The study is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of trust in economic, social and cultural contexts, which is due to its complex nature and increasing role in ensuring social stability, economic development and increasing the effectiveness of institutional systems. The aim of this study is to explore the features of theoretical discourse on the concept of trust, including its definition, approaches to measuring it, and potential applications in the field of financial institutions. The study is based on J. Coleman’s role approach, which divides subjects into trustor and trustee. Trust is presented as a multifaceted phenomenon that includes attitudes, expectations, and actions. Initial trust (determined by culture, historical experience, and institutions) and final trust (depending on the results of interaction) are distinguished. Analysis of trust measurement methods revealed their limitations due to subjectivity, cultural specificity and difficulties in data aggregation. An analysis of interpersonal trust in European countries was conducted based on the European Social Survey (2002–2024). Changes in the level of interpersonal and institutional trust were identified, including under the influence of uncertainty factors of 2020–2024 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical transformation. The results of the study can be used in further studies of interpersonal and institutional trust, including in financial sectors in the context of long planning horizons.

Welfare theory as a normative branch of economics suggests a clear vision of the decent public state and direction guidelines towards it. In the 20th century concepts, welfare guidelines were set on the basis of the "homo economicus" model, ceasing to "work" in the 21st century objectives significantly limiting the rationality of choice caused by behavioral distortions, as well as extended to them algorithmic guiding forces of digital technologies. Thus, the "happy man" model with its limited rationality, urge to hedonism, perception of virtual reality influence, appears to be an adequate basis for understanding the well-being of the contemporary personality and society. The model fundamental framework consists of the economics of happiness, within which the mutual influence of the real and "digital" happiness is argued and implemented via social networks, artificial intelligence, "digital reputation" and other achievements of digitalization. The result of the research presented in the article is the verbalization of the "happy man" model to enhance welfare theory in order to embrace the costs and benefits of digitalization, environmental sustainability, social trust and other aspects in terms of which it is complicated to establish rational preferences.

In recent years, an alarming trend has been observed in the scientific and educational space of Russia – a massive outflow of young specialists from the academic field. The scientific community is losing promising researchers who do not see a decent future in science and higher education. The presented research is a pilot and is aimed at determining the areas and factors of well-being of graduate students, as well as related motivational attitudes and value orientations regarding development in the academic field. Based on a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 23 graduate students of the Southern Federal University, key areas of well-being have been identified.: family relations, professional activity, financial support, health, career prospects and leisure. It has been established that financial instability forces graduate students to look for additional sources of income, and a chronic lack of time leads to an imbalance between professional and personal life, especially for those who are focused on academic careers. Common physical health problems and normalization of "unhealthy practices" in the academic environment have been identified. The study found a paradox: despite the predominance of scientific motivation, there is a "negative selection" (among men who enroll for a deferral from the army). Multilevel barriers to academic development are identified: institutional (bureaucracy), educational (non-core disciplines), communicative (problems with managers), resource, psychological and regulatory. Most graduate students are focused on the non-academic sector, although they wish to maintain their connection with the university. Analyzing the reasons for the outflow from graduate school and well-being factors, the authors suggested that there is a fundamental link between what makes graduate students happy and what motivates them to continue their professional development in the academic field.

The neoclassical model assumes that in an industrial society, income growth is achieved through an increase in capital-labor ratio. The material and technical base of a socialist society in the USSR had been built by the 1960s. Both economic theorists and the country's political leadership believed so. A course was proclaimed to solve the housing problem and increase the production of consumer goods. Considering that the latter was to occur on the basis of the already established heavy industry, one could expect a significant increase in capital productivity and the maintenance of high rates of economic growth. However, this did not happen. This paper presents a retrospective analysis of the causes of this phenomenon. The hypothesis of the absence of structural shifts was verified using a simulation model, which allowed us to obtain results close to the Soviet statistics. Despite the fact that the level of the accumulation rate remained quite high, the growth rate of national income decreased due to a drop in the return on assets. The main obstacle to achieving the set goals were the social practices that arose during the second industrial revolution. Housing turned from a specific commodity into a benefit that was distributed administratively. Its price was not included in the price of labor. The maintenance of housing and provision of public utilities were carried out by city-forming enterprises. This reduced the profits of the latter. There was both direct and cross-subsidization of utilities and housing maintenance. In addition, the scientific and technological (the third industrial, according to A.I. Anchishkin) revolution led to a flow of workers from the industrial and agricultural sectors to the service sector, which was considered "non-productive". However, investments in the development of the service sector were insufficient, and the USSR leadership did not try to eliminate this deficit

