This article is a review of the book by V. Tanzi Pravitelstvo i rynki: menjajushchajasja rol gosudarstva [Government versus Markets: The Changing Economic Role of the State] (Moscow: Gaidar Institute Press, 2018. 584 p.). This is a book by a leading international expert on tax policy and its impact on the economic development, a former Head of the Office of Budget Affairs of the International Monetary Fund. Tanzi considers the economic role of the state in the 20-21 centuries in the historical and geographical context, and notes what the state should do or try to do in the economic sphere including in the near future. The review emphasizes that the book can be considered a kind of a guide on the analytical division of the market and the state, and also on the development of a strategy for overcoming budget crises of our time.