Home – Home – Jornals – Region: Economics and Sociology 2012 number 4

The paper considers the principle tasks, priorities, trends, and sources of modernizing the Russian socio-economic system and its real sector. We show the peculiarities of modernization of the spatial structure of the economy; dynamics and efficiency of some economic activities; and the fact that peculiarities of regional economic systems such as the state and structure of fixed assets, sectoral production structure, and receptivity to innovations are the important factors of the modernization. We also describe the different approaches to regional policy aimed at modernization, and display a necessity to have a balanced regional policy.

The article covers the aspects of the Russian informatization in its spatial dimensions. The spatial disproportions of informatization are considered as a particular theme of scientific research and a subject of the governmental policy on interregional leveling. The author analyzes a methodical approach to the estimation of regional differences in informatization, and the best practices of estimation and comparative analysis available in relation to this sphere.

The paper analyses the European technique for assessing efficiency of public administration - the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) - the most widespread in Germany at present, and can conclude that this technique could not be regarded neither an universal remedy against any problem experienced by public authorities nor a remedy which can bring immediate and cardinal improvements in governance. The application of CAF should become a regular instrument for analyzing and promoting the efficiency of government institutions.

The paper shows evolution of the Siberian development. Over a hundred years five large-scale projects were implemented here. The creation of the Siberian branches of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences could be regarded as the sixth mega-project. All these projects built a resource base of other projects and regional production complexes. These projects served a purpose of the national security and made Siberia a region which can attract labour forces; each mega-project gave a powerful incentive to national progress. Today these projects are of great importance as their lessons help us aware and realize an idea of building «an airbag» to minimize negative consequences of the world financial crisis. The paper also identifies the problems of a new long-term Arctic and Arctic Shelf Project; why several projects of the XX century failed fully or partly; it assesses the demographic and migration elements of the Siberian development; and describes the projects aimed at modernization of the regional agricultural complex and such spheres as science and education.

The author describes a scope of innovation activities carried out by the subjects of the Russia Federation, and presents his instructive conclusions which could be useful in shaping elements of both Russian and regional innovation spatial policies.

The paper analyses factors of the agricultural development in the Belgorod Oblast and specific features of its local agricultural pattern. A special focus of the paper is the regional policy aimed at diversification of rural economy patterns, stimulation of modernization of large private corporations and making such corporations liable for social and ecologic obligations. The experience of the Belgorod Oblast has shown a special social mission of such diversified rural economy pattern where multiple forms and instruments of coordination of different interests could build a mutual liability for vital aspects of rural communities.

The paper analyses the dependence of people's life expectancies and medical and demographic indicators in regions. A demographic situation in the Vologda Oblast shows a rise - its death rates down, birth rates and life expectancy up. Our variable-based calculations of the life expectancies in the region were made in assumption of downs in mortality and ups in death rates.

The paper shows the roles which foreign capitals play in building knowledge economy in Russia, the Siberian Federal District, and Kemerovo Oblast. We can state that most investments coming to domestic economy from abroad go to the industries directly connected with the producing, dissemination, and consumption of new knowledge, and the largest share of the foreign investments made into knowledge-intensive industries is comprised of credits.

The paper considers issues of assessing efficiency of the projects on developing mineral resources and issues of coordination of the long-term governmental and private investors' interests in Russian- Chinese cross-borders cooperation. The authors made such assessment by scenario analysis based on their own technique. Two case studies on the mineral projects for the Trans-Baikal region show that such factors as availability of investor, compliance with the Russian legislation, and current demand for manufactured products by no means always can guarantee Russian national interests and "symmetric gains" from the Russian-Chinese collaboration.

The paper analyses the resource potential of the Novosibirsk Oblast and conditions, factors, and forms of its involvement in economic turnover. We calculated values of the solid commercial minerals economically important for this region. Our economic assessment of the regional resource potential allow the conclusion that, in principle, there is opportunity to build both new and up-to-date mining enterprises (with refinery run and processing of minerals) and local or large regional centers for economic growth.

The task is to find the technique for empiric study which could allow identifying how a number of factors, including a technology of planning, can impact the long-term efficiency and effectiveness of municipal strategic plans. We present the results of our study where reliability of municipal strategic plans was a criterion of such assessment.

The paper analyses the opportunities and limitations to introducing innovations into environmental management, basic trends of ecologization of production associated with introducing innovation economic development principles to solve environmental problems, and principle difficulties in the practical introduction of innovations into the environmental protection. We propose new financial tools to promote the attraction of investments into long-term and capital-intensive environmental projects in conditions of the economic crisis. Using a case-study for the Lower Angara region, we test such approach based on innovation principles.

The world shipbuilding industries has started its cycle expansion since 2003, and China has become one of the leading country whose enterprises reached the indicators overtaken the Korean and Japanese ones. The interests in the Far East and Asia-Pacific region concerning our shipbuilding mostly relates to availability of our cooperation with enterprises of neighboring countries. Moreover, to take advantage of such cooperation, we need both modernized operating shipbuilders and new ones oriented to our future specialization and prospects for international economic cooperation.

The paper analyses what factors motivate the researchers of the Siberian scientific community to participate in competitive tendering carried out by the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation. Motivation is considered as an element of the human resource management specific for an organization operating within a special sector such as science. The paper presents the results of the sociological survey made for the institutes of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.