Home – Home – Jornals – ECO journal (ECOnomics and industrial Engineering) 2018 number 10

In the article, the geographical space of Russia is considered in the light of the latest political and socio-economic processes. The author focuses on the geographicalaspects of the spatial development of Asian Russia, primarily on the assessment of its northern and southern borders situation. From one side the borders are limited bythe Russian Arctic, and in the south by the border with Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China. It is noted that the risks of climate change, the change in the political and economic course of Russia’s southern neighbors are insufficiently assessed in the strategic documents of the Russian Federation. The key merits and demerits of the mega-project “United Eurasia - Trans-European Belt Development” are considered,and some aspects of the Northern Economic Corridor Program adopted by the leaders of Russia, Mongolia and China are analyzed. Conceptual proposals for the preservation of the geographical space of Asian Russia are formulated.

The problem of economic integration in the Great silk road project and the Siberian economic corridor is relevant not only for border regions falling into their impact zone, but also for individual municipalities. Analysis of municipal economiesin the border areas of the Republic of Buryatia revealed extremely low starting conditions for their integration into the international division of labor. Meanwhile there are significant reserves in the region to increase their economic opportunities. The author proposes some concrete measures at the local, regional and Federal levels to let those municipal economies increase the competitiveness and realize theirchance for integration into the trade and economic chains of the external market, including the EAEU and the GSP.

Foreign investment in Buryatia is analyzed through the activities of foreignand joint ventures. Comparison with other industrial regions of Eastern Siberia shows less importance of investing from abroad for GRP of Buryatia, prevalence of individuals among business organizers, less concentration of production, archaic structure by type of activity with the predominance of trade and construction.Industry is represented mainly by logging and mining. There are no activities related to modern technology. Such an industry structure hampers the flow of new technologies and the growth of human capital. The main donor countries for investment are China and offshores. Specificity of Buryatia is the registration of a significant number of Mongolian investors. Prospects for the growth of foreign investment are associated with the expansion of resource exports andthe development of the economic corridor China-Mongolia-Russia. It requires a purposeful policy of attracting investments into the technological areas of communications and transport and increase in the number of joint ventures to enlarge the share of profits left in the territory.

The author analyzes the condition of the power industry of the Republic of Buryatia.The article highlights the main problems of the industry, the solution of which allows usto determine the main directions for further development of the industry. The necessity ofcommissioning new energy facilities for increasing the energy security of the republic, theefficiency of the energy system and solving ecological problems related to the protectionof Lake Baikal is grounded. The necessity of development and implementation of neweffective programs for updating equipment of power plants, reconstruction of electric andheat networks is shown. The necessity of the introduction of the heating capacities ofUlan-Ude CHPP-2 for increasing the efficiency of the energy system, solving the issuesof city development is substantiated.The tasks of power engineers arising in connection with the protection of Lake Baikal are considered.The required amount of electricity and capacity for transferring heat supply to the Central Ecological Zone of the Baikal Nature Territory for electricityThe necessity of ecologically acceptable regulation of the Baikal level with attractionof all capacities of the electric power industry of the Baikal region is shown, which shouldbe taken into account in the development of forecasts of the development of the energysystems of the Baikal region, as well as changes in the “Basic rules for the use of waterresources in the reservoirs of the Angara cascade of HPPs”.It is proposed to consider alternative power supply options for Mongolia instead of building hydropower plants in the Selenga river basin, including the construction of a 500kV transmission line from Gusinoozersk to Mongolia.The variants of power supply in the north of the Baikal region with the constructionof the Mokskaya HPP are considered.

The modern trends in the system of higher education of the Republic of Buryatia concerning the consequences of its massification are analyzed in the article. The author focuses on the crisis moments, the unpreparedness of higher education in peripheral regions to become the basis for the formation of the knowledge economydue to the decline in the quality of education, qualitative and quantitative discrepancyof the graduates to the real needs of the regional economy by the profile and level of education. It is necessary to find own ways to develop the higher education in the region by providing unique opportunities for students. The main conclusions are based on the author’s sociological researches on the education quality and the labour market in the Republic of Buryatia.

