The article presents the results of the research of development trends of the Russian Federation subjects for 2000-2012. The analysis is based on the methodology, developed in the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. The basis of the analysis was set not with formal estimation of the situation in the regions, but via the characteristic of the situation, developing within their borders from the position of potential investors and the provision of qualified specialists. The research has been undertaken within three years. The research made it possible to define 4 groups of the Russian Federation subjects, which within 12 years steadily include subgroups of regions with ascending, descending trends, and regions without the certain trend of the situation changes. It proves the necessity to distinguish the development of regional economy and process their growth. The second conclusion is the limited meaning of the rating estimations, not allowing to make definite management decisions. The third conclusion is the necessity of perfection of the state regional policy on the basis of typification of the Russian Federation subjects, basing not only on the levels of their socio-economic development, but as well on the exciting factors of this development.

This article presents an evolution of theoretical and methodological approaches to the welfare study. Existing theories of wellbeing are grouped according to accounted method of goods and resources distribution among society members. As a welfare future as a category we highlight objective (measured) and subjective (estimated) components. Based on the analysis of scientific literature we determine the ratio of individual and social welfare. The main differences between the categories of “ welfare” and “wealth” are given. The main difference consists in multidirectional changes of welfare and wealth for an increase (decrease) in income of the individual (country). In this article we present an analysis of modern approaches to the definition of welfare: state, institutional and expendable approach. The welfare level estimation is complicated due to the need to consider the subjective component. The article provides an analysis of existing approaches to quantitative welfare evaluation ranging from the most common techniques (HDI, GDP) to alternative techniques (Happy Planet Index).Methodological devices are structured by levels of welfare assessment objects (world, country, region, people). Based on the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of methods we can conclude that the most reliable method is a comprehensive approach, which includes economic, environmental, social, vital and infrastructure indicators. The author’s approach to the formation of a complex methodological tool for individual and territory welfare estimation is presented in this article.

In the article with the help of two-sector model of the economic system, the interaction of national and regional economy is investigated. This interaction is observed from the position of development of material structure and institutions. As the key structural parameter of an economy, the proportion between sector of excess resources and sector of scarce resources is taken. The situation when sector of excess resources prevails over sector of scarce resources forms structural conditions for the creation of the market institutions. If a sector of excess resources is smaller than a sector of scarce resources, the conditions for the emergence of institutions of government regulation are formed. Two cases are analyzed: the first one concerns the situation of a simple national economy consisting of 2 provisory regions. The second is the case of the national economy consisting of many regions. The authors show that material structure of a total combination of regions defines institutions of the market or state regulation for the national economy as a whole. The institutions formed at the level of the national economy, can support or resist the development of structure of the region. The conditions are observed under which united institutions of the national economy contradict a development of structure of the individual region.

Abstract. Economic policy of extreme neoliberalism, having been held in Russia for more than twenty years, has led to the present stagnation of socio-economic development of the country. Its concentrated expression has resulted in a rapid deterioration of the budgetary system, especially at the regional level. In the next three-year budget cycle (2014–2016) a great number of Russian regions will be with the deficit and debt load on the verge of bankruptcy. The Russian government doesn’t take any action to prevent crisis processes. On the contrary, the Ministry of Finance, as the conductor of rigid conservative policy, in a less degree is interested in making regionally oriented decisions. Trying to shift the blame for what is happening in the public sector to the regional authorities, the Minister of Finance has offered to the President to dismiss regional governors who have chronic debts. However, this is unlikely to solve the debt problem, because at the present time, the regions have more expenditure commitments than resources for their providing. On the basis of the analysis of the situation in the field of subnational finance, the authors have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to change the approaches to fiscal policy in the system of regional regulation and offer a number of measures in this direction.

