Home – Home – Jornals – Region: Economics and Sociology 2015 number 2

The European North of Russia (ENR) is considered as a socio-economic area with a wide range of the economic and population settlement organizational forms. Its Arctic zone holds 6.7 times more people than the non-arctic area. Negative migration dynamics is observed. As compared to the 1989 Soviet census, by 2013 the population of the macro-region had decreased by almost 1.5 million people. Spatial economic policy in the ENR is conducted in the same manner as in already explored areas. The ENR's main strategic direction is to preserve and modernize its organizational forms on the basis of scientific and technological achievements and to improve internal and inter-regional relations. The ENR can serve as a testing ground for promotion of innovative experience in the development and deep processing of natural resources and new approaches to the territorial organization of production in a challenging natural environment.

Basing on statistics published by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), the article examines the regional performance of the Presidential Decrees of May 7, 2012 that stipulate measures to increase wages in the public sector, as well as to create and modernize 25 million high-performance workplaces. It is shown that the documents adopted by the government in pursuance of the Decrees underestimated the level of regional differentiation in Russia, local budgets and the specifics of manufacturing, which has led to negative consequences in some subjects of the Federation. The article justifies the need to adjust the share of liabilities attributable to regional budgets due to a slowdown in economic growth and to account for the imbalance that appears with a sharp increase in the deficit and public debt. It is demonstrated that spatial determinants highly differentiate the quantity of high-performance workplaces in regions and their share in the total number of jobs. In order to meet the set targets, it is necessary to take measures to create and modernize high-performance workplaces with regard to the specifics of manufacturing in regions.

The paper analyses the quality of strategies of socio-economic development for regions of Russia. It also considers the perspectives opened by these strategies being available for regional research, namely, for evaluating the appropriateness of optimistic expectations and the reasonability of regions' economic growth forecasts. The article creates a growth forecast for Russia's economy from isolated regional forecasts, estimates its basic parameters and represents it as an outcome of «collective prediction» of regions that is to be verified. This empirical study is based on the available strategies of socio–economic development of the subjects of the Russian Federation up to 2020–2030. The method includes the following steps: collection and systematization of strategies' forecasts; transformation of expected outcomes of strategies into compatible indicators and their consolidation across federal districts; comparative analysis of the consolidated forecasts with the all-round forecast of Russia's economic development, made on the basis of a multiregional input–output model. It is revealed that optimistic growth forecasts for the GRP may often be overestimated and not coordinated with investment forecasts. In order to evaluate the achievability of forecasted regional economic development indices, we used a spatial input–output model that is capable to produce a forecast in view of resource constraints, interregional and intersectoral interactions on the scale of the national economy. Moderate forecasts are inherent mostly in highly developed regions. Excessive optimistic projections over a balanced forecast may serve as an indicator of interregional competition for investment. Scarcity of labor is evaluated by comparing consolidated regional demographic forecasts with the official demographic forecast by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service.

The article gives a theoretical and methodological justification for a complex approach to institutional maintenance of a region as a subject of social and economic development in a federal state. The complex approach uses a multi-faceted methodology of regional research that includes subject-functional, system, organizational and strategic analysis tools. This paper proposes a hypothesis that the targets (target benchmarks) for the basic subjects of social and economic development of a region which define its functions are potential and real institutions, and that the concept and methodology identifying these targets can be used to create target institutions and institutes. The author's methodology for ordering institutional maintenance of regional development is designed. Novelty and validity of the proposed methodology for institutions and institutes formation are provided by systematic and functional approaches applied to a region as a subject of strategic development in an integrated manner, and the targets (interests) of the basic elements in a regional system accounted on multiple levels. The author makes recommendations on institutional maintenance ordering using the matrix method.

