History

The Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (before 1991 known as the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union) was established in June 1930 as the national leading center of economic thought. The first director of the Institute of Economics was V. P. Milyutin. At different periods of time, the Institute was headed by M. A. Savel’ev, B. L. Markus, P. A. Khromov, K. V. Ostrovityanov, V. P. D’yachenko, I. D. Laptev, K. N. Plotnikov, L. M. Gatovskiy, E. I. Kapustin, L. I. Abalkin and R. S. Grinberg. The current director of the Institute is M. Yu. Golovnin.

Academician, Dr., Prof. Konstantin V. Ostrovityanov, the Director of the Institute of Economics in 1947-1953	Corresponding Member of Academy of Sciences, Dr., Prof. Evgeniy I. Kapustin, the Director of the Institute of Economics in 1971-1986	Academician, Dr., Prof. Leonid I. Abalkin, the Director of the Institute of Economics in 1986-1989 and 1991-2005

From its foundation, the main research areas of the Institute of Economics included theoretical and methodological problems of the political economy, issues of distribution of productive forces, economic problems of industrial and agricultural development, and history of the national economy. The scientific research closely related to practice: the Institute prepared recommendations on planning of productive forces location, as well as on the national economic balance and methods for fixed asset valuation. In the 1950s, problems of levers for national economic development (e.g. issues of economic accountability and cost effectiveness) started to play an important role in the Institute’s scientific research. In the 1960s, the Institute initiated a series of fruitful discussions on economic theory (namely, commodity-money exchange, the law of value, price formation, improvement of administrative mechanisms, optimal functioning of the economy), and, therefore, contributed significantly to the development of economic science and to reforms implementation.

The historical building in the center of Moscow (Volkhonka street, 14), which housed the Institute of Economics in 1930-1983 (photos were taken from https://pastvu.com and https://blgi.ru/rubrics/arhitektura)

In 1980, the Institute of Economics was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour for achievements in the development of economic science and training of research specialists.

The Institute of Economics influenced the formation of a wide range of promising research areas, and several specialized scientific organizations were founded to develop those areas.

Academician, Dr., Prof. Oleg T. Bogomolov, the Director of the Institute of Economics of the World Socialist System (later – the Institute for International Economic and Political Studies) in 1969-1998

The Institute of Economics of the World Socialist System of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was founded in 1960 as a major research center with specialization in economic, political and foreign policy problems faced by socialist countries. In 1990 it was renamed to the Institute for International Economic and Political Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In the 1990s and the early 2000s, the research staff of the Institute tackled the problems of complex analysis and the generalization of experience of socio-economic and political transformation in the Central and Eastern European countries, in Post-Soviet states, as well as in China, the DPRK, Mongolia and Vietnam. In particular, the research concerned the issues of influence of above-mentioned processes on the system of international relations and the role of post-socialist countries in European and world politics.

In June 2005, the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences decided to reorganize the Institute of Economics and the Institute for International Economic and Political Studies, merging them into one scientific organization – the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The principal goal of the Institute is to carry out fundamental and applied research on various problems of socio-economic development, as well as training of highly qualified scientific personnel.