The article considers the modern tendencies and prospects of development of global integration in the global economic environment. It is shown that post-socialist transformation do not fit the classic model of transformational crossings, as have other stages, different specific hierarchy of procedural and structural factors are mixed, implement simultaneous transformations in various fields, save the importance of powerful items, stimulate the emergence of complex conflicts. Great attention is paid to the peculiarities of integration processes in Europe, in North America, the Asia-Pacific region. On the example of the European Union (EU), the North American free trade agreement (NAFTA), the Asia-Pacific economic cooperation (APEC), which are the centers of global integration, which focused on large-scale economic, financial, scientific-technological and human resources, by their importance comparable to their political, military-strategic values, analyzed the stages of formation and development of the integration of the unions further directions of their strategic development.

Socio-economic contradictions have become the key obstacles in the transition of contemporary Russian society to a new model of development, which is to replace the obsolete “gas and oil” one. The novel model involves social consolidation to form a civil Russian nation. On the base of statistical analysis, the author’s empirical data (mass all-Russian and regional focus group inquiries) confirm that the social inequality between the rich and the poor has reached extreme critical values making them a disfactor of national integrity. If the gap does not decrease, the Russian society will experience serious difficulties. A number of indicators show that social inequality is caused by inefficient ruling system. Despite positive changes in the quality of life and living standards, the inertia of the social ties destruction and anomie still continue. The transition of the socio-economic system to a new model of reproduction supposes that the values of justice, gradualness, and continuity will be supported by the majority of the population.

In the article, the problem of the expanded characteristic of human development is solved regarding ecological indicators of such characteristic. The ecological characteristic of human development, or quality of the population, is understood as the relation of the population to environment and its resources. For a quantitative assessment of this relation, ten indicators are offered. We took into account the possibility of their assessment in a regional section on a base of official statistics. As an example, the five regions, different in level and nature of economic development, are considered: Kursk, Pskov, Sverdlovsk, Yaroslavl regions and Krasnoyarsk Krai. Initial hypotheses concerning estimates of an ecological subindex of human development index are formulated. They were confirmed only partially. The attention to difference between ecological characteristics of quality of the population and ecological characteristics of quality of life of the population is paid.

The hypothesis about new type’s integration processes in the world economy is made, the essence and distinctive peculiarities of these processes are determined. By the proposed groups of parameters, the comparative analysis of international economic integration (IEI) within traditional integration processes (EU, NAFTA) and those of new type (SCO, BRIC(S)) is carried out. The technique of estimation of influence of international economic integration on development of a country’s region is worked out, and the estimation of influence of international economic integration on socio-economic development of Sverdlovsk region is carried out.The movement of goods, services and factors of production (capital, work force) between the region and the integration associations of traditional type and the groups of countries arisen in terms of forming integration processes of new type is analyzed. It is shown that the one of the tendencies in development of international economic integration of Sverdlovsk region during the last 12 years has been the increasing role and importance of new integration groups of countries. It is revealed that the purposeful account of this tendency can provide quantitative and qualitative shifts in external trade, foreign investments and labor migration of the region, related on the change of direction of flows: from the receivers of high-technological goods, capital, specialists from developed countries — to the supplier of manufactured goods, investments and high-qualified work force into countries of SCO and BIRC(S), what is one of the factors of providing economic safety of the region.

The assessment of urban population’s life quality implies an investigation of all factors defining it: economic, social and ecological. The development of the corresponding indicators of sustainable urban development is necessary. The majority of the cities in the world and this country show unsustainable development at present time. In the article, the world and Russian experience of development of indicators of sustainable urban development is considered. In the article, opportunities of adaptation of approaches to these indicators’ development on the basis of Human Development Index developed by United Nations Development Program and an index of Adjusted Net Savings of the World Bank for Russia are considered. The authors propose a new integrated index of sustainability for Russian cities. It is based on the concept and methodology of the Adjusted Net Savings index. In order to evaluate the sustainability of urban development taking into account economic, social, and ecological factors, the authors propose applying three corresponding sub-indexes: gross capital, expenses on human capital development, and damage from environmental pollution in the cities. In the article, the authors’ set of indicators for Russian cities is proposed. It reflects the most acute problems of sustainable urban development in Russia and the quality of life in cities; also it corresponds to Russian statistics. 21 key indicators reflecting important economic, social, and ecological urban priorities are proposed. Indicators are divided into nine groups: economic indicators; energy efficiency; transport; social and institutional indicators; air and climate; water resources; waste; especially protected natural territories; noise influence. Proposed indicators for cities allow more adequately assess trends of urbanized space shaping and quality of life.

