The Two Main Macroeconomic Theories of Keynes and Friedman and Their Use in the Economic Policy of the World’s Major Countries and Russia

The article analyzes two approaches to developing economic policy, Keynesian and monetarist. The main ideas of J. Keynes and M. Friedman and their applicability as the basis for designing an anticrisis economic policy are considered in a historical context. It is shown that over the 1970s–1980s Friedman’s ideas made it possible for the American economy to overcome a period of long-term stagnation, which enabled the United States to regain leadership in the innovation sphere and ensure the sustainability of economic development in subsequent decades. It is also shown that during Margaret Thatcher’s prime ministership, monetarist ideas brought UK remarkable success. At the same time, it is stated that in the modern complex economy of a global nature it is not enough to use any one theory and it is required to adopt different ideas. Actually, no unified universal synthetic theory has been created so far. Returning to the problems of the Russian economy, the author clearly proves that a significant part of the Friedman’s ideas could successfully be used in the process of structural and technological modernization of our country.