A synopsis of one of the open lectures of the outstanding Russian economist, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Economics, Professor Pavel Aleksandrovich Minakir (1947– 2023), delivered by the author at the Far Eastern State Scientific Library (Khabarovsk) at the end of 2016, is published. In this topic from the series of lectures «The Complex Simplicity of Economics. Myths and Realities: The World, Russia, the Far East» examines the processes of interaction between economic and political aspects of social activity. The flaws of the market economy and politics, the mutual influence of political and business structures in the choice of economic actions and decisions are analyzed in detail. The relationship between the degree of guardianship by the state and the political system over the economy and the efficiency of the economy itself is assessed