Content №2 от 2006
A concept of the Siberian foreign economic activity
In the foreign trade activity of the Siberian Federal District a new stage begins marked by the start of the development of hydrocarbon resources of the Siberian platform, development of transportation infrastructure, formation of new relations with the CIS countries, primarily Central Asia and Kazakhstan. These factors as well as pressure from the rapidly growing Chinese economy underlie the start of a more active state regulation targeted to provide competitive advantages for the domestic manufacturing sectors and, for this purpose, to improve control, financial support and services of the foreign economic activity in the regions. The regional efficiency of export-import activity is ever more dependent on the policy of the foreign large corporative capital that has come practically in all sectors in the regions and on the mechanisms of its interaction with the regional governance system.
The model of concession agreement in oil pipeline transport: verification of economic efficiency
A model evaluating the terms of concession agreement in the oil pipeline transport that is gainful for both state and private companies is proposed in the paper. The model experimental estimates on the quantitative evaluation of the state-private partnership variants in the project of oil pipelines from the fields of the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous okrug are analyzed. The limit values of the parameters of the concession agreements within which it is possible to obtain harmonization of the private and state interests are determined.
The situational analysis of economy diversification in the oil-and-gas resource region
The problems of economic diversification in resource regions can be dealt with by quantitative estimations of directions and scale of diversification as well as by procedures borrowed from information science, management, sociology. An attempt at the use of the situational approach to this problem is shown on the case of the administration of the Khanty-Mansi autonomous okrug. The results of scenario estimations on the simulation model of the long-run development of the okrug were used for the analysis of the diversification opportunities and preconditions. In this process concrete recommendations and proposals have been developed. In particular, it is shown that diversification of the economy is needed even under high oil prices and further growth in oil production.
Recent tendencies in the sphere of intergovernmental budgetary relations
The quality of intergovernmental budgetary relations is very important for proper functioning of the institutions in a federative state. The paper considers the issues of evolution in budgetary relations, federal aid to regions in association with specifics of Russia’s structure of state. It is shown, in particular, that certain rehabilitation of state finances that has taken place has not touched local budgets yet. Local governments are still in great dependency on the budgets of other levels, and the Siberian Federal District is especially marked in this way. The vertical of power, therefore, has in its bottom not only political-administrative but also financial leverage.
Interregional financial balance: expanded opportunities of economic forecasts
New opportunities of classic interregional instruments for forecasting regional development both in physical-goods and financial terms are examined. This provides a comprehensive approach to research of regional issues. The strength of this approach is a possibility to get price indicators with the properties of aggregated prices. They make it possible to foresee the general tendency of aggregated prices, incomes, taxes, movement of banking credits. And each forecast variant is provided with financial equilibrium for economic participants at the regional and national level.
Federalism and Russia’s economic development
The system of center/region separation of powers in Russia has not yet been completed and is still the object of lawmaking activity, political dialogue, legal debates and professional discussions. The recent changes in economic and other spheres create favorable conditions to use the benefits from federalism as a long-run factor and resource. At the same time, the dynamics of center/region relationships is imprinted with the 1990s failed attempts at decentralization and is subordinate to the idea of building the “power vertical”. The power vertical, in case of excessive central regulation, may jeopardize the economic advantages of decentralization, and that just at the time when the true opportunity to have them realized has appeared and when the objective of economic and social modernization requires mobilization of long-term resources of economic growth, which, to a high extent, are in the sphere of state governance.
The estimation of balanced transport tariffs in coal exports
An important problem in coal export is collection of railway tariffs. The scheme of a mixed tariff consisting of two parts – permanent and variable, depending on the world market coal prices – is proposed, which is tailored to satisfy the interests of both coal exporters and railway workers. The proposed scheme of tariffs solves the problem of coal transportation under low world prices as well as yields a proportional growth of incomes for the railway if prices are high. This is important for the harmonization of interests of all participants not only from the view of individual rationality but also from the systemic one – at the interregional level. The proposed approach is used in the estimation of the scheme of the Kuzbas coal tariffs. It is universal because it is applicable in dealing with such problems for most of transportable cargoes.
Immigrant flows in the Siberian Federal District: quantitative and qualitative assessments
The main quantitative and qualitative characteristics of immigrants from Central and North-Eastern Asian countries, their employment and status features and adaptation in the Siberian labor market are considered on the basis of statistical information, data from expert polls as well as ethnical-sociological information obtained by use of specially developed procedures and research instruments. A typology of labor and migration prospects of immigrants obtained with the cluster analysis method as well as the evaluation of the problems of foreign labor migration in the Siberian labor market given by experts from regional administrative agencies are presented in the paper.