In the article, relevant problems of social and professional health of teachers of the Ural higher education institutions are analyzed. The author recognizes that the higher education is created as an interaction between participants of educational process, each of which at the same time acts both as the subject pursuing the valid aims, and as object of orientation for other individuals of the environment of the immediate environment. On the basis of statistical data, the author shows that in socio-economic behavior of the vast majority of students of the Ural higher education institutions are inherent as common features of deviant subculture of youth (addiction to alcohol and drugs, violence manifestations, prostitution etc.), and special, connected with educational process (admissions of occupations, use of cribs, plagiarism when performing term papers, diplomas, roughness and tactlessness in relation to teachers, etc.). According to the author, the dominating deviant feautre of modern students — insufficiently developed diligence and unavailability to overcoming difficulties. Development of professional and personal qualities and competences of the expert assumes updating of motivation of students, their active adaptation to educational process, increase of their responsibility for assimilation of the training program and the social behavior accompanying it. The author assume that developen negative social well-being of professional group of teachers of the higher school is determined by low prestige of this profession in society, sharp differentiation of compensation on regions, an ambiguity of the purposes of reforming of the higher school, complication and ambiguity of their professional roles. Conclusions and offers of the article are based on results of a number of the complex sociological researche, which have been carried out in 2010-2013 in higher education institutions and comprehensive schools of Ural under the scientific management and with direct participation of the author.

Theoretical and methodical reasons for allocation of components of life quality with the particular importance of population quality, including demographic (reproduction) potential are provided in the article. The integrated indicators of population quality in Ural federal district regions were calculated and analyzed in dynamics, basing on an author’s technique of integrated index estimation of population quality. Advantages of use the integrated index of population quality (IIKN) before the human development index (HDI) caused by inclusion in it the major demographic indicators in regional estimates are proved. Peculiarities of HDI and IIKN dynamics in Russia regions for the last decade are demonstrated; their value for efficiency evaluation of realizing state programs in the social and demographic sphere is shown.

After enlargement of the European Union and subsequently joining of a new member states to the euro area, the question of economic convergence attracted considerable research interest. This paper adopts three alternative concepts to examine the level and trend of convergence in the Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia). We concurrently estimate the β-convergence, σ-convergence and business cycle synchronization to find out whether all countries are on the way towards higher convergence with the euro area. The results suggest that convergence of all countries has been increasing. However, the recent acceleration of the convergence process is caused mainly by external shocks in the form of the financial crisis and following economic slowdowns. Hence, the current level of convergence in the Visegrad countries cannot be considered as fully adequate.

This article describes existence differences in the level of entrepreneurship in manufacturing industry among Russian regions with particular attention to European and Siberian territories of the country. I tested the hypothesis that regions are more entrepreneurial if they will contain more urbanization, higher shares of educated and young people and better transport infrastructure. I analyzed panel data for 80 regions for a time period since 2005 till 2011 years. The estimations showed that the existence of differences were predicted by variables: the share of young people, the rate of agglomeration, the share of people with tertiary education (specialist’s diploma), the transport infrastructure and the specialization of those territories. At that time, the share of employed population with tertiary education is not significant for European part of Russia and significant for Siberia. Thus, human capital is more important for Siberian entrepreneurs than transport infrastructure than in European part of Russia.

