the study is to identify the factors of students’ entrepreneurial intentions implementation. When deciding on the choice of an entrepreneurial career, a student evaluates the presence of three types of entrepreneurial capital, which include the competencies necessary for successful business creation. As a result of the study, a three-cluster model of entrepreneurial competencies was developed based on the critical analysis of the scientific literature. It can be used as a tool to assess the willingness of the younger generation to entrepreneurial activity. As part of an empirical study, a number of qualitative research were conducted by the method of interview. The instruments of developing entrepreneurial competencies and intentions were identified and the factors of students’ intentions to set up their own business implementation were revealed.

According to normative decision-making theories, the composition of a choice set should not affect people’s preferences regarding the different options. This assumption contrasts with decades of research that have identified multiple situations in which this principle is violated, leading to context effects. Recently, research on context effects has been extended to the domain of experiencebased choices, where it has been shown that forgone outcomes from irrelevant alternatives affect preferences — an accentuation effect. More specifically, it has been shown that an option presented in a situation in which its outcomes are salient across several trials is evaluated more positively than in a context in which its outcomes are less salient. In the present study, we investigated whether irrelevant information affects preferences as much as relevant information. In two experiments, individuals completed a learning task with partial feedback. We found that past outcomes from nonchosen options, which contain no relevant information at all, led to the same accentuation effect as did counterfactual outcomes that provided new and relevant information. However, if the information is entirely irrelevant (from options that could not have been chosen), individuals ignored it, thus ruling out a purely perceptual account of the accentuation effect. These results provide further support for the influence of salience on learning and highlight the necessity of mechanistic accounts in decision-making research.