Abstract:

the paper analyzes current changes in the social nature of a modern state from the position of law and economics; special attention is paid to the reform of the pension system in Russia and the growth of such a social group as the precariat; a hypothesis has been proposed that identifying justice with efficiency (understood from the position of the Kaldor-Hicks criterion), adherent to «the Chicago school», dominates in Russian public administration, which leads to an increase in the wealth stratification of the population and maintains a high level of inequality; finally, the paper investigates the issue of nature and purpose of the state itself and their transformations that can be observed in the recent times.