Finance and credit ISSN 2311-8709 (Online) ISSN 2071-4688 (Print) ECONOMIC BASES OF SYMBOLIC GOODS FUNCTIONING Aleksandr N. SUKHAREV Abstract The article discusses the nature and mechanism of functioning of symbolic goods, their types, functions properties, and structure. <...> Symbolic goods provide individuals with higher social status, structure social behavior and establish subordination between individuals. <...> Symbolic goods have two important properties: social significance and conditional redundancy (conditional irrelevance). <...> The paper highlights the problem of overproduction of symbolic goods and functioning of symbols — institutional traps. <...> The study states that the society, when producing symbolic goods, produces and reproduces a certain kind of institutions. <...> Symbolic economy is a system of economic relations arising in the process of creating, sharing, exchange and consumption (functioning) of symbolic goods. <...> Production of symbolic goods may be associated with creation of rents (symbolic rent). <...> The author discloses the main idea and substance of economic symbolic capital. <...> Economic symbolic capital constantly reproduces adequate economic relations (institutions), which ensure the functioning of the reproducing production system. <...> Accumulation of such capital contributes to Финансы и кредит Issues on economics Issues on economics the effectiveness of social economic mechanism and acts as a factor of social and economic development. <...> The conclusion is that symbolic goods are a special category of goods that matter only in the society and do not meet the necessary vital needs of individuals. <...> Buzgalin A.V., Kolganov A.I. Rynok simulyakrov: vzglyad skvoz’ prizmu klassicheskoi politicheskoi ekonomiki [The simulacra market: a look through a prism of classical political economy]. <...> Demidova M.V. Sotsial’no-filosofskie aspekty upravleniya simvolicheskim kapitalom [Social and philosophical aspects of symbolic capital management]. <...> G., Sivovolov D.L. Transformatsiya sovremennoi ekonomiki: problemy upravleniya simvolicheskim kapitalom [Transformation of modern economy: problems of symbolic capital management]. 3 (627) – 2015 Finance and credit Вопросы экономики 63 Regional’naya ekonomika: teoriya i praktika = Regional economics: theory and practice, 2007, no. 1, pp. 28–34. 6. <...> Menger K. Osnovaniya politicheskoi ekonomii [Bases of political economy]. <...> Mestnikov A.A. Vlozhenie simvolicheskogo kapitala kak <...>