The Drivers for Investment Activity of Business: Does the Theory Explain the Russian Practice?

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of shortage of investments in fixed assets of Russian enterprises (non-financial companies). Theoretical perspectives on the importance and determinants of investment activity of business are opposed to domestic practice. Thus, the provisions of the main investment theories are systematized, the norms of savings and savings in Russia are analyzed in comparison with the developed countries and other BRICS countries; the profile of domestic investment business (industry structure of investments in fixed capital, dynamics of investments by types of economic activity, depreciation and renewal of fixed assets) is considered; the factors hindering the implementation of investments identified by surveys of entrepreneurs are interpreted. The study showed that the causes of the protracted investment crisis in Russia correlate with the provisions of all the basic theories, but to reveal them more accurately allows post-Keynesian one with its emphasis on the phenomenon of uncertainty and the problem of investment financing.