POLITICO-ECONOMIC PHENOMENON OF THE RUSSIAN SCHOOL OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT

Abstract

The long-standing research traditions of Russian economists in matters of studying the evolution processes of economic ideas and economic life in the context of their past and present investigations are examined in the paper through the prism of the politico-economic phenomenon of the Russian school of economic thought developed between the last third of the XIX and the first third of the XX century. It is noted that the outstanding Russian academician L. I. Abalkin, by introducing holistic conceptual judgments about the realistic and humanistic background of the Russian school of economic thought characterized it largely as a result of the rethinking by the domestic political economists of the values of the German historical school, Marxism and early (orthodox) neoclassicism. Sharing the views of Leonid Abalkin, the authors studied and summarized the most significant innovations in the creative heritage of predecessors and current representatives of the Russian school of economic thought, including specific features of their definition of the subject of studying political economy at the level of “national economy” and “social wealth”. Special attention is paid to their commitment primarily to systemwise and interdisciplinary methods of analysis, the principles of ethics, morality and social justice. It is concluded that since the Russian political economy, including the Russian school of economic thought, has always been distinguished by the desire to substantiate the mechanisms for economic life transformations and evaluate the role of “human capital” in the economy, it is the scientific duty of Russian economists to continue and develop this tradition ensuring the de-ideologization of scientific research.