Path Dependence Problem: The Evolution of Approaches

Abstract

On 27 September, 2014, the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov MSU celebrated the 60th anniversary of the dean Alexander Auzan in the form of a scientific discussion. The subject matter of the symposium was “The institutional issues of the long-term socio-economic dynamics”. The symposium was attended by more than 400 people including I. Abankina, T. Abankina, A. Aksakov, L. Alexeyeva, A. Arkhangelsky, Y. Beletsky, A. Dolgin, R. Enikolopov, S. Glazyev, A. Gnedovsky, A. Isaykin, R. Kapelyushnikov, G. Kleiner, B. Lapidus, A. Levinson, P. Medvedev, A. Nechayev, R. Nureev, L. Ovcharova, V. Polterovich, K. Rogov, A. Savatyugin, S. Shapiguzov, B. Skvortsov, G. Tosunyan, K. Zimarin, D. Zimin, N. Zubarevich. Elvira Nabiullina, a graduate of the Faculty and the head of the Faculty’s Board of Trustees, opened the symposium. Alexander Auzan presented the keynote speech where he addressed such topics as path dependence, modernization as an issue and as a hypothesis, the role of informal institutions and universities. The discussion was moderated by Ilya Lomakin-Rumyantsev, the vice-president of the Faculty’s Development Council. The path dependence problem is presented in the article from an interdisciplinary perspective. First insights into this problem appeared in the writings of Russian philosophers of the late XIX - early XX century, long before the American economists received the Nobel Prize for framing of the problem. Later the problem was specified in quantitative studies, followed by some versions of explanations. The new political economy raises the question of what can be done to cope with the problem and why certain hypotheses have failed. Individual studies of the author and his colleagues are primarily related to the role of universities.