Home – Home – Jornals – Region: Economics and Sociology 2018 number 4

The specificity of the existing socio-economic situation and development prospects of municipalities and regions in Russia is largely determined by the legal environment. It means, on the one hand, lawfully established implementation and limitation procedures for all activities of natural, legal persons and authorities, and, on the other hand, legal culture and mentality, the state of law and order, public sentiment and moods in its locations of displacement. In general, a spatially mediated legal environment is formed under the strongest impact of the «federal presence» phenomenon which implies actual centralization of federal governance in a decentralized state. The cases involving deliberations of the region’s legislative initiatives in the State Duma, «federalization» of the regional legislation and power redistribution between the federal, regional, and municipal levels discussed in the article are vivid illustrations of the point above. The legal field of the activities of Russian municipalities is, in fact, completely federal: a list of responsibilities and legislative powers is closed, types of municipal entities are unified, activity arrangements and resources for local governments are established by the federal laws. Despite the numerous innovations constantly introduced by the Russian federal and regional authorities into the real life of a local government, its every hotspot remains almost intact. The spatial fragmentation of the single national legal space is proposed as the most important characteristic of the socio-political and socio-economic heterogeneity of Russia’s territory. The article discloses the prevalence of the main types of such fragmentation within the country. We critically evaluate suggestions on perspectives to solve the country’s spatial development problems primarily by organizing the local «points (areas) of growth». The greatest concentration of peculiarities and problems of the regional and municipal systems functioning within specific conditions of the Russian legal field is typical for the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF). This macroregion should become a particular target of state governance through specific regulatory and legal tools. The bulk of the AZRF development issues are common to every region of Russia and thus are shaping up inside the national legal environment. Within the context of the authors’ views on Russia’s spatial fragmentation, the article considers policy solutions for using a new type of special legal regime, mainly «development support zones» in Arctic territories.

The article analyzes approaches to defining the structural policy and its regional aspects. We estimate the impact of shifts in employment and production branch structure on the macroeconomic indicators in macroregions (federal districts) during intensive economic growth and stagnation. We predict how macroregions will develop along the new structural and investment policy. The main hypothesis is that focusing on regional priorities of structural and investment policy and their implementation can ensure an increase in economic growth rates, including reaching the ones expected in the Presidential Decree of May 7, 2018, by 2024. The research methodology is based on shift-share analysis and estimated diversification factors. We use interregional structural-dynamic models to forecast macroeconomic parameters of regional development. Estimating the factor contribution to GRP dynamics and manufacturing industries shows that the national factors take a dominant lead for the period of high growth rates. During stagnation, the contribution of regional factors increases. An analysis of manufacturing industries structure does not reveal any correlation between change in the level of diversification and economic growth rates, neither under economic growth conditions, nor in stagnation. Structural shifts in development are accompanied by a decline in the technology level of production at low growth rates. The article shows that proportions of spatial industrial distribution of investment accumulated in the economy since 2000, formed by an established raw-material export economic model, do not correspond to the priorities in the country’s contemporary development. We define the priorities of structural and investment policy which, when implemented, will ensure growth rates exceeding the world average by 2024 and sustained economic growth in the future.

The article considers the problems of spatial statistics when using big data. It provides examples of changes in foreign practice and the author’s practical joint implementations of statistics and big data. Regional statistics databases are to transform. For instance, a transition will be made from unsold goods price statistics to cash register data. Calculation results on economic-mathematical models are also expected to change. The article concludes with a need to accelerate big data mainstreaming into modeling and Rosstat functions so that model estimations and official statistics would become more useful in practical and research applications.

The article views working-age citizens moving to other localities with a perspective on social mobility, by which we mean raising educational attainment, improving economic well-being or advancing in careers compared to the relevant characteristics of the generation before them. Migration is a powerful social elevator: seeking to improve their economic and social status, people are motivated to change place of residence. This study's objective is to estimate the impact of relocation on social dynamics by basing on the regular all-Russian sociological survey «Person, Family, Society». An analysis of the territorial mobility of strata based on three equilibrium criteria - material, socio-professional and subjective - showed that the middle class is the least mobile one. Members of the lower class exhibited the most intensive territorial mobility. People most often relocate for family reasons, and this migration is most typical of the lower class. A hypothesis that any territorial mobility has a positive impact on socio-economic growth relative to the previous generation is not confirmed. However, moving to study does accompany intergenerational education and employment mobility, whereas relocating for family reasons, other things being equal, reduces a person’s chances of surpassing their parents in economic well-being and educational attainment.

