This volume comprises materials shedding light on different directions of impact economic and political institutions exercise on economic development. Considered are conceptual and methodological principles of institutional analysis, as well as their applications to particular development issues. Wide range of theoretical concepts (from neoinstitutional theory and its applications to political markets and corporate governance to economic history interpretations by Karl Polanyi) is addressed to assess their explanatory potential. Significant attention is paid to practical issues of transition economy, including institutional conditions for formulation of efficient economic policy, asset concentration and rising role of the state in contemporary Russian economy.