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Expectations of heterogeneous economic agents play a pivotal role in modern macroeconomic theory. Since the standard assumption about a representative fully rational agent and his/her ability to form model-consistent expectations of the underlying process governing real economic outcomes is subject to well-grounded criticism, laboratory experiments are an important tool for gaining new knowledge about the formation of individual expectations. This paper provides an overview of the results of learning-to-forecast experiments based on the New Keynesian model that allow to identify specificities of agents' expectations formation. These results suggest specific recommendations on ways to increase efficiency of the Central Bank monetary policy. Special attention is paid to agents' inflation expectations and specificities of applying various types of inflation targeting. The article presents an analysis of the impact of announcing the inflation target on agents' inflation expectations and the main macroeconomic variables dynamics for two different inflation targeting regimes — strict and flexible. A comparison of point and band versions of inflation targeting is provided for shocks affecting the economy with different intensities. The results of learning-to-forecast experiments presented in the review provide evidence of training and switching between different forecasting heuristics and also indicate the presence of specific cognitive restrictions of agents that extend a certain heuristic rule to all macroeconomic variables for which the forecast is performed.

The author aims to analyze the story of Gothic witches and Hunnic progenitress in the Getica by Jordanes in the context of studying Gothic magical practices and ideas. The Getica is the main and most ambivalent source on the history of the Goths before the Great Migration. Besides absence of other sources on the early Gothic history, studies of this source is further complicated by a possible reflection of oral tradition on its text, and the story of the witches can be an example of this influence. Moreover, it is placed in the part of the Getica with the highest concentration of the mythical and fabulous features. The article analyzes in detail the arguments against the origin of this story from the Gothic oral tradition, testifying to its constructiveness and Christian influence, as well as arguments in favor of the folklore nature of the story about the expulsion of witches using philological and folkloristics tools. The author borrows some external sources and offers an assessment of to what extent the existence of ideas about such witches could be realistic in Gothic communities, for the historicity of the story itself about their expulsion seems to be hardly probable. Finally, the article attempts to estimate relations between the information from the Getica and reconstructible reality of Gothic magical practices.

Elections in authoritarian regimes are commonly defined as "unfair and uncompetitive," but is it always true? The author argues that in the case of the heterogeneity of elite groups in the region and the emergence of a conflict among them, regional elections become an "arena for confrontation" for competing actors of the political system. To test this assertion, data on the results of elections and the characteristics of election campaigns in 25 single-member districts in the elections to the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg in 2021 are used. With the method of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), the hypothesis of the existing conflict among elite groups is confirmed. In case the city administration "approved" a candidate from the opposition party instead of the ruling one, and also if the previous deputy in the district is not re-elected in the same district, the elections are competitive, and the victory of a particular candidate is unpredictable. As a result of the analysis, such factors of election competitiveness as the number of candidates on the ballot and high turnout are also identified. Thus, in the event of a conflict between regional elites, authoritarian elections fulfill their original function: serve as platforms for the competitive struggle of various political groups.

The memory of tragic events plays an important role in the formation of collective identity. Not all ethnic groups' historical narratives coincide with the official state historical policy. The deportation of 1944 played a key role in determining ethnic identity for Chechen and Ingush groups. This article examines the process of construction and evolution of the local historical narrative about the deportation of the Chechen and Ingush peoples in Soviet and post-Soviet period. The analysis shows that the existing way of commemoration and interaction with the memory of the tragic events in the Republics are different. In the Chechen Republic a low level of institutionalization of memory of deportation can be observed, and in-family form of sharing remains the dominant approach. The authorities of the Republic actively displace the memory of the deportation from the memorial and public space, linking it with the political crisis in the 1990s. However, they continue to use the narrative to mobilize citizens. In the Republic of Ingushetia, on the contrary, the appeal to memorials, as well as the consolidation of the status of trauma as a key historical event, is institutionalized and generally shared, supported by both the authorities of the Republic and the public.

In October 2021, the first school on digital epigraphy was held by the Sefer center. During the school, important questions were raised by the participants: how digital methods can help researchers, where they can be applied, what limitations may arise when applying them. At the seminar part, the participants got acquainted with some techniques for data processing - crowdsourcing, visualization, and data analysis using R programming language, regular expressions. During the lecture sessions at the school, such questions were actively discussed, as in which aspects of epigraphy and for what purpose it is appropriate to use certain digital methods, as well as what are the prospects for this direction. The use of digital methods was considered when working with visual, textual data, mapping. Digital methods can help a researcher both at the stage of data collection and primary processing and during academic analysis. However, the use of digital technologies is only a tool though effective, and the main task of the researcher is to ask proper questions that can (or cannot) be answered using one method or another. These and other issues and considerations are briefly summarized in this paper as a summary.

Anton Shekhovtsov is a political researcher who deals with far right movements and leaders, mainly in Europe and in post-Soviet countries. This book presents a comprehensive and multifaceted analysis of ties between Russian officials and institutions with Western, predominantly European far-right politicians and intellectuals. Shekhovtsov points out that these ties have strengthened after 2004. He examines in detail the various scenarios and strategies the Russian sides resort to  from simple lobbying-like activity to more sophisticated schemes, such as electoral reports made by "independent" commissions consisting of the representatives of European far right parties and movements. Shekhovtsov gives the historical perspective, showing the interaction with the European far right even in the times of the Soviet Union. He presents the story of pre- and post-war plans to take advantage of the rightwing activists in Europe, mainly in Germany. The book by Anton Shekhovtsov is an interesting contribution both to our knowledge about the foreign policy of authoritarian regimes and to the field of international relations and Russian foreign policy.