Economic ideology and economic policy in the mirror of narratives

Objective: to study the relationship between economic ideology and politics in the context of Russian post-Soviet reforms using a narrative approach in analyzing the role of ideas and interests in shaping economic policy.

Methods: historical and economic analysis of the evolution of economic policy and ideological trends in Russia; machine analysis of the texts of 134 thousand scientific articles (1992–2023) to identify the dynamics of ideological trends; qualitative analysis of narratives through the prism of their practical implementation.

Results: the article reveals the reasons for the discrepancies between the proclaimed goals and the results of the 1990s liberal reform. Using the example of the unsuccessful fight against inflation, the author shows the difference between the proclaimed policy goals (corresponding to the liberal ideology) and its actual results – high inflation, contrary to the liberal ideology. The key theoretical narratives accompanying the reforms are analyzed: “shock therapy”, “the invisible hand of the market”, “Washington consensus”, “privatization and effective owners”, “monetarism and money supply control”, “theory of comparative advantages”, “the state as an effective owner of development institutions”, “mobilization economy”, “national projects”, “modernization and innovative economy”, “economy of the Russian civilization”, “cultivation of institutions”, and “environmentalism as an element of geopolitical strategy”; their transformation from neoliberalism to dirigisme and etatism is shown. It was revealed that the actual policy was determined by compromises between interest groups, rather than ideological attitudes.

Scientific novelty: the author proposes an original interpretation of the reasons for the failures of liberal reforms in Russia through a conflict of interests and the inadequacy of imported ideologies. It is proved that the import of ideologies without taking into account the local context leads to systemic contradictions.

Practical significance: the results study allow for a better understanding of the mechanisms of economic ideas and theoretical narratives influencing the actual policy, which is important for assessing the proposed reforms and their potential consequences.

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