Content №4 от 2007
New techniques for measuring spatial transformation of economy
The paper is devoted to the methodological issues of how to measure the shifts of a spatial structure of economy. The author offers a technique for complex assessing the spatial shifts, and presents the assessments concerning comparative development in Russian regions in 2007-2009. The interrelation between economic growth and regional disparities is also discussed here. The paper gives a mathematical statement of the problem and discusses its optimal solution. The author offers a technique for the invariant clusterization of regional indicators; describes how to build “a medial cluster”, i.e. that one including the regions having indicators close to average ones in the country, and discusses the features of such cluster. The paper also analyses the shifts in the “geometry” of the cluster – its size and structure - which took place in 2000-2005.
Far East Federal District: building the strategy for higher competitiveness of seaside regions
The paper considers peculiarities of forming the development strategy for seaside regions in the Far East Federal District based on effective using both the advantageous geographic location and intensive trading cooperation in these regions to reach economic growth here. The strategy focuses on building the sustainable operational and programming advantages which will allow the competitiveness of these regions in the future.
Regional programs and strategies: Far East
The Far East is a region where multiple attempts have been made to implement several long-term programs of the social and economic development. The paper analyses the experience of such programs and the reasons why they had failed to be fully implemented. The author believes that a new approach to the regional program planning is needed most – i.e. to recover a native purport of any conditional program - a tool being applied to centralize management and to concentrate resources. It means to limit regional elites to be able to form development strategies, and therefore to assign this function mostly to “a programming center” which may – and should – include both regional and federal experts.
Oil-and-gas complex of the Eastern Siberia: regional economic effects and risks
The paper classifies the key risks which occurred in the initial period of forming the East Siberian oil-and-gas complex, and analyses their impact on the socio-economic development in the regions involved. The approach proposed by the authors allows the assessment of the interval of expecting economic effects obtained through making different management decisions. The paper shows that managerial risks could be created mostly due to the decisions made at federal or corporate levels. An active go-between position belongs to regional authorities in coordinating relations between corporations and the Federation, while direct tools of public control are in hands of the federal government. The paper shows such economic effects reflected in the growth indicators of both GRP and the regional and local budgets revenues in case of the Irkutsk Oblast, the Krasnoyarsk Krai and Sakha Republic (Yakutia).
Kharitonova V. N. kharit@ieie.nsc.ru
Food markets in Russia: dynamics of their integration
In the context of an integrated market, a price of any product in regions depends on its demand in a national market rather than in a regional one. Applying the econometric model based on this theoretical statement, the paper assesses to what degree the markets of some food products are integrated. The fact that since nearly 1994 the growth of segmentation in such markets changes to the tendency of their integration has been observed. The authors conclude that there is an integrated food market in Russia, and its integration has been just the same as that one in the counties of developed market economy.
Transportation complex of the Asian part of Russia: assessing its role in the country’s economy
The paper considers the approach to the assessment of how the different modes of transport influence on economic development in Russian federal districts and in units of the Siberian Federal District as well. The variants calculations demonstrate that the potential development of national economy does depend on how good the transportation infrastructure is developed both in Siberian and Far East regions. The railway transport has had a profound effect especially in the case of the Far East – Siberia – Ural Rout where a traffic volume is planning to be more intensive. The construction of the Northern Siberia Main Rout is of high priority because it will connect the Baikal-Amur Main Rout with Ural regions through the regions of the Krasnoyarsk Kray and the Tomsk Oblast which are planning to be more developed. The authors conclude that Russian interregional transportations should be of higher priority than to those of international transit.
Development trajectory of Russia in the context of general theory of institutional shifts
The paper presents the basic statements and hypothesis of the general theory of institutional transformation which is based on a new integral-institutional paradigm for the development of civilizations, and which will evidently replace the old one - two ways (“East -West”) in the development of civilizations. This shift presently observed in Russia caused by necessity to conceptualize new institutional strategies. The author puts forward a new trajectory of the institutional development in Russia, and forecasts a vector of its economic evolution.
Human capital: assessing its impact on incomes of the population in Russian regions
Using Russian regional development statistics and the Cobb-Douglas trinomial production function, the author analyses the links between the human capital and incomes of the population in Russian regions. Using a structural analysis, the author shows that a statistically significant correlation between an average educational level of the employed in regional economy and the incomes of the population of these regions has been observed. The dependant variables in the equations of linear regression are population’s incomes (both gross ones and those per an employee) in 2000, 2003 and 2004; the independent variables are the regional fixed assets, volume of employment and an average educational level. The paper shows that the link between an average educational level and population’s incomes has been significantly observed in densely populated regions such as those located in the European part of Russia.
