Comparative analysis of Eastern and Western European investment activity models

Abstract

Investments and investment activities play a leading role in the development of modern countries. The outflow of capital from the country and the decline in investment activity are the factors hindering its development in the short and long term. The influx of capital and expansion of investment activity, on the contrary, is a stimulus for economic development. Investment activity is influenced by many factors, the least studied of which are historical prerequisites, motives, incentives, goals, sources of financing and other aspects of investment activity. The analysis of investment activity as a modern economic phenomenon needs to be supplemented with historical and economic analysis for identifying the characteristics of investment activity in different regions of the world. This, in turn, will make possible to establish the historically established features of investment activity in Russia, understand the relationship of motives and incentives for investing in Russia, and formulate recommendations for improving investment activity in Russia. The purpose of the study is to identify patterns of investment activity formed during the period of Antiquity and the Middle Ages in three regions of the world: the East (using the example of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Babylon, Ancient China and Ancient India), Western Europe (using the example of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and Medieval Europe) and Russia. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were solved: the historical and economic prerequisites for the formation and development of investment activity in the states of the Ancient East, Antiquity, European countries and Russia were identified during the Middle Ages, modern and contemporary times. Differences were established in goals, sources of financing, actors, objects and other aspects of investment activity. The research methodology includes the method of historical and economic research, the historical and retrospective method, the method of historical and economic reconstruction, the method of comparative analysis, elements of a system method and others. The novelty of the research results lies in the substantiation of the historically established Eastern, Western European and Russian models of investment activity.