The article examines public diplomacy in the relationship between citizens of Primorsky Krai and the boundary regions of China, revealing a peculiar nature of its formation and development. The «soft power» mechanism, which contributes to strengthening cooperation, is studied using the data from mass online surveys conducted in Primorsky Krai. This study elaborates on the idea of measuring soft power characteristics. It is concluded that Russia is currently lagging in terms of designing new mechanisms to augment its influence with soft power. We provide examples of possible new uses for this mechanism.

This article is devoted to regional investment policy in its most difficult and interesting case when it is inclined to change established development path of the region or municipality. The major goal of this study is to show creative, innovative potential of the investment policy from below, under which we understand principally plans and intentions of local entrepreneurs, which can independently or with public support invest in the new lines of development. Although their investment potential is far below in comparison with that of big corporate structures and federal investment institutions, investment funds of federal programs and resources of other actors of investment policy from above, the quality of the investments according to their newness, innovativeness, ability to realize new development path in a city or even region with inertial trajectory can be higher. Developing this idea, authors suggest a broader understanding of the regional investment policy, where they include not only traditional - with big financial resources - but also small actors and vote for the necessity to link closely investment policy and policy to support entrepreneurship. Departure from «path-dependency» in this article is understood as a change in old local specialization. It is difficult to expect an immediate change in the old regional specialization under the contemporary pressure of globalization. More realistic is to see the prospects of new micro-specialization at the level of separate cities and settlements as the result of pioneering business projects initiated by the SMEs that open new paths for the local economy. And only afterwards, at the expense of other entrepreneurs following the initial success, or as the result of a common firm that guessed a new direction for local development transforming into a gazelle company and assuming the export orientation in its activity, it is possible to fix the features of new local specialization into regional specialization.

In modern conditions, more and more attention is paid to interregional cooperation, joint implementation of major investment projects, infrastructure development projects, and demand generation. We set out to reveal the theoretical aspects of interregional cooperation, to justify the mechanisms, methods, and forms of interregional cooperation, to present the features and priorities of the «Ural Constellation - Arctic Vector» international project. The main hypothesis of the study is that typical and universal mechanisms of interregional cooperation are not always effective in terms of partnership between regions with different economic structure and different levels of socio-economic development. We have proved that poly-format connections between the centers of regions, urban agglomerations and small municipalities, between the centers of production, transportation and distribution of complex, highly cooperative supply, through the coordinated implementation of federal, interregional, intermunicipal and intersubject projects come to the fore. The article shows that the evolution of ideas about the role of interregional relations to achieve a synergetic effect at the macroeconomic level convincingly proves the relevance of regional interaction mechanisms for the development of the country’s economy. The study presents the mechanisms, methods, and forms of interregional partnership. Using the example of the «Ural Constellation - Arctic Vector» project, we justify the mechanism of a uniform market strategy based on regional cooperation and specialization. The authors have shown that the piecemeal delivery of separate regions to a unified financially reliable Yamal market does not improve the performance of any of the competing regions. The article presents the expected effects of creating a uniform market strategy within interregional cooperation, which include the provision of Arctic projects with domestic competitive products and technologies; the growth of industrial production in the «Ural Constellation» area and, as a result, regional economic growth; the impetus for innovative development in industrial enterprises associated with new products development, increasing R&D costs and rising demand for domestic technology; the development of the civil segment of the defense industry for the Arctic; the formation of new integration mechanisms.

The article describes the prerequisites of strategic partnerships for science and technology in Russia and Siberia and the problems with which thei establishment is associated. We show how the RAS organizations and universities partner with enterprises and authorities in the interests of developing scientific and technological activities and training personnel in the regions and what types of strategic agreements they enter. The article reveals the features of cooperation within interdisciplinary and innovative projects of the Novosibirsk Scientific Center (NSC) SB RAS to increase science efficiency in Russia and to develop the Siberian economy for the next 20-30 years. We provide examples of projects in biomedicine, IT, geology, physics, technology, and chemistry initiated by the NSC institutes, where academic institutions are expected to arrange partnerships for interdisciplinary research. It is indispensable to cooperate with common use centers and engineering centers at different stages of creating fully integrated technologies. The management of the SB RAS and the government of Novosibirsk Oblast have examined and selected most ambitious priority projects to formulate updated development concepts for the SB RAS and the NSC (Akademgorodok 2.0). Considering that this scientific center is to become part of the first area in Siberia where science, education and industry are focused in one spot, we propose a structure for the main organizational elements of the management scheme of the federal scientific, educational and technological center in Novosibirsk Akademgorodok. The article offers to assess the strategic partnership performance from the standpoint of completing integrated innovative projects.

