Research On Russia’s Industrial Policy Adjustment In The Post-crisis Era

Russia is both a transitional country and an emerging market economy, its industrialpolicy is essentially a kind of government behavior, the country supports thedevelopment of certain industries in some aspects, the focus is the improvement ofcompetitiveness of specific industries (or enterprises), the purpose is to encourage thedevelopment of industry and promote the upgrading of industrial structure.Russia’s industry policy was abandoned in the period of Yeltsin and approved inPutin’s period. In Putin’s second term as the president of Russia,"rigid industrial policy"of Soviet Union period was replaced by "flexible industrial policy". During the post crisisperiod, Russia entered a critical phase of transition from an energy economy toinnovation economy. Both the strategy of economic modernization in the Medvedevperiod and the new industrialization strategy in the Putin period need the support ofnational industrial policies. In both international environment and national environmentof Russia, the basis for industrial policy to play a role is experiencing significant changes,which bring about new requirements for industrial policy. Severe impacts of theinternational financial crisis proved the necessity of intervention through nationalindustrial policy. Russian government believes that, effective implementation of theindustrial policy can not only provide high quality life for Russian people, but alsoensure Russia’s position of major power in the global economy. Therefore, thegovernment made significant adjustment in industrial policy during the post crisis period,and put forward a new industrial policy under the background of "new industrialization",namely, innovation policy, structure policy and investment policy become important partsin the post crisis period.Based on the analysis of Russian industrial policy with combination of the theory ofeconomics, the author analyzes the direction adjustment of Russia’s industrial policy inthe post crisis period, and offers a detailed analysis of contents of innovation strategy,structure strategy and investment strategy in Russian industrial policies and theirimplementation effects. This paper contents8chapters, Chapter1is the introduction;Chapter2-7is the main body; the conclusion and revelation are in Chapter8. The maincontents are as follow:The first chapter mainly introduces background of the research and its significance, literature review and evaluation, research ideas and methods, innovation andshortcomings.The second chapter is mainly an overview of Russian industrial policies, includingdefinition, content, objectives and role of Russian industrial policies. Theoretical basisfor the adjustment of Russia’s industrial policies in the post crisis period is proved fromthe perspectives of market failure theory, the theory of advantage of backwardness,structural transformation theory, innovation and national innovation system theory andnational competitiveness theory, and makers of Russian industrial policies and their toolsand means of implementation are introduced.The third chapter introduces the evolution of Russia’s industrial policies. DuringYeltsin period, the Russian government did not develop clear and feasible industrialpolicies. During the period of Putin, a series of industrial policies were implementedthrough the establishment of a stabilization fund, in this way, industrial policy becomeone of Russia’s economic policy tools again,"growth without development" is the biggestcharacteristic of Putin’s industrial policies.The forth chapter discusses the adjustment of industrial policies in Russia. Theinternational financial crisis causes huge impacts on Russian economy, leading to a sharpdecline in output and increase external dependence, the Russian government andacademicians have to rethink about the country’s economic growth mode. The mainfocus of debate is the adjustment of industrial policies based on the strategy ofmodernization, the rules of WTO and the background of new industrialization, and theadjustment direction is innovation policy, structure policy and investment policy.The fifth chapter analyzes innovation strategy in Russian industrial policies duringthe post crisis period from the perspective of the development of high technologyindustry, nanometer industry is used as an example to analyze the role of hightechnology in the development of new industries, energy industry is used as an exampleto analyze the transformation of traditional industries, innovation input and outputabilities is investigated to study the effects of industrial policies on innovation ability inhigh tech industry. During the post crisis period, industrial policies of innovationeconomy from the Russian government play certain promoting role in innovativedevelopment. But in the background of high oil prices in international market, Russia isfaced with a lot of barriers during its transition from energy dependent economy. So far, both Medvedev’s economic modernization plan and Putin’s "new economy" concepthaven’t achieved substantial progress.The sixth chapter analyzes the structural strategy in Russian industrial policies fromthe perspective of industrial structure upgrading, and studies the influence of industrialpolicies on industrial structure upgrading through analysis of evolution of industrialstructure, upgrading of industrial structure, structure upgrade of service industry andchange of foreign trade structure. During the post crisis period, Russia’s policies makegreat progress in industrial structure optimization and upgrading, but the short-termeffect on the improvement of industry structure is not obvious, and the long-term effectneeds further observation. Since energy, raw materials export-oriented model ofeconomic growth has not been fundamentally changed, the role of Russian industrialpolicies on the improvement of trade structure is quite limited.The seventh chapter makes an analysis of investment strategy in Russian industrialpolicies during the post crisis period from the perspective of infrastructure investment.On the basis of contents and measures of investment policy, the author analyzes structureof Russian fixed asset investment and foreign investment, and investigates on theinfluence of industrial policies on infrastructure construction. During the post crisisperiod, Russian infrastructure investment has direct influence on promoting economicgrowth, as for infrastructure industry that features a large amount of investment, longcycle, low rate of return; national industrial policies are urgently needed.The eighth chapter is about the prospect of industrial policies adjustment in Russia.Because the adjustment of Russia’s industrial policies in the post crisis periodexperiences only a short time, the short-term effect is not obvious, and the long-termeffect needs further study. The Russian government and academic circle have reached aconsensus on the direction of industrial policies adjustment, but the prospect still hasmany uncertainties. Some experiences of Russia’s industrial policies adjustment,including some problems, are important for the formulation and implementation ofChina’s current industrial policies.