The Mesolevel Objects Identification: Russian-Language Publications Analysis

Abstract

The history of mesoeconomic research has more than a decade. It can be argued that in the plane of theoretical understanding of the problem by researchers, including Russian-speaking authors, a certain basic understanding of what the meso level is and what is the subject area of the mesoeconomic research. According to the dominant concept, the meso level is the space where the institutions are formed. But there is a problem of the practical application of the developments in mesoeconomic theory, and the problem of identifying meso- economic objects. The most common is the principle of spatial-branch identification: the objects of mesoeconomics in this case are called regional and branch economic complexes. However, it seems to contradict the evolutionary-institutional understanding of mesoeconomics. The spatial-branch principle, following the neoclassical logic of using microeconomic foundations and aggregating larger economic objects (individual group) by simply summarizing the qualities and properties of microobjects, excludes the institutions formation emergent effects. The article gives an overview of the ways of identifying mesoeconomic objects offered by Russian-speaking authors: clusters, hierarchies, platform markets, the most promising of which is the idea to identify the platform markets as meso-level objects.

Keywords

• mesolevel
• mesoeconomics
• institutionalism
• industries
• clusters
• regional economies
• institutes
• platform markets