The overall purpose of the project is to investigate the emergence and further development of the Russian financial markets’ institutional structure between 1990 and 2008 and how this development was influenced by informal practices applied by economic actors. The project will be based on empirical investigations by applying interdisciplinary methods of economic history and sociology. Douglass North’s institutional theory and the Russian-British sociologist Alena Ledeneva’s concept of informal practices will underpin the research methodology of the project.
The following research questions will be examined in the project:
1. The emergence of the Russian financial market and its institutions between 1990 and the 1998 financial crisis; 2. The institutional framework of the Russian financial market between the crises of 1998 and 2008; 3. The influence of the economic and legal policies of the Russian state on the development of Russian financial market; 4. The importance of informal practices prevailed in the Russian financial market and applied by its actors during the observed period.
The project will contribute to new knowledge about one of the most important sectors of the Russian post-Soviet economy. The results of the research will also be of practical importance for foreign investors by increasing insights on how the new markets institutions work in contemporary Russia. The study will use empirical sources in the form of interviews and questionnaires carried out in Russian financial institutions such as stock exchanges, financial and investment companies (brokerskije kontory), banks, pension funds, insurance companies, state institutions and business newspapers and journals.