Political Trust and Values of Loyal and Oppositional Youth in the Exclave Region of Russia

The study determines the level of trust in public and political institutions among the loyal and oppositional youth of the Kaliningrad region, as well as their attitudes towards materialistic and post-materialistic values. The study is based on R. Ingleharts theory of value and the understanding of trust as described in the works of P. Sztompka and A. Giddens. The author relies on an online survey conducted among young people aged between 18 and 35 (n = 987). As a result of the study, the author defines three groups of institutions, depending on the degree of trust in them. The study confirms the hypothesis that young people loyal to the government demonstrate greater trust in traditional and state institutions. It also reveals that, in general, young people put post-materialistic values in the first place, while materialistic values are more characteristic of the youth loyal to the government. The author concludes that the level of the political trust towards a certain institution among loyal and oppositional youth differs depending on the possibility of influencing the institution. The trust of loyal youth is based on the importance of social status, and the trust of oppositional youth is based on the freedom of expression.

A Question of Value: On the Legality of Using Kyoto Protocol Units under the Paris Agreement

The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol generated about 4.3 billion Assigned Amount Units (aaus) and about 180 million Certified Emission Reductions (cers) for carry-over by Annex i states and potential use as ‘overachievements’ or offsets to discount emissions under ndcs. The second commitment period may generate additional carry-over units, and there is an estimated ‘dormant’ amount of about 4.6 billion cers that could be issued from ongoing cdm projects. To rely on these units risks upsetting the process of trust-building necessary to increase ambition under the Paris Agreement. This article questions the legality of carry-overs but finds that a textual interpretation of the current legal framework under both treaties leaves the matter unresolved. With a more refined legal interpretation, based on the principles of environmental integrity and sound accounting under the Paris Agreement, the article re-evaluates aaus and cers under the Agreement, by relying on insights from a social theory of value and the critical studies literature on the political economy of carbon markets. The conclusion is that aaus cannot be used under the ndc accounting framework, as their formal value of 1 Mt CO2 eq. under the Kyoto Protocol is considerably diminished under the Agreement. As for cers, their value depends on different social realities related to their issuance. States or the cma should adopt transparent criteria to select the cers that are worth transitioning pursuant to the Article 6.4 mechanism. The same conceptual framework of value-attribution can also inform the design and operation of the Article 6 mechanisms and their units in order to attain higher environmental integrity and sound accounting for ndcs.

A General Addiction Model Based on the Theory of Demand Degree—Taking the Simulation of Cigarette Addiction through Artificial Intelligence as an Example

Objectives: As one of the mathematical results of the theory of value philosophy, the theory of demand degree can propose a new interpretation model for addiction. The theory of demand degree believes that human demands can be divided into two types, namely, the demand amount and the demand degree, and the equilibrium point of the demand degree constitutes the main basis for people to compare different types of demands and calculate the demand amount. The addiction model based on the theory of demand degree believes that addiction should have two basic conditions: firstly, the unit addictive substance is of great value to the subject, and it is the reason for the brain reward mechanism in the addiction; secondly, an addiction index is constructed, and only when the addiction index is greater than 0, the subject has the possibility for addiction. The construction of addiction index provides a standard for examining whether a certain substance can make people addicted. Converting the relevant formulas of the addiction model into artificial intelligence codes enables artificial intelligence to simulate the phenomenon of addiction. According to the change in the indicator light on the MCU development board, it is possible to judge whether the artificial intelligence chooses to load cigarettes or charge, and simulate the cigarette addiction when the addiction index is 1. The results of simulating addiction through artificial intelligence are generally consistent with the general situation of addiction, especially cigarette addiction. This indicates that the addiction model has great rationality and universality, and further indicates that without considering the harmfulness of the addictive substance, addiction is not necessarily a disease, but may just be a normal response of the human demand system to the addictive substance.

Effects of the Covid-19 Measures on the Economy and the Environment

The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and governmental countermeasures are described in this work by putting it in the framework of the Energy Theory of Value. It is found that the downturn in economy is not accompanied by an equal downturn in energy consumption nor of carbon emissions. Moreover, not even the empirical fifth-power law linking the former two is any longer sustained, more so proving the state of virtualization of our economy (disconnecting it from a physical reality). It is also found that the reduction of carbon emissions had no impact on the dynamics of carbon in the atmosphere, which goes on business as usual. All these results undermine the planned policies of the world agenda.

Doctrinal Contest II

This chapter continues the study of the doctrinal contest between Malthus and Ricardo by turning to the central topic of rent. Ricardo’s treatment of rent in his Principles developed the account that he had earlier established in his Essay on Profits by combining it with his theory of value. So armed, Ricardo could intensify his attack on the landlord class as parasitic on the nation’s wealth. At the same time, Smith and Malthus were subjected to doctrinal correction. Malthus’s reply drew on the formidable resources of natural theology to portray rent as a dispensation from God, while he simultaneously characterized Ricardo as a reckless theorist whose doctrines could endanger political harmony. Once again, what at first sight appears to have been a dry doctrinal contest was in fact an intensely political and ethical confrontation.