Path dependence in explanatory models of economic thinking: Practice of publications in business media

Based on the sample of publications in federal business periodicals for the period from 2000 to 2024, the article examines the specifics of explanatory models used in the information discourse and applied in the press for the essential characteristics of economic processes. Content analysis and discourse analysis show that the explanatory models used in the media are fully consistent with the path dependence effect, that is, they record the dependence of current and future development on past experience, and also appeal to this experience regardless of its correspondence to the real state of economic picture. The article outlines the prospects for using explanatory models in the information discourse, including the inertia of using outdated economic approaches, the coexistence of conflicting stereotypes, as well as the strengthening of semantic empty constructions that record only the external form of the explanatory model without relevant empirical subject. A conclusion is made about the strengthening of the path dependence effect in explanatory models of the media, and, consequently, about the increasing subjectivity in the presentation of economic information