The article examines the evolution of ideologies in Russian economic science over the period from 1992 to 2023. Based on a computer analysis of scientific publications from leading Russian economic journals, five main ideological types in economics are identified and characterized. The distribution of articles by ideology over 32 years is presented in six time periods: two six-year periods and four five-year periods. The analysis showed a significant shift in ideological priorities. In the early periods (1992–1997 and 1998–2002), neoliberalism was dominant, reflecting a focus on market reforms and the replacement of Marxist theory with neoclassical one. Further, during three periods (2003–2007, 2008–2012 and 2013–2017), dirigisme came to the forefront. In the latest period (2018–2023) environmentalism took the lead position. The study reveals that ideological attitudes not only shape theoretical narratives, but also influence research question and methodological approaches. Particular attention is given to the role of dirigisme as the most stable ideological position in Russian economics. Additionally, the increasing importance of environmentalism in modern research is noted. The significant result is the discovery of the stable position of ideology of the "special path", which indicates the importance of considering institutional features and pragmatism in developing the Russian economy. The study emphasizes the need for further analysis of theoretical narratives and their relationship to practical recommendations for economic policy. The findings can help to understand mechanisms of scientific discourse formation in economic science and the impact of ideological attitudes on economic development.

The modern economic literature is forming a trend of empirical studies of the development of economic science based on the analysis of the content of scientific articles. This paper examines how institutional economics developed in Russia during three decades (1991–2020). Expert selection of articles from the database of scientific electronic library Elibrary.ru was carried out and the database for analysis was formed (a total of 1 057 articles). We studied in which journals the most sought-after scientific articles were published, as well as their distribution by affiliations with different types of institutions. Based on the metadata of the articles, expert analysis and pilot content analysis of the topics were carried out. A list of top-10 articles and top-10 authors by citations (by three decades) was formed. We conclude that institutional terminology is widespread in economic research. However, this is not an evidence of the authors' adherence to the ideas of institutionalism. The analysis of the thematic focus of research articles, the most cited articles and the most popular authors demonstrates: serious changes that took place during three decades in the research topics; changes in the approach to citation of works; formation of a fairly stable core of top authors and centres of institutional research. We have highlighted the problems of incorrect use of basic institutional concepts and vulgarisation of its main provisions, "atomisation" of the scientific community and the lack of a common system for assessing the quality of research. The questions remain open as to whether the direction of institutional economics in Russia will be able to overcome the problems of extremely formal use of its theories and concepts, to stop slipping into opportunistic topics, to offer new conceptual approaches to explain the institutional problems of the Russian economy.

The article is devoted to the transformation and development of the Dutch economy during the Eighty Years' War, as well as a little earlier and later than this war, during which the Dutch bourgeois Revolution ran. Authors focus on the connection of public institutions with economic development. They show that feudal relations in the Netherlands went through an evolutionary process of withering away, but the development of the capitalist mode of production proceeded slowly until it received an impetus from the political revolution of the late 16th century. The Dutch way of developing capitalism, according to authors, demonstrates a combination of rapid growth in industrial output and trade with conservatism in the field of institutional economics, since guilds and workshops have been preserved in the Netherlands. Protestantism, as the authors argue, created an international network of trust in both economics and politics, which ensured the development of capitalist relations in the Netherlands, especially evident in the formation and development of the East Indian and West Indian companies. This work is on economic history and partly it is devoted to research in the field of philosophy of economics in the perspective of identifying the impact of intellectual work of society on its socio-economic development. The authors also criticize the provisions of Karl Marx's theory of historical development, putting the intellectual development of society in the first place, but not the productive forces.

The problem of maintaining human control over artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly relevant in the context of high rates of improvement of this technology. The article presents different points of view regarding the influence of economic institutions on technological development. Research on the institutional possibilities of directed technological development is opposed to the ideology of technological determinism. Designing the digital future is considered in these studies as a real task. The digital future appears to be an arena of social struggle for civilizational alternatives. The great contribution that Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu has made to the study of the problems of directed technological development is shown. The codes of ethics in the field of artificial intelligence adopted by the European Union, China, the USA, and Russia are interpreted as institutional measures to prevent the negative consequences of the development of this technology. The results of a comparative analysis of both the presented ethical codes and the state strategic documents on the development of artificial intelligence are outlined. The documents reviewed indicate that there are some discrepancies between countries in setting strategic priorities for the development of latest technologies. The requirement of explainability of solutions obtained with the help of artificial intelligence is highlighted as one of the tools for the directed development of this technology.

The article analyzes the recent tendency to base institutional analysis on certain philosophical positions, drawing conclusions from them that are not supported by empirical testing, which is replaced by providing individual examples that allow for multiple interpretations. The purely external similarity of such logic of writing texts with scientific research can create in researchers, especially beginners, the idea that such logic is a completely normal option for conducting institutional research. To substantiate the erroneousness of such a conclusion, the article analyzes the differences in the methodologies of philosophical and scientific research and provides two real examples of the philosophical foundations’ use in discussing institutional problems, the analysis of which demonstrates the difficulties that arise with the validity of the formulated results and conclusions