Structural obstacles and limitations of the import substitution in the Russian economy in the context of external shocks
Abstract. In the context of increasing external shocks, the unresolved problems of the import substitution of recent years have been turning into significant obstacles that hinder the movement towards the technological sovereignty and stable social-and-economic development. The most significant obstacles are the structural problems of the development of the real sector of the Russian economy - technological, reproductive-sectoral, and institutional ones, which have not found their solution throughout the market transformations. To overcome these obstacles and limitations, a reorientation of the structural policy of the state towards achieving success in the import substitution is proposed. The purpose of this study is to identify obstacles and limitations of the import substitution in the Russian economy in the face of external shocks, as well as possible ways to overcome them. To achieve this purpose, methods of structural and comparative analysis, graphical and tabular display of its results, economic and statistical interpretation of data from open official sources of information were used. The results of the study are aimed at creating structural conditions for solving key problems of the import substitution development in the long term, taking into account the prospect of increased external shocks.
Keywords: import substitution, obstacles and limitations, external shocks, economy, structural policy, technological sovereignty
Highlights:
♦ the main obstacles to the development of the import substitution associated with a negative structural shift in the Russian economy during the period of market reforms were identified;
♦ the technological limitations of the import substitution development in the Russian economy were shown;
♦ the institutional traps of the import substitution associated with the growth of the import dependence of the basic sectors of the economy were identified;
♦ the directions of the structural policy focused on the development of the import substitution were formulated.
Sergey A. Zhironkin, Ekaterina A. Taran - National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk, Russia