The article identifies the social structure of the Russian society by the level of material security. The research results proceed from the early authors’ studies on the analysis of the inequality of population distribution according to certain components of material security (income and housing security). The subject matter of this study was to identify the scale of social groups in the two-criteria model of social structure by the level of cash income and housing security. We proceeded from the hypothesis that compared with the single-criteria model of social structure, representing the integral distribution by the level of material security, its two-criteria model reveals social groups that significantly vary by the scale. The article presents the updated criteria of material security. We used these criteria to form social structure models. To update the criteria, we used mathematical models and informative indicators, which allowed to clarify the quantitative requirements for the level of cash income and housing parameters. Moreover, we relied on the foreign and domestic experience of research and development on this issue. However, we present for the first time a two-criteria model of the social structure of the Russian society by the level of material security based on the updated standards. For assessments and forming this model of social structure, we used the official statistics and the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, RLMS — HSE. The results can be applied in the development of targeted social policy measures, as well as may be in demand for further theoretical and methodological substantiation and practical research on material security and identification of social structures.

The article analyzes the relationship between the assets of the oil industry and the industry organizational structure at the level of the producing regions. When considering assets in oil production, we focus on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the resource base, primarily on the volumes of recoverable reserves and their depletion. The analysis of the organizational structure of the industry is based on the estimates of the concentration levels of companies in oil production. The performed analysis allows to conclude that in most of the Russian Federation subjects, the organizational structure of the oil industry does not correspond to the assets. For example, in a number of regions, there is a high concentration of companies with a high depletion of reserves. This situation is largely determined by a weak development of small and medium-sized oil business. The development of the organizational structure should be connected with the reform of the institutional conditions in resource management. Currently, these conditions are formed at the federal level and are outside the scope of the regional authorities. Resource base, primarily in mature oil and gas regions, requires stimulating the development of small and mediumsized oil business including support from the regional authorities. The study of regional aspects of the organizational structure of oil production allows identifying the characteristics of certain regions, dependencies and drivers that are not visible when considering these issues at the country level. The obtained results can be used for the development of the system of state regulation in the oil and gas sector both at the federal and regional levels.

The purpose of the study is to systematize the challenges of the public economic security in the context of the development of global digitalization. The paper shows that the priority task of economic security, particularly notable in the rapidly changing conditions of today’s globalized world, is to predict the challenges and threats of general digitalization. We have highlighted the features of the digital economy development, which include the intellectual assets, the increase of the relevance of data, network management, wide Internet penetration as well as global data exchange. In the conditions of the digital economy, we have grouped the issues of economic security on system, structural and sectoral problems, as well as the problems of enterprises and individuals. The main problems of economic security are the issues of «digital inequality», a lack of own element base, changes in the labour market, industrial intelligence, personal data manipulation, etc. We have found tools for solving the issues of digital society. These tools include digital platforms for the development of «shared economy», as well as cloud technologies and methods for processing large databases. The Network Readiness Index is a tool for monitoring the development of network digital society. We have formulated the principles for constructing systems for the development of skills, which allow solving the problems of the public economic security in the conditions of digitalization. These principles include the rational use of resources combining short-term and long-term development goals, lifelong learning, consistency, unified approach to management at different levels as well as involvement stakeholders in the process of digitalization. The results of this paper can be useful to public authorities for the development of the principles of digital economy management, as well as to the representatives of scientific community for the study of the economic security issues in the conditions of digital society development.

