ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the evolution of state business relations in Russia in recent years from the point of view of the 'limited access orders' concept developed by Douglass North and his co-authors. It describes the practical steps taken by the Russian government to improve the investment climate in 2010-13 and tried to find an answer to the question of whether this turnaround was a manifestation of the 'New Deal' in economic policy or, on the contrary, the imitation of changes devised to cool off the voices of protest in the business community. The 2008-9 crisis demonstrated that the 'power vertical' created in Russia is inefficient. Even before the crisis, this system had only worked when signals from the top level met the interests and expectations of the people at lower levels of the bureaucratic hierarchy. The chapter considers the consequences of the global financial crisis, its impact on the distribution of rent flows, and changes in the policy towards business.
