New «Old» Institutionalisation of Money Circulation in Post-Soviet Russia
Authors:   Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kirdina-Chandler Svetlana 
Published: December 2021

For the study of the institutionalization of money circulation in post-Soviet Russia, an institutional-evolutionary approach was used, based on the ideas of Thorstein B. Veblen and Joseph A. Schumpeter, as well as John R. Commons. The object of the analysis was the institutional structures of money circulation, which are the most significant from the public interest point of view. The paper compares the results of the institutionalisation of money circulation in the USSR and post-Soviet Russia. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of transitional periods. In transitional periods there was a rejection, filtration, and correction of institutional forms of money circulation in terms of their compliance with public goals to develop the country's socio-economic system. The following features of the institutional design of the Soviet model are identified: first, the presence of a single-link, a hierarchical, centralized banking system with the concentration of the entire payment turnover system in the State Bank of the USSR; second, the existence of a "three-circuit system" of money turnover with cash for servicing the turnover of consumer goods, non-cash money for industrial consumption (investment) and convertible rubles for international export-import payments; third, the division of money turnover was supported by the creation of special banking institutions for servicing each of them, controlled by the State Bank of the USSR - the "State Labour Savings Banks", "Stroybank" and "Vneshtorgbank", respectively; fourth, the institutions of money circulation were an internal element of the system of the planned national economy of the USSR and were organically integrated into it. The institutionalisation of money circulation in post-Soviet Russia is characterized by the presence of new (albeit previously represented in the history of our country) institutions and has the following features: first, a two-tier banking system, the upper level of which is represented by the Central Bank of Russia, and the lower level is represented by banks and non-banking credit institutions; second, organizations of various forms of ownership operate in the sphere of money circulation, while state forms of ownership are playing an increasingly significant role; third, there is a stock exchange where stocks, bonds, currencies and other instruments of the money market are traded. The official exchange rate set by the Central Bank of Russia is based on stock quotes; fourth, the Federal Treasury operates to mediate the movement of budgetary funds. An additional element of control over their use is the introduction of "treasury accounts", to which budget funds are transferred and from where they are used for the implementation of state development programs. As a result, one can see that the process of institutional renewal of money circulation in post-Soviet Russia is associated with the return to a number of institutions characteristic of pre-revolutionary and Soviet history. Therefore we can talk about a new "old" institutionalisation of money circulation in post-Soviet Russia. The main vector of changes in recent years is associated with the increasing recognition of the social significance of this sphere, serving the public interest. A forecast has been made that state control over the processes of money circulation in modern Russia is likely to increase.