| Summary: | Today small business is undoubtedly an important part of national economies all over the world. Problematics of small business development turned to one of the most popular areas of study for the Russian researchers in the 1990s. After the market reforms started, a large part of population believed that small business would become a source of wealth and prosperity as for them personally so for the society as a whole. This opinion united academic researchers and practitioners-entrepreneurs, so the activities of the latter gave the empirical material for the first. The main economic functions usually attributed to small businesses are the following: innovation, combating monopolies and maintain a competitive environment, combating unemployment and creating jobs, increasing income of the general population and, consequently, the expansion of consumer demand, increase the professional activity, the development of entrepreneurial skills, spirit, and traditions. Social role of small business is considered as an important institution of civil society and the kernel of the middle class formation as a basis for socio-political stability of the state. In the earlier research of the author it was concluded that in today Russia small business does not perform properly the functions attributed to it by economic theory. Its contribution to innovation is modest. Its antimonopoly role does not fit the theoretical position. The role in job creation is noticeable but it is not accompanied by the role in income creation and by the appropriate indicators of business productivity. The aim of current research is to identify and to explain the specifics of small business in Russia in context of economic theory and social processes based on statistical and factual information.
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