Content №4 от 2018
Legal Environment and Regional Reality
No. 14-38-00009 supported by funding from the Russian Science Foundation and by Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and is part of a study conducted within the 2013-2020 Program for Basic Research of the State Academies of Sciences (Course 167. «Public Management of the Complex Development of the Russian Arctic Macroregion»)
Macroeconomic Effects of Structural Shifts in Economy of Regions
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 ofregional development. Estimating the factor contribution to GRP dynamics and manufacturing industries shows that the nationalfactors 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.
Spatial Statistics in the Context of Big Data
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.
Territorial Mobility of the Russian Population within Social Dynamics
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.
Soft Power as a Tool to Strengthen Cross-Border Cooperation
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 ofpossible new uses for this mechanism.
Regional Investment Policy: How to Unlock from Path-Dependency?
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.
Priorities and Mechanisms of Interregional Interactions: the Experience of Ural Regions within the «Ural Constellation - Arctic Vector» Project
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 ofproduction, 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.
he publication is prepared within the UrB RASproject «Socio-economic development of the Ural Arctic Territory: potentialities, priorities, and prospects of spatial reclamation» (No. 18-6-7-42)
Strategic Partnership for Science and Technology in Regions (Case Study of the Novosibirsk Scientific Center SB RAS)
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 research is prepared within the framework of the project No. 17-02-00060-ОГН supported by funding from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research
Structural Reforms of Municipal Space. Usefulness Justification and Efficiency Evaluation
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.
Regional Approaches to the Economic Assessment of Rent Income on Recreational Property
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.
Brexit and Regional Development in the UK: What Future for Regional Policy After Structural Funds?
Результаты референдума по вопросу выхода из состава ЕС существенно различаются по регионам Великобритании. Референдум показал четкие различия в мнениях избирателей как в зависимости от возраста, образования, занятости и принадлежности к тому или иному социальному классу, так и по территориальному признаку. В качестве главного фактора, объясняющего эти различия, рассматривается пространственное неравенство.
В настоящее время одним из важнейших источников сокращения неравенства в экономическом развитии территорий являются средства ЕС. Структурные фонды ЕС в течение 40 лет составляют важную часть региональной политики Великобритании, без софинансирования со стороны ЕС значительная часть мер региональной и промышленной политики, вероятно, была бы существенно урезана. Региональное распределение финансирования ЕС в Великобритании основывается на принципе, согласно которому более бедные регионы должны получать больше финансирования из Структурных фондов в расчете на душу населения.
Потеря структурных фондов ЕС является одним из следствий Brexit, и это порождает ряд важных вопросов относительно того, каким будет подход к региональному развитию на разных уровнях государственного управления. Потеря этих источников финансирования окажет существенное влияние на наименее развитые регионы Великобритании, а также на бывшие промышленные регионы, являющиеся основными бенефициарами финансирования ЕС.
Процесс разработки политики, стимулирующей территориальное развитие, требует пересмотра. На протяжении более чем 30 лет в основе региональной политики Великобритании лежали исключительно соображения экономической эффективности с точки зрения повышения вклада регионов в рост национальной экономики и обеспечение ее конкурентоспособности.
Brexit можно рассматривать и как возможность существенной трансформации политики и управления, которая позволит сбалансировать ситуацию в самой неравномерно развитой стране Европы.
Regional Management School of Thought
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.