The article includes the review of the structural changes in the Russian economy in 2005-2016 compared to some developed and developing countries. The authors suggest an institutional explanation to the slow-up of the structural changes in Russia. The modelled value added structure was constructed in terms of the primary income groups (hidden wages and salaries included) and the relationship between the gross operating surplus behavior and investment behavior for three macro-sectors of the Russian economy: commodity-driven business, large non-commodity-driven business, SME. It is shown in the article that the growth of the surplus share in the value added structure resulted into the investment growth only in the commodity-driven macro-sector. In the large non-commodity-driven sector the investment share declined under the surplus share growth. In SME sector the investment share was growing under the surplus share decline and wages and salaries share growth (including hidden wages and salaries). The authors suggest better taking the specific differences between the institutional macro-sectors into account when shaping the structural policy agenda.