From Liability Shields to Democratic Theory: What We Need from Tort Theory Now

In the United States, one startling response to COVID-19 has been a push for so-called “liability shields,” laws modifying tort doctrine so as to largely eliminate tort liability for negligently causing COVID-19. Though not enacted at the federal level, such changes have been adopted in numerous states. This article excavates and articulates the tort theory that lies behind this puzzlingly response to a pandemic. I call the theory “tort deflationism.” Grounded in modern American conservatism and with a doctrinal pedigree dating back to the 1970s, tort deflationism explains and justifies only minimal tort liability, out of deference to non-governmental actors – especially family, church, and business—and suspicion of government competence and power. Other tort theories should reckon with tort deflationism, and I discuss some challenges of doing so. The contest between tort deflationism and other theories speaks to ongoing debates about the legitimacy of law in pluralist democracies. I urge tort theorists to enter these debates and to consider their implications for tort law itself.

Application of the cluster analysis for assessing the savings and investment potential of the population of the siberian federal district

The article presents a multidimensional cluster analysis of the regions of the Siberian Federal Level by the level of savings and investment potential of the population. Clustering was carried out using the ACC Statistica based on the joint use of hierarchical and non-hierarchical algorithms. This approach made it possible to increase the reliability of dividing the regions of the district into homogeneous groups. As a result, the heterogeneity of the regions of the Siberian Federal District in terms of the studied potential is revealed. Three clusters with a high, medium and low level of savings and investment potential of the population were obtained. Each resulting cluster provides a tool for making effective decisions at the level of both a single region and the district as a whole. The analysis made it possible to analyze the current state and trends in the development of the level of savings and investment potential of the population in the Siberian Federal District. And also to find out the reasons for the low level of the investigated potential.

The State of Local Lobbying

Cities are some of the oldest lobbying organizations in the United States. Because states enjoy such high levels of fiscal and administrative authority over their local units, the vast majority of these advocacy efforts are aimed at state governments rather than at the federal level. This chapter draws from original lobbying disclosure data, interviews, city council documents, and other sources to paint a detailed descriptive picture of the current municipal lobbying landscape in the United States. How did city lobbying emerge in its current form? What are local officials hoping to achieve when they lobby, and how do they allocate their efforts? When do cities lobby as individuals as opposed to coalitions? This chapter introduces expansive new data to provide initial answers to these questions.

Informal Entrepreneurship Education: Overview of the Russian Field

This article analyzes the informal sector of entrepreneurial education — free “open” educational projects at the federal level in the context of broader trends in the development of education and society, including education’s ‘unbundling’. The search for information was carried out using the Internet, as a result 45 initiatives were discovered. The results show that the sector of entrepreneurship education is broad, but there are a large number of areas for improvement, in which universities can play an important role. In particular, this concerns elaborating and implementing a system for evaluating educational results, organizing monitoring of the effectiveness of such initiatives, including the analysis of success stories. In addition, a separate task is to expand the set of targeted programs for specific audiences (for example, unemployed), as well as to improve the content of such initiatives more deeply according to the specifics of the relevant target groups (for example, young mothers or older people).

Legal framework as a means of effective communication between the investigator and the body of inquiry (through the example of internal affairs bodies)

Based on the conducted research the authors concluded that there are regulatory legal acts regulating the issues of interaction between the investigator and the body of inquiry, which in addition to the criminal procedural law include other laws and by-laws, in particular, the federal laws “On operative-investigative activity”, “On the police”, departmental orders and instructions. It is noted that the existing disputes about the legality, procedure, types and subjects of interaction, about the procedural nature and evidential significance of information obtained from interaction, about the methods of its registration demonstrate the imperfection of the current regulatory framework in this area, which prevents its effective enforcement. The article indicates that the gaps in legislation in some of the most significant areas of intervention in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been filled through regulatory legal acts issued both at the federal level of the department and the level of territorial internal affairs bodies (in the form of orders, decrees, instructions and etc.), which certainly allowed to solve a number of practical problems. The authors of the publication make proposals for improving the legislative regulation of the procedural status of the body of inquiry as a participant in a criminal process.

Development of organizational formats for research infrastructure: Center for Fundamental Biotechnology and Bioengineering

The publication presents the case of the Ural Federal University in the development of organizational formats of infrastructure for research. In 2016, the Center for Fundamental Biotechnology and Bioengineering was established at the Ural Federal University with the support of the Competitiveness Enhancement Program (5–100). The goal of the project was to form a scientific center for the development of the basic research in biotechnology and bioengineering for medicine, agribusiness and environmental solutions, increasing the effectiveness of scientific activities in the field of biotechnology and reaching the image of an international scientific center for biotechnology and bioengineering. In the five-year history of the Center for Fundamental Biotechnology, two stages can be distinguished – the first three years were the formation of the structure of the center, its equipment base and the development of professional competencies of employees, in subsequent years the created conditions ensured the growth of the Center’s performance indicators, for example, publication activity increased 13.4 times, more than in 10 times decreased research costs per 1 article and increased the profitability ratio. This allowed the Center to become competitive at the federal level and recognized in the international professional community.

The Fiscal Burden of Wildfires: State Expenditures and Funding Mechanisms for Wildfire Suppression in the Western U.S. and Implications for Federal Policy

The number and size of wildfires in the western United States have increased dramatically in the last 30 years. The rising cost of wildfire suppression has become a significant concern for all levels of government, although most attention has been focused on the federal level. Much less is known about the financial impact of expenditures on states, which retain responsibility for suppression on over 480 million acres of state and private forests. This study collected data on state expenditures for wildfire suppression in the western United States from 2005 to 2015 to examine fiscal burdens and compare funding mechanisms used to cover those costs. Our analysis finds that western states expended $11.9 billion on wildfire suppression over the 11-year period and used own-source funds to cover 88 percent of these costs. States displayed a variety of mechanisms for covering their cost obligations with tradeoffs that may affect non-wildfire policy priorities.

Digital conversion in health care system and daily activities of a clinician

The article represents the issues of information and analytical support of clinicians. The article deals with the theory and practice of creating a digital subsystem of medical support for the population and a modern system for examination and treatment, the collection, storage and use of medical information in the databases of medical organizations, as well as data processing centers and situational control centers of the federal level or subjects of the Russian Federation. The basic principles of digital medicine, such as continuous development, mobility of doctors and patients, as well as the interaction of sensors and executive devices are discussed.

Contingent liabilities of public-private partnerships (PPPS) in Russia and BRICS countries: assessment and risk mitigation mechanisms

This article is devoted to the assessment of the conditional liabilities of public-private partnerships (PPPs) and measures to reduce the risks associated with them. First, a quantitative assessment of the contingent liabilities of PPP projects at the federal level is carried out. Contingent liabilities for public-private partnership projects are estimated to amount to 2.3 trillion roubles for the period 2021–52. Second, the experience of creating a system for managing the contingent liabilities of PPPs in Russia and the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is summarized. This analysis shows that each of the BRICS countries has a legislative and technical framework for managing fiscal liabilities, but does not use it to the fullest extent. Consequently, to improve functioning it is necessary to regularly update, fill in, and expand the number of available financial indicators for PPP projects. Of the BRICS countries, South Africa is characterized by the most complete and transparent system for managing PPP-related contingent liabilities, but Russia could use some of the measures implemented in other BRICS countries to improve its own system, including the creation of a guarantee fund (Brazil), a system for operational project evaluation (India) and the practice of project approval by the fiscal authority (China).