The article reflects the available information about the problem of development of the institutional framework of the innovative subsurface resource management in the Arctic zone, and the relevance of studies of this problem is proved, the interpretation of a number of terms of the study is defined. The main institutions, mechanisms, and instruments governing the innovative subsurface resource management are determined. Most important conventional institutional instruments of regulation are known to rigorously include regulatory support, program and project support, organizational support and financial support. A consistent approach to the assessment of the level of the institutional framework of the innovative subsurface resource management and its impact on socio-economic development of the regions of the arctic countries is produced. This paper estimates loss of profits caused by incomplete development of the institutional framework of the innovative subsurface resource management, which prevents the deployment of the mineral and resource potential of the Arctic zone. We propose the directions of possible Russian cooperation with arctic countries in order to improve the institutional framework of the innovative subsurface resource management in the Arctic.

The relevance of the topic is related to the recognition of the position that the full use of the institutional capacity and decrease of institutional constraints in the development of individual sectors of the economy leads to stabilization of the development of the entire national economy. Neglecting the institutions of economic branches negatively affect the trend of sustainable development of society. This work is devoted to the problems of institutional changes in the electricity sector. The subject concerns millions of households. Development of theoretical and methodological basis for the study of institutional relations of economy and energy will significantly influence the creation of the original effective energy strategy. Currently, imperfect institutional relations in the sphere of energy services reduce the efficiency of the driven activities. It is known that the problematic aspects of the institutional environment — keeping costs and externalities in pricing policies, the formation of the institutional environment saving, determination of the behavior of economic agents and the electricity market, etc. require permits. In general, scientific and practical significance of the study is large. The results of research of the institutional structure research of correlation between power engineering and economics based on agency approach will promote deepening of the theory of institutionalism at the sectoral economics level.

In the article, key problems of regional systems of a heat supply connected with the inefficient organization and regulation of activity of the local heat power companies are considered. Shortcomings of the scheme of the organization of management by heat supplying complex on the basis of the municipal unitary enterprises are described. The main models of interaction of municipalities and private operators within various forms of the private and state partnership are analyzed. Experience of penetration of foreign private operator on the Russian market of thermal energy is studied. On the basis of the conducted research recommendations about the organization of management and operation of heat supplying infrastructure of the region, on the basis of the long-term contractual relations of the large companies operators and bodies of municipal authority on the terms of joint financing and division of risks are offered. The conclusion was drawn on expediency of implementation of these offers on the basis of the concession agreements covering some municipalities of the region that will allow to lower commercial and administrative expenses at the expense of a scale effect, to increase economic profitability and investment appeal of heat power sector of the region economy.

Results of an assessment of a condition of the consumer market are presented in the article on the basis of official statistics data. At the heart of an assessment, the method of the indicative analysis lies. The technique includes five modules: quality of consumer goods, works, services; food security, nonfood safety; safety of services; security of participants of the consumer market. Also results of interactive Internet research of the condition of the ultimate consumer are presented in the article, by means of the carried out research. Interactive research is presented by 3 blocks: the general block (allows to make the respondent’s portrait); the special block (allows to estimate the changes in price, quality and the range of consumer goods and services); the additional block (allows respondents to leave comments). On the basis of the conducted research, it is possible to draw a conclusion that the assessment of the state received on the basis of methodical tools, shows positive dynamics, nevertheless, the condition of the consumer market remains unsatisfactory that also is confirmed by results of interactive research. The recommendations, allowing to lower the rise in prices and increase the quality of consumer goods and services are presented in the article.

This article is devoted to the searching the factors of the industrial districts success and synergy under the conditions of the new paradigm of the socio-economic system development for using in Russia. In accordance with this goal, new changes in the theory and practice of the industrial districts development are considered. On the example of the Italian scientific school, the stages of the evolution of the theory of “industrial districts” in foreign science and development of the traditional approach are determined. The article is focused on the geoeconomic paradigm and the concept of «localized knowledge spillovers» as new discussion fields where innovations and space are united. Both changes in the Italian economy and industrial districts are shown. The new factors of its successful development are determined.

