The Public Policy to Support High Growth Firms: Is a New Ideology of Industrial Policy Born?

The article discusses a new branch of industrial policy — support of high growth firms (HGFs, gazelle firms). Methodologically, the article is the first in Russia analysis of the international literature on the state programs of stimulation of the HGFs. The period, starting with the first publications on this topic in 2005–10 and ending with modern editions, has been covered. The primary purpose of the article was the establishment of the place of the policy of support for the HGFs within the framework of industrial policy, as well as to establish the changes that this new type of policy makes to economic regulation in general. Significant differences between the policy of support for HGFs and public policy on small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as differences from innovation policy, have been revealed. We proved that in the stimulation of the HGFs is particularly acute the generic and, at the same time, the most controversial feature of industrial policy — its selectivity, i.e. targeting specific economic actors, rather than the whole economy.