Home – Home – Jornals – Region: Economics and Sociology 2008 number 1

The author presents his concept for technological basis of regional economy considered as a set of major industrial products produced in this region. The author shows the role which technological systems play in the innovation development in regions; describes theoretical grounds of how such systems emerge, progress and disappear; and also models their dynamics in the form of ordinary nonlinear differential expressions. The case-study for the Novosibirsk Oblast displays feasibility of the innovation development express-analysis made by identifying a set of technological bases which compose regional economy.

The paper identifies major types of meso-economic systems. Due to the multi-dimensional approaches to the cluster classification, we can find out basic peculiarities of knowledge and technologies applied and industrial and management structures in the different types of clusters; can understand the ways of how firms could contact industrial and technological environments and can identify interrelations between knowledge characteristics and an economic growth as well. The technique proposed by the authors allows classifying different meso-economic systems according to their diversity, their functional, institutional and social links and the nature of the innovation and technological processes applied.

Our analysis of the statistical data over 2000-2005 shows positive correlation between centralization of fiscal expenditures and GDP dynamics in most units of the Russian Federation. Nevertheless, not any increase in federal subsidies stimulates an economic growth because, among others factors, regional fiscal investments rather than centralized ones influence more positively on a speed of a regional growth. To increase the part of federal fiscal money transferred to conditional investment projects in regions could be considered an optimal strategy of intergovernmental relations from the point of view of higher economic growth rates.

The paper analyses different variants of the distribution of responsibilities between governments and the issues concerning enlargement of financial base for local governments. We consider local government here as a political and socio-economic base of any contemporary country. The tendency to decentralize government

The paper shows present practice of applying some assessments to validate the efficiency of spatial location of economy in Russia which can not be regarded appropriate but are very popular with validating different and even contrary point of views. The author stresses that such practice has tendency to grow. Why such assessments are being applied is the question which the author analyses and concludes that such practice does exist because the rhetorically formulated objectives and measures of regional policies substitute for a proper scientific approach, and this phenomenon is directly connected with the tendency to concentrate more and more financial and management instruments of regional policies in the federal center.

In instable institutional environment, prototypes of future institutions are different actors

The factors which slow down or stimulate the development and promotion of innovations into regional economies and the factors which stimulate the development of regional economies are considered by the authors as those influencing on macro-, meso- and micro-levels. The proposed approach has been applied to the analysis of factors influencing on the implementation of the Power Electronics Program. The authors conclude that in ideal situation, any innovation policy should be system-based and targeted, i.e. should contribute to neutralizing negative factors, and therefore slowing down ones, on all said levels and should promote relative stimulating factors.

The paper considers the features of how technopark structures form and develop in conditions of Russian economy. We revealed that management mechanisms being insufficiently elaborated and the lack of institutionalized procedures for assessing the efficiency of units within such innovation systems lower the effective function of the innovation systems. The authors analyze the approaches to the management mechanisms applied in Academgorodok, Novosibirsk City in the sphere of elaboration and management of development programs for innovation enterprises and renting the real estates and equipment or services, and conclude that basic elements of effective management in the Technological Park, Academgorodok, Novosibirsk City have been already built as the program objectives, goals and undertakings proved to be in balance with all the units of the Technological Park. Nevertheless, the development of a monitoring system is required to trace the dynamics of the situation in the Technological Park and to react properly.

Analysis of an expanding banking system in Russian regions shows a fragmentary character of present banking market; only 15% of Russian regions have a relatively advanced banking system. In most regions, the fact that a corporate sector is financed by a private one has been observed. In some regions, there are structural disparities between credit and deposit operations. Our regressional relationship analysis shows that availability of banks in a region correlates with deposit operations, and shows no correlation with credit ones. This means that not all banks conduct credit retailing contrary to deposit operations. In all regions except some, the problem outstanding debts of corporate and retail sectors could be regarded tolerable. The individuals

The development of the Kovyktinsk Gas-condensate Field in Irkutsk Oblast would have positive ecological impact  on the region because the provision regional industries and population with gas supply would promote the substitution dry natural gas for power-generating coal. At the same time, exploitation of this field will immediately affect the environment and mostly the regions where the field are to be developed. To find a compromise

The paper considers the assessment techniques for ecological damages from energy-saving technologies such as the assessment of aborted damage for ecologic and economic environments according to an advanced technique; the market tools and mechanisms provided by Kyoto Protocol and the assessment of ecologic and economic effects according to the world

The paper summarizes the foreign and home practices of how communities participate in discussion of projects of ecological importance. The author shows identical and distinguishing features of public participatory procedures in different countries. The author also presents some real examples of how public opinion does influence on the assessment of projects in Russian regions, and the role of new legal instruments which they play to improve national legislation in the sphere of public participatory decision making. The ways of how world

The paper analyzes how energy balances as the management tools could be applied by municipal units, and shows why their introduction into municipality

One of the bases for transfer from a paternalistic policy to partner relations is creation of a participatory system of decision-making for Aboriginal peoples in the filed of natural resource management, including their engagement in provision the companies