The article analyzes the development of the economy of the Republic of Buryatia in 2007-2017. Next, the results of forecast calculations of the development of the republic for the period up to 2021 are presented and analyzed in two versions - basicand optimistic. Forecast calculations were performed using the dynamic input- output model of the economy of the Republic of Buryatia with fuzzy parameters developedby the authors. The paper shows that under favorable macroeconomic conditions anda sharp increase in investment in fixed assets, a significant acceleration of economicgrowth in Buryatia is possible. Specific projects that will accelerate economic growthin the republic are discussed.

The problems and trends in the development of rolling stock on the motor transport complex are revealed. The arguments and objections of the transfer of motorvehicles to gas engine fuel and electric traction are given, the strategy of switching to electric vehicles is noted. Data have been obtained showing that electric vehicles are now more economical than cars equipped with internal combustion engines. In the last decade, a rapid electromigration has started in the world, so it would be morecorrect for Russia to take a course not on transferring transport to gas engine fuel, but for electric traction. Gas would be more effectively used to generate electricity and heat. The progress in the sphere of batteries is to finally and irrevocably send the internal combustion engines to the «dump of history».

The analysis of the development of the forest industry from the second halfof the 1950 years to the present time in the context of 15 subjects of Russia, the territory of Western and Eastern Siberia. There are three periods, which differ in the rate of development of forest industries, the level of production indicators, the number and severity of problems. On the basis of regional features and tendencies of development of forest branches, and also at the account of the purposes, tasks and forecast indicators of “Strategy of development of a forest complex till 2030 year” prospects of development of a timber industry complex of the Siberian regionsare defined.

The most important feature of China’s policy in national rare-earth industry is the creation of technological chains “from raw materials to high-tech products” withorientation on domestic demand only. Russia now faces the problem of choosing theway of how to develop the rare earth industry, and in experience of China, can be useful. In particular, this is relevant because of the beginning of the Tomtor niobiumrare-earth deposit development. However Russian approach should be flexible and combine various instruments of industrial and trade policy. It would be difficult to introduce the instruments of such a policy used in China because of the national specifics and different starting conditions for building a rare-earth industry in Russiaand China. Russia should enter into global chains of high-tech products based on rare earths, and the first is a stimulation of domestic demand for high-tech products and components. China’s experience seems to be useful there.

He article is given the analyses of the legal framework and practice of forming and using budget funds at the local level. According to the author, in Russia the potential of local finance is not used in full, which is due to the existence of stablestereotypes in the field of municipal budgetary policy related to the use of programbudgeting, an increase in the level of budget transparency, the stability of budget revenues, the use of financial mechanisms for involving citizens in solution of localissues. In order to find out how effective the use of these budget mechanisms is,to reveal not always obvious consequences of improvements in the budget process, the author analyzes the real state of affairs in the field of local finance, focusing on changes in the municipal budget policy of recent years.

The article focuses on the urgent problem of attracting the private investmentto oil explorations. The author having long-term CEO experience in exploration company examines the potential increase of investigation activity for the three main groups on the national subsoil usage market - government, large vertically integrated corporations and independent exploration companies. As he suppose the independent companies have the greatest potential to increase search activity, but thecurrent regulating arrangements relating the restoration of the mineral resources doesnot contribute to the investment attractiveness of prospecting. The article proposes some specific measures to motivate the independent investors and attract venture capital in oil exploration.

In article the problem of distribution of the fictitious organizations which have arisen in development of the shadow phenomena in economy because of which the country annually rises incurs huge losses and there are shortages in the budget. The typical signs of short-lived firms, indicators indicating tax risks are listed. Also authors have presented the genesis of formation of the fictitious organizations and directory systems allowing to create methodical tools by determination of their quantity. To establish volumes and scales of shadow economy rather difficult as activity has latent character, thus, according to the experts and average values oftechniques it is possible to define (with a high share of an error) only the approximatenumber of the fictitious organizations. On the basis of data of official statistics (the SPARK program allowing to define the index of due discretion) and by means of graphic display of a situation, authors have presented dynamics reflecting tendencieson reduction of number of the considered firms. Despite the specified fact, the problem remains unresolved - shadow processes continue the development. In articleactions for reduction of number of the considered organizations are also offered.