The evolution of the theory and practice of state regulation of addictive goods markets

The article discusses the evolution of state regulation of the market of addictive goods and services in the context of the periodization of ideas about the role of the state in the economy in general, in historical and economic era, in the formation of the species of addictive goods markets. In the age of mercantilism the sphere of regulation of addictive goods markets was not the subject of attention of economists, but in practice there is an idea of the need for state protectionism. During its criticism in the framework of the theory of physiocrats and in the beginning of the classical school, alcohol products become a subject of research of economists, as the major source of budgetary funds. The abolition of serfdom, the development of private industrial activity, changing the farming tax system to the excise tax, indicate the penetration of traditional liberal principles in domestic economy in the field of addictive goods. The German historical schools focused on the active role of the state with respect to national peculiarities of the economy, found support and development in the works of Russian scientists that support the alcohol and tobacco monopoly. In the Soviet period the principles of Marxist political economy were formed on the basis of total nationalization of production and distribution of allowed addictive goods. The margin school is characterized by psychological interpretation of economic processes in the field of addictive goods under the conditions of perfect competition, in particular the role of consumers in the pricing. In the period of theoretical struggle of monetarism against keynesianism, which coincided with the drug boom, there were areas of economics of crime and punishment, drugs. In the neoliberalism period the antiprohibitionist movement was formed in the field of addictive goods. Changing some postulates of neoclassical economics by neo-institutional economic theory contributed to the development of empirical and theoretical studies of addictive consumer behavior, a new interpretation of the role of state structures in the main markets of addictive goods. The author justified the feasibility of attracting neo-institutional theory as a framework for their regulation, based on the calculation and comparison of the socio-economic result of implementation of the existing policy alternatives. It is proposed to combine the study on economics of drugs, alcohol products, tobacco products, gambling and other goods and services with similar consumption patterns into the economy of addictive goods. It is established that studies of evolution of the economic concepts of government regulation of addictive goods markets, and measures for their practical implementation in the 15th-21st centuries have great creative potential for understanding the essence and peculiarities of state regulation in modern Russia in institutional and evolutionary sense.