Institutional Component of the Industrial Policy of the Russian Federation: Features and Problems of Formation

Abstract

Introduction. For Russia, the development of an effective industrial policy is a response to the challenge of maintaining competitiveness and increasing the productivity of the country’s industrial complex. The study aims to identify and systematize the prerequisites and limitations of industrial development in the context of the institutional component of industrial policy. Theoretical analysis. We have considered the historical transformation of views on industrial policy, identified resource-industry and institutional approaches to industrial policy, and justified their differences. Based on the literature review the specific features of the institutional environment of Russia have been summarized: path dependence of previous development, weakness of institutions, institutional traps, distorting market signals. Empirical analysis. The analysis of statistical information made it possible to substantiate that over the past decades, Russia has deepened its raw material specialization, while there are some positive changes regarding the quality of the institutional environment. The analysis of the features of the institutional component of industrial policy made it possible to identify the following turning points: the creation of the Presidential Council on the modernization of the economy and innovative development of Russia; the adoption of a law on industrial policy; the modification of the system of central executive bodies and the improvement of their interaction; creation of infrastructure of the Industrial Development Funds. At the same time, a number of restrictions on the institutional environment have been identified. The most significant are: the formal and contradictory nature of the strategic planning of industrial development, duplication of powers and contradictions between formal institutions of state power, the creation of a system of “incomplete” regulation. Results. The analysis has revealed that effective institutes for the development of industrial policy have not yet been formed, despite the permanently changing institutional environment. The thesis on situational and institutional component of the fragmentation of the existing industrial policy has been confirmed.