A study of the deviant behavior among the inhabitants of the Vologda oblast
The death rate of the population from suicides exceeds the tolerable point established by the WHO (20 deaths per 100 thousand population) 5 or 6 times in some areas of the Vologda oblast. The studies have shown that suicides are most often among the mid-age rural men. The major factors behind the high suicidal risk are low living standards, dissatisfaction with the occupational activity, alcohol and drug addiction, etc. The deaths caused by self-destructive behavior were found to lead the region to economic losses at over 1% of the GRP.
The integral estimation of the innovation potential of Russia’s regions
The innovation potential of the regions is estimated with the help of integrated characteristics of its separate components. The estimation is based on the method of main components. The primal materials are those of the official statistics. The role and place of individual regions at the present stage in the territorial division of country’s innovation opportunities are determined.
Variants of the master area route Eastern Siberia – Pacific ocean oil pipeline: geological environmental assessment
The authors examine the geological-ecological issues concerning the construction of the master area from Magistralnyi to Tynda Eastern Siberia – the Pacific Ocean long-haul oil pipeline. On the basis of the geological-ecological analysis of the route variants, the choice of a route section not involved in possible pollution of the Baikal lake is made. Such variants of by-passing the Baikal lake can be north- and south-utmost ones which must be the object for the further detailed analysis.
Saneev B. G. saneev@isem.sei.irk.ru
Altai crossborder biosphere territory: ideas of preservation and development
The paper considers ideology in the creation of the transborder biosphere reserves and the results of the expert conclusion on the possibility to create such a territory in the border areas of Altai, on the cross-section of the borders and geopolitical interests of Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and Russia. The implementation of such a project will solve many problems of a social-economic and natural-environmental character in the hinterland regions of the above mentioned countries that at the same time have a high ecological status. The paper argues for the choice of the territorial borders of the Altai transborder biosphere territory (TBT) and examines the traits of the social-economic development of the border territories, and future directions of their development within the framework of the biosphere reserve favorable both from the view of preservation of biodiversity and of social-economic development of local communities are named.
The effect of the tax system on investment opportunities and the efficiency of enterprises
On the basis of modeling, the institutional studies of the existing and proposed tax systems have been conducted to compare the effect of each on the efficiency of enterprises. A new methodological approach to the formation of the tax system is examined. It is proposed that tax deductions are shifted from payments for the use of material resources in production to payments of the property tax and income tax. The profit tax and tax for added value (TAV) will be cancelled. This will provide a more efficient use of physical and labor resources, inventories, fixed capital, investment resources. The tax system can be built in such a way as to reach balance between the interests of the enterprises and of the state.
Directions in better management of clothing industry
The paper shows that the portion of the domestic product in the national retail turnover makes no more than 21%. The rest of it are imported goods, and the part of them that is included in the official statistics makes only 10 percentage points, while 69 p.p. account for deliveries through the so called “shuttles” and smuggle (in clothing 66 p.p.). After accession in WTO, 50% of the domestic enterprises of light industry will be uncompetitive, which will undermine the revenue base of many small cities where the enterprises of this sector are the main tax payers. At the same time, it is shown that 90% of domestic enterprises have potential opportunities to raise their efficiency by 20-25% if the system of enterprise management is changed. The author analyzes these opportunities and assesses the possibility to use them on the Siberian enterprises.
Model legislation in the field of local governance in the Russian Federation
The paper analyzes the process of model legislation for the municipal level of government. It is noted that model acts are getting a wide spread, their number is growing and the sphere of action expanding. Shown is the practice of model legislation in other countries across the world. The specificity of uniform norms in the light of the on-going Russian reform of local governance, the features of model acts, their forms and ways of use are presented.
The economic and social meaning of the housing reform
The author examines problems of social, economic and financial character that make it necessary to reform the management of the housing sphere, main principles in its implementation and the conditions that should be satisfied for this reform to be successful.
Indigenous Siberian people: are they pariah of Century XXI?
The paper analyzes the social-demographic process, position in the labor market, quality of life and health of the Selkup, one of the northern Indigenous peoples of Siberia. The conclusion is that the Selkup are not pariah or outcasts in the Russian society of today. A number of their problems are caused by specific living conditions of large social-territorial communities, such as rural population, but are not associated with belonging to any ethnical group. For this reason, the mechanisms raising the quality of life for the Selkup are largely universal in general Russia. At the same time, the Selkup are faced with a broad circle of problems associated with their status and interaction with other cultural groups and with changes in their natural environment. These problems include retention of the native language and culture, their right to land and use of mineral resources, political self-determination, development of self-government, etc.
Kalugina Z. I. zima@ieie.nsc.ru