A comparative analysis of workforce productivity data in Russian regions is carried out. The paper discovers possibilities to strengthen regional factors inducing a rise in workforce productivity. It presents results from the analysis of the dynamics and interregional differentiation of workforce productivity based on statistics published by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) and estimates of workforce productivity levels in regions and aggregate types of economic activity. Interregional differences in workforce productivity levels exhibit a tendency to decrease. An assessment of hourly productivity by types of economic activity revealed the most significant interregional differences in mineral production, construction, and agriculture. The article provides results from the comparative analysis of existing jobs in Russia in terms of their industrial distribution, workforce productivity, and salary levels. The paper gives a critical overview of the method to determine high-performance workplaces developed by Rosstat. We show that the growth rate in the number of high-performance workplaces calculated with this method is loosely related to the dynamics of workforce productivity and real income of the population. Directions to promote regional factors that increase workforce productivity suggested in government decrees are examined. Basing on interregional migration data in Russia, we show enabling and constraining effects of measures designed to enhance labor mobility.

The Russian economy has entered a systemic crisis due to the exhaustion of quasi-market model. In the course of history, countries overcame it through a revolutionary transition to the «razdatok» economy. However, regularities of market-razdatok global development give the possibility of an evolutionary transition to an open access regime by integrating market and razdatok institutions. We use the Razdatok theory and build a periodic table of the institutional development of Russia. The article contains a comparative institutional analysis of the two transition periods based on quasi-market. We give a forecast of how a «contract razdatok», which is the basis of the institutional matrix of an open access regime, can appear in Russia and assess the prospects for introduced institutional norms and rules.

The article identifies the dynamics and main trends of modern social, ethnic and demographic processes in Kamchatka Krai. Crucial socio–demographic and ethnic problems of the region (depopulation, psychological experiences of native peoples, and their poor adaptation to the market economy) are defined as typical for the Arctic regions of the Russian Far East. The authors have specified the tasks of the preventive migration policy in the region. They have made recommendations on how to regulate the employment of the indigenous population of Kamchatka Krai and preserve their ethnic and cultural identity.

Innovation activity in Russian regions is considered in two aspects: as creation of innovation on the one hand and use of innovation on the other. The article provides a method of ranking Russian regions in terms of innovation development. To seize the regional specialization on different aspects of innovation activity, we build two innovation development indices: the one of creation and the other of use. Each region obtains a numerical estimate of its level of innovation development. On the basis of these values regions are ranked; consequently, the ranking makes it possible to determine which regions are the most developed ones, and which are lagging behind. This article focuses on analyzing those Russian regions that are the leaders of innovative development. We assess the stability of their position and leadership. We have found that innovations are created in the same leading regions, while they are used in different ones: the sample of creators varies little in the period under review (19 regions), whereas 41 regions can be called users and the structure of their leading group changes from year to year. Ranking of territories allows us to compare the regional levels of innovation development, identifying strengths and weaknesses of particular innovation systems, which can be used in developing a national innovation policy.

The article presents an authors’ interpretation of the resilience and vulnerability of the territory in a competitive economic environment. A promising method to classify possible failures and other destructive situations is creating vulnerability maps of the territories. A conclusion is made based on the sociological survey conducted by the authors: in order to reduce the vulnerability and increase the resilience of the territories, it is necessary to maximize competitive cooperation between the territories. As one of the mechanisms to raise the resilience of the territories, the authors propose a program of agro–industrial clustering. It is shown that the resilience of the territories directly depends on the institutional environment for business in the region, the mobility of the economy in this territory, and the reputation of the territory in a competitive economic environment.

The article presents the effects of BAT-based (best available technology) legislative changes in the environmental activities of companies. It proposes a hierarchical grouping of the most significant factors determining the level of environmental and economic efficiency of BAT, their interaction, and meter type. Efficiency of BAT was analyzed from the standpoint of the impact of natural regional factors with concrete examples from the coal and oil-and-gas industries as the most relevant environmental stakeholders. The paper summarizes the studies that suggest replacing existing technologies with BAT to reduce harm caused to natural complexes in Siberian coal-mining regions and involve techniques assessing the prevented damage. It is concluded that the specificities of natural and regional background undoubtedly affect the amount of the reduction and the efficiency of BAT. It is possible to avert the maximum damage at the coal-mining companies of South Yakutia, the Far East, and the Kuznetsk Basin. Whether the enterprises in these sectors achieve project efficiency of BAT largely depends on whether the basic elements of ecological and economic management are available and properly used, especially the EIA process and monitoring. The author makes recommendations on the use of sustainable development indicators to measure the impact of natural factors on the regional ecological and economic efficiency of BAT.