The article is devoted to such important problem as Russians’ reproductive health worsening that defines health of posterity and viability of generations, and appreciably impacts on the birth rate. Statistics of contraception among women of reproductive age, statistics of induced abortions occurrence, statistics of primary, and secondary infertility are investigated. Data of Public Opinion Foundation on problems of child-free marriages and reproductive rights of citizens are given. Results of medical, scientific centers about additional reproductive technologies practice such as in vitro fertilization (EKO), surrogate motherhood, etc. are shown. The importance of state support of these technologies and liberalization of legal control of the realization of a desire to be parents as the most important tool of demographic policy is emphasized. The questions of raising the public importance of family planning, sex education, family and moral values among young formation, healthy lifestyle, responsible motherhood and paternity are explored in the article.

This paper analyses peculiarities of Russian insurance market development, the factors of convergence that lay behind the Russian insurance market. Concerns a brief review of financial convergence, its impact on the insurance business, development of Russian insurance market. The purpose of the paper is to find whether there is a diminution of dispersion of performance among Russian regional and federal insurance companies. Research methodology is based on testing the set of selected Russian insurance companies for σ-convergence or divergence. Selected companies represent maximum regional coverage of Russian Federation. Authors study balance sheet data of chosen federal and regional insurance companies for sigma-convergence and conclude that there are regional disproportions in the development of Russian insurance market, centralization of administrative and financial recourses that causes the weakness of regional players. Ideas suggested in this paper can help regulator in the decision-making process for improving situation and formation of insurance services demand in the country.

The article addresses the implementation of budget risk management methods into the practices of governmental authorities. Drawing on the example of a particular region the article aims to demonstrate the possible methods of budget risk management. The authors refine the existing approaches to the notion of risk in its relation to budget system by introducing the notion of “budget risk.” Here the focus is the risk of default of budget spending in full which causes underfunding of territories and decrease in quality of life in the region. The authors have particularized the classification of budget risks and grouped together the criteria and factors which significantly influence the assessment and choice of method to manage budget risks. They hypothesize that budget risk is a financial risk. Therefore, the methods of financial risks management can be applied to budget risks management. The authors suggest a methodological approach to risk assessment based on correlation and regression analysis of program financing. The application of Kendall rank correlation coefficient allowed to assess the efficiency of budget spending on the implementation of state programs in Perm Krai. Two clusters — “Nature management and infrastructure” and “Public security” — turned out to be in the zone of high budget risk. The method of stress analysis, which consists in calculating Value at Risk (VaR), was applied to budget risks that in terms of probability are classified as critical. In order to assess risk as probability rate, the amount of Perm Krai deficit budget was calculated as induced variable from budget revenues and spending. The results demonstrate that contemporary management of public resources in the regions calls for the implementation of new management tools of higher quality and budget risk management is one of them.

In this article are discussed methodological challenges for strategic priorities ensure security innovation regional development. It is shown that in modern conditions innovative safety is an independent and very important area of security of the region. This innovative security should be understood as a qualitative characteristic that gives insight into the regional socio-economic systems requirements and challenges of the innovation economy, including their ability to recombination. It is considered the basic patterns and features of mutual influence and interaction of innovative and traditional socio-economic development of the territories. The necessity of the joint integrated treatment of innovation and socio-economic development in the management of innovative safety of the region is founded. It is given suggestions on fundamental approaches to the solution of the problem of selecting priority areas for strengthening the sources of innovation development successfully tailored to specific territories. The main positions are illustrated in the example the regions of the Ural Federal District.

Bangladesh cannot sustain long-run economic progress without having a strong agricultural sector accompanied by a dynamic agribusiness sub-sector. This study has been undertaken as an exploratory study to assess the role and significance of agribusiness in Bangladesh along with the current status and future potentials. Various institutional and other weaknesses and challenges were deemed to exist in the country that prevents full realization of the potentials of this industry. At a general level, the paper recommends various structural, institutional, and market-friendly policy reforms accompanied by infrastructural developments in order to encourage entrepreneurship, innovation, and investments along with better and more effective strategic management of this sector. Such reforms are expected to promote better utilization of scarce resources to promote a strong, dynamic, and sustainable agribusiness sector that would be able to contribute substantially to industrialization and economic development of the country.