The article discusses a set of science and application questions on the sense and foundations, content and consequences of the structural reforms of municipal space. They are of interest to the academic community due to the raised structural organization changeability that during the whole post-Soviet period didn’t just experience separate situational changes but repeatedly became an object of intensive and universal reorganizations purposefully implemented by the state (at the federal and regional levels) that had contradictory character of progressive-reflexive actions following a «reform - counter-reform» scheme. These conclusions can be made thanks to a retrospective analysis of massive transformations in local self-government territorial organization that took place in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. We explain the reasons for conducting three opposite by their essence and cardinal by their consequences quantitative-structural reorganizations during such a short period, what criterion requirements (economic, financial, legal, etc.) motivated the choice between rapidly alternating versions of spatial configuration and what the results of those changes turned out to be. Russian processes of spatial reforms in the system of local self-government are compared with similar foreign practices. The article explores the principal possibility and availability of theoretical foundations to formulate and solve the problem of rationally defining the spatial scales of municipalities (municipal space configuration), as well as elaborates on the conceptual approach, criteria and methodic basis to assess the premises and efficiency of the structural reforms of municipal space.

The article considers theoretical and practical aspects of defining recreational rent at the regional level. We underline how important it is to establish the tourism industry for the social and economic development of the regions. We substantiate a need to study recreational rent as a source of self-financing for the tourist industry. An analysis of investment to the tourist industry in the Republic of Buryatia shows the contribution of the travel business to the total amount of investments. It is noted that currently the concept of «recreational rent» has no universally accepted definition. We put in place methodical approaches to the estimation of recreational rent and determine its size in the price of travel services. The article conducts calculations and ranks the regions in the Republic of Buryatia by the value of recreational rent based on the developed method. Besides official statistics, we use expert assessment data. Two groups of districts have been singled out, reflecting the peculiarities of recreational resource use. Based on the rent approach, we find the cost of recreational resources in the Republic and consider possibilities of introducing certain rent payments, including a resort fee, following the recreational rent definition. The article concludes that the calculations might be used in practice and further research needs to be done in this direction.

The results of the EU referendum showed profound spatial differences in opinion across the UK. The referendum showed clear divides among voters by age, education, employment and social class - and by area. Spatial inequality has been widely discussed as a major factor explaining these differences. Currently, the EU Structural Funds are one of the key sources to mitigate economic development inequality in British regions. Structural Funds have been an important part of the UK regional policy environment for 40 years, and without EU co-financtng, it is likely that much of the regional and industrial policy intervention would have been largely abolished. The regional distribution of EU funding in the UK ensures that poorer regions receive higher per capita shares of the Structural Funds. The loss of EU Structural Funds is one consequence of Brexit and involves important questions as to whether and what kind of domestic regional development approach will take their place at different levels of government. The loss of EU Structural Funds will significantly affect the less-developed regions of the UK, as well as the former industrial regions that were major beneficiaries of EU funding. The policymaking process for territorial development needs to be reconsidered. For over 30 years, the primary motivation for UK regional policy has been almost exclusively one of economic efficiency, framed in terms of improving the contribution of regions to national growth and competitiveness. Brexit can also be viewed as an opportunity for a substantial transformation of policy and governance that begins to rebalance the most unequal developed country in Europe.

The article describes the main stages of establishing a school of thought for regional and municipal management which include working on the problems such as substantiating economic independence of regions, the context of the system of regional preplanned research, using a program-oriented approach to managing the region’s economy, integrated regional planning, regional markets creation, defining competitive positions of regions, consistencies of interactions between economic entities in an area, as well as the principles of managing the regional socio-economic processes. We propose primary directions to conceptualizing regional and municipal management under the conditions of today, i.e. consideration for economic interests and contradictions in regional economic development, interactions between government agencies and market structures, an institutional system to manage regional development, and an assessment of regional economy management effectiveness.