Over the last 15 years Kaluga Oblast has established itself among the leading regions with a favorable investment climate. Regional models of investment cooperation were highly appreciated by Russian and foreign investors. The article discusses the main advantages of the investment policy in Kaluga Oblast, as well as its priorities for the nearest future. It also describes the factors impeding the acceleration of investment. It is concluded that the experience of Kaluga Oblast can be possibly used by other Russian regions in attracting investments.

Changes to the Budget Code of the Russian Federation that accompanied the Federal law dd. 27 May 2014, which states that a considerable part of rural settlements' powers is redistributed in favor of municipal areas, assigned some budget sources of revenue to municipal areas. Earlier, these sources were transferred into the budgets of rural settlements. Taking into account the changes in the federal legislation, the author contemplates if it makes sense to preserve the existing form of local self-government in rural areas. The article analyzes the factors preceding the latest stage of the reformation of rural local self–government and evaluates possible consequences for the economy of rural settlements. Studying the case of Moscow Oblast, we consider how spatial factors influence the possibility that rural settlements may exercise their vested powers. It is shown that changes in the federal legislation practically liquidate the two–level system of local self-government, leaving the most insignificant powers within the competence of rural self–government institutions. The article proves that the carried out reforms are generally dictated by an objective inability of the majority of rural settlements to render high–quality municipal services. Due to the economic and social situation of rural settlements, regional authorities will pursue selective policy of reauthorization either by assigning additional powers to the richest municipalities or by delegating more powers to regional and district levels.

The article deals with trends in the development of strategic management theory as follows: a transfer from analysis of the industry to analysis of business ecosystems, strategic business networks as the most important mechanism to increase companies' competitiveness in knowledge economy, a growing role of innovative entrepreneurship when competitive advantages are temporary and under dynamic external environment, and a greater attention to the values factor as the core element of a corporate strategy. Having summarized these trends, we propose an approach to strategy formulation focused on achieving a balance between creating values for customers and maximizing values (profit) for the company. The importance of balanced efforts aimed at creating values for key stakeholders is shown in the cases of Russian companies.

BRICS is a strategic economic group of five emerging economies, namely: Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa. BRICS has come up as an influential group. The group has bearing effect on the global economy and economic issues. The group accounted for 27 percent of the global GDP, 40 percent of the world total population and about 30 percent of the land. In addition, the group further constituted 18 percent of the world total FDI inflows. Intra–BRICS trade amounted to US $ 228 billion. This statistics itself indicates how significant and strategic group the BRICS is. With these vital strategic facts, the present paper analyzes the role and contribution of BRICS to the global economy. The paper suggests some guideposts for enhancing the existing role of the economic group in the coming years of the 21st century.

The article demonstrates that the most important reason for the slowdown and stagnation of economic convergence in East Germany is the weakness in terms of research and development and innovation. It analyzes the interrelationship between industrial and innovative development in the East German federal states since 1990. The article shows how the East German industry sector and its R&D activities looked like in the late 1980s and which transition it had undergone in the course of privatization. The industrial development of the new federal states after 1990 is analyzed. The paper reveals structural shortcomings in East Germany's economy and considers their impact on the progress in R&D.

The article characterizes the agenda of the 54th ERSA Congress, which took place on 26–29 August 2014 in St. Petersburg. The author analyzes general statistics on the participation, innovative search of the local organizing committee, peculiarities of the major Russian schools and institutes of regional science, and major results of the Congress significant for Russian scholars.