In the terms of investment resources shortage in the modern Russian economy, the special practical importance is gained the issues of socio-economic nature analysis of the population savings as one of the major sources of internal investments and an influence assessment of external and internal factors on the processes of accumulation and consumption funds created by the population. The article analyzes influence of environment factors on the interrelation mechanism “consumption-savings” on the example of Ural federal district during 2001–2012. The considerable attention is paid to the analysis of influence of an inflationary component in the economy of the region and interest rate for deposits on dynamics of savings norm of the population, which acts as an indicator of the standard of living and a source of accumulation of investment potential of the population. The authors conclude that the factors having impact on redistribution of the monetary income of the population on consumption and savings in favor of savings depend not only on socioeconomic development of society, inflationary expectations of the population, but also on conditions of accumulation of savings of the population by the banking sphere.

Competitiveness of production is a basic indicator for assessment of competitiveness of the enterprise, for making decisions on production in foreign economic activity. Today, there is no single approach and unified methodology for evaluating the competitiveness of products. At the same time, this assessment is the basis for the development of marketing providing and making decisions to enter into the new markets. The results of assessment show more adequate results than in the case of use of traditional methods. At the same time, the results of competitiveness evaluation are beyond any doubt in cases when a product has the best properties in a range of characteristics. The most existing methods for calculating the group indicators of production competitiveness averaged values of the analyzed indicators and did not allow them to evaluate the spread of values. The paper also examines the problem of production competitiveness evaluation by the aggregation of the indices characterized by significant heterogeneity of indices relatively to a product chosen as a sample. The degree of such heterogeneity is posed to evaluate with criterion of balanced indices, where reckoning is based on the metrical analysis. Competitiveness of production is a basic indicator for assessment of competitiveness of the enterprise, for making decisions on production, in foreign economic activity.

In this paper, we develop an economic growth model taking into account two factors of production: fixed capital and labor force, to study the dynamics of GDP growth. The dependence of the output of these factors is described by a production function of the exponential type. Within the framework of the optimal control theory, the optimization problem for investment levels is being solved to maximize the integral index of consumption. We study the qualitative properties of optimal trajectories as solutions of the Hamiltonian systems arising in Pontryagin’s maximum principle. The sensitivity analysis of the equilibrium solutions of the economic system is implemented with respect to the elasticity coefficients of the production function, the depreciation rate of the capital, and the discount factor, and growth trends are indicated. The econometric analysis of the model parameters is provided basing on real data for the Russian economy. In accordance with the results of the regression analysis, the projection of economic development is constructed in conditions of the applicability of the economic growth model.

This paper deals with the modeling of two sectors of a regional economy: electricity and forestry. We show that CO2 price will impact not only the profits of the CO2 emitting electricity producer (decrease), but also the electricity prices for the consumer (increase), and, hence, some financial instruments might be implemented today in order to be prepared for the uncertain CO2 prices in the future. We elaborate financial instrument based on the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) mechanism. We model optimal behavior of forest owner and electricity producer under uncertainty and determine equilibrium fair prices of REDD-based-options.

This article discusses a discrete-time dynamical system consisting of a set of a controllable objects (region and forming it municipalities). The dynamics each of these is described by the corresponding vector linear discrete-time recurrent relations, and its control system consist from two levels: basic (control level I) that is dominating and subordinate level (control level II). Both levels have different criterions of functioning and united a priori by determined informational and control connections defined in advance. Considered addresses the problem of optimization of management of economic security of the region in the presence of risks. For the investigated problem is proposed in this work an economic-mathematical model of two-level hierarchical minimax program control of economic security of the region in the presence of risk and the general scheme of the solution.