The paper examines the relationship between the individual components of officially registered non-payments-overdue accounts receivable of enterprises, tax arrears and wage arrears. The unsteadiness of the series of these values is revealed. A number of hypotheses about the causes of non-payments and their impact on the development of the country's economy are considered. It is concluded that the main long-term factor of the continuing accumulation of debt (non-payments) in the Russian economy is the insufficient development of the institutional environment.