Журнал институциональных исследований (Sep 2017)

Mesolevel as Object of Research in the Scientific Economic Literature of Contemporary Russia

  • Andrei I. Volynskii

DOI
https://doi.org/10.17835/2076-6297.2017.9.3.036-049
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 3
pp. 36 – 49

Abstract

Read online

The idea of distinguishing the meso-level of economic analysis, filling the gap between macro and micro levels, is by no means new. It has not found a proper recognition and development in the work of representatives of the economic mainstream, but, on the contrary, steadily attracts the attention of the supporters of the heterodox directions of economic science. In this article, we propose a retrospective analysis of the development of the meso-level idea of economic analysis done by Russian economists. Three main directions of the development of the theory of mesoeconomic research are singled out: 1) a systematic approach: understanding the meso-level as a process of intra-industry interactions between economic agents with the goal of harmonizing the economic system; 2) Regional-spatial approach; 3) Theoretical approach of methodological institutionalism, developed within the framework of interdisciplinary intersections of economics and sociology. It is noted that the selected directions do not contradict and, on the contrary, complement each other. The development of the theory of mesoeconomics in the paradigm of the Kleiner-formula, which equates the object of mesoeconomics research with the space of formation of institutions and the institutions themselves, opens broad prospects for the development of the meso-level of economic analysis within the framework of institutional research. The practical need to separate the meso-level as a separate hierarchical stage of the economic structure, traditionally consisting of macro- and microlevels, is explained both by the need to expand the methodological tools of economic science and practical necessity, since it is assumed that meso-level is the space for the formation and consolidation of innovative solutions needed to ensure Growth.

Keywords