Analysis of the development of power sector in the context of national economic interrelations: application of intersectional and interregional models of optimization
The paper discusses the results obtained through applying the intersectional and interregional models of optimization applicable to study a wide range of issues concerning the energy sector development in the context of national economic interrelations. This apparatus – developed during some decades within the framework of SONAP Project – allows combining in one model the principles of a monetary input-output balance, of a non-monetary natural energy balance and of the interregional and macroeconomic analysis. The authors also demonstrate how the apparatus was applied to assessing the provision Siberia with gas supply, the development of nuclear power industry and nontraditional energy technologies.
Regional clusters and regional production complexes as forms of regional structure of industry
The paper analyses the approaches to identifying regional clusters and industrial complexes as the forms of a regional structure. Although a comprehensive approach to regional problems and to planning regional industrial complexes used to be widely spread in the USSR, the present process of transforming the former regional industrial complexes into regional clusters goes too slow. The economic privatization has disrupted the inter-industry relations in regions and therefore - the complex development of economies. We should build not only a cluster policy, but also a policy aimed at complex planning of the development in regions in the sense we used to imply in the soviet time.
Eastern Oil Superproject: problems and solutions
The paper presents a history of the export of hydrocarbonic materials from Eastern Siberia regions. Special focus is on providing the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean Pipeline with oil and on the reasons why preparations (their level and rates) being undertaken to develop the oil reserves already explored in the Siberian Platform are insufficient. The project could be regarded of high risk. A dominant risk among others is a resource risk connected with the indeterminacy and (or) errors made while estimating the volume of economically effective reserves. The author points out two issues being insufficiently studied - potential consumers of Russian oil, and how to cover a domestic demand for oil.
Models of positive structural shifts in a regional tourist industry
The paper considers a new model to study structural shifts taking place in touristic industries in regions. The author offers a technique to assess the structural shifts in consumption of the goods and services being provided by this sector. The technique is based on a consumers’ polling and includes the programming tools developed to study such issues.
Production administration: logistic approach
The paper considers a content of the notion - production management, its components and instruments applying a logistic approach in the context of a production type while other authors consider it in the context of a life circle of a production system. The author believes that if we want to assess the effectiveness of output, a real production system of any enterprise should be necessarily taken into account, as well as indicators of economic efficiency.
Corporate social responsibility as an institution of public-private partnership and efficient regional economic and social policy
The paper presents a theoretical analysis of a corporate social responsibility concept (CSR), its gist, types, levels and forms of its implementation. Realizing their own interests, corporations may contribute to the community’s development or may inflict environmental damage undermining the stability of community’s economies. This depends on the model of relations between corporations and local communities. The authors discuss the approaches to the implementation of Canada-Russia Program on CSR which could contribute to the development of social responsibility of business in Russia and in northern regions especially. The Program is aimed at supporting the sustainable development in the Russian North and the better life of population through sharing the contemporary principles of CSR developed and applied in Canada. The program focuses on maintaining balance between companies’ interests and a wide spectrum of public interests.
Agricultural policy in Great Britain
The Fischler reforms to the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy are more dramatic and far reaching than anything that has come before. The Fischler reforms as they are applied to England are considered from the perspective of livestock farming in the North East of England. The dependency of livestock farming on the previous subsidy system is shown. The new Single Farm Payment Subsidy (SFP) has been “decoupled” from production: so farmers will receive it providing they satisfy cross-compliance conditions even if they totally cease agricultural production. Despite this, many farmers will, at least initially, need to use their SFP to support their farm businesses – that is support will, in effect, remain coupled. For how long they will need to do this is an open question, as it principally depends on changes to input and output prices - which are difficult to predict - and their long-term commitment to farming.
Socio-economic development strategy for Siberia: urgent aspects
The paper analyses the positive and negative trends in the development of Siberia. Despite the better economic situation, some pressing and unresolved problems have left, and they constitute altogether a situation of crisis in this macroregion. The ideas of the socio-economic development in Siberia developed in 1998, 2002 and 2005, and presented in the relative strategic and programming documents could be evidently realized through significant federal funding. The reason is –a vague national policy concerning the priorities and ways of Siberian development made such large-scale projects of a higher investment risk. Today federal government has changed its attitude towards Siberia – the region should be developed and populated. In the experts’ opinion, this drastically has decreased the risks for private businesses operating in Siberia or planning their enlargement. In a new economic and political context, the operation of federal, regional and municipal authorities, business and civil society is extremely important to be coordinated according to the principles of private-public cooperation, and the Economic Development Strategy for Siberia - to be renewed. It should include a set of the interdependent and mutually agreed business-investment projects and the regional components of ongoing or planning federal conditional programs as well as the regional conditional programs. The paper states the objectives and goals of such strategy.