The implementation of large infrastructure projects has a significant impact on the spatial location of production and change of trade flows. It causes the changes in migration flows and influences the socio-economic development of territories involved in the project. Preliminary assessment of the consequences of the implementation of similar projects requires the use of models. One of the modern directions of simulating is the agent-based approach. It allows to recreate a structure and behaviour of real socioeconomic systems in an artificial environment and to imitate their behaviour if external conditions change. The realism of the simulation of the main socio-economic processes determines the success of pursuing agent-based models to meet the challenges of forecasting. The article describes the construction of the agent-based model of the countries of Eurasia, imitating the basic processes of population movement in these countries, as well as the consequences of implementing large infrastructure projects as a result of the actions of many independent agents. There are two types of agents in the model: a) countries that are capable of lobbying for the implementation of profitable projects, and b) people who live in these countries, who create families, give birth to children and choose the type of activity and place of residence. In agents behaviour’s algorithm, we consider factors, revealed as a result of the research of actual migration processes in the countries of Eurasia. This has allowed to recreate in the model the imitation of people’s behaviour close to reality. The model construction was tested for two routes of New Silk Road. During the experiments, we monitored the changes of economic and demographic indicators for each participating country. Thus, for Russia the growth of total trade turnover (9.6 %) and net export (1.5 %) was observed. Participation in the project gave to China the growth 3.8 % and 7.7 %, respectively. The small countries (Georgia, Bulgaria) showed the reduction of migration outflow and improvement of age structure of the population. The model can be used for preliminary assessment of the consequences of the large infrastructure projects implementation.

Recent changes in the Russian Arctic are often unique in terms of their nature and intensity. Fundamentally new production and infrastructure facilities are being launched, the innovative development of external defense facilities is being completed. Furthermore, the territories of corporate management and support zones for the development of Russian Arctic zone are being established. We consider the examples of the project in the South Tambey licensed area (a liquefied natural gas production facility, a large settlement, a seaport and a large airport), the construction of Rosneft’s multifunctional service structure, changes in the nuclear power industry of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Moreover, we demonstrate emerging legal collisions. A new edition of the state program for the Arctic region’s development, and the establishment of eight support development zones on the territory of the Arctic zone was officially announced. We examine the primary changes in the organizational, managerial and legal support for the development of Russian Arctic zone, which are due to the above-mentioned legislative developments. We critically analyse plans to launch a State Governance Body, responsible for the significant part of the support zones, within the St. Petersburg administration. These and other novelties have required the revision of: a) the content of the federal law on the development of Russian Arctic zone, including in the context of foreign practice of implementing the «Arctic law»; b) a set of subordinate acts of the Russian Government, the state program «Socio-economic development of Russian Arctic for the period until 2020» in particular, which has been and will be substantially reconfigured in the near future.

The resilience of a political, economic or trade alliances of countries or regions depends significantly on to what extent parties of a union consider their membership as beneficial. Dependent on predominant assessments, there may occur a complete disintegration of multi-regional systems, an expansion or contraction in the composition of participants, and maintenance of the status quo. The intensity of interregional exchange is used as an indicator to measure the degree of the regional integration of economic system. The paper represents the capabilities of the coalition analysis method for estimating the degree of interdependence in the multi-regional economy of the Russian Federation. The authors present an analytical review of the structural and statistical models used for estimating the effects of interregional integration as well as substantiate the choice of the approach. The basis of the coalition analysis is the input-output method and the theory of cooperative games. Moreover, the spatial input-output model of the Russian economy is developed on the methodology of national accounts statistics in terms of federal districts. We use a semi-dynamic version of the optimization multi-regional input-output model (OMIOM) on the statistical database of 2013 for developing the forecast up to 2030. On this basis, a coalition analysis of interregional interaction effects is carried out. The calculations revealed a high degree of regional integration as well as of involvement of the national economy into the world one. Depending on the structure of production and consumption of the federal districts’ economies, there are varying capacities to adapt to hypothetical changes in the volume of interregional links. The North-Western, Urals, Siberian and Far Eastern federal districts better adapt to the break of interregional links in comparison to the rest of the regions. The Central, North-Caucasian, Southern and Volga districts benefit more of their integration into the multiregional system and of the access to international markets. Prospects for using coalition analysis are associated with the introduction of an equilibrium condition, which will allow us to assess the degree of equivalence of interregional exchange.

Currently, the socio-economic crisis and tension in external economic environment significantly complicate the task of strategic planning of regional socio-economic development. However, this task is crucially relevant. Its solution requires a multiaspect assessment of regional socio-economic situation. This assessment should take into account the impact of numerous factors, possible “traps”. We propose to use a composite indicator “Index of the welfare of an individual and inhabited area” to assess the socio-economic situation in a region. Using the method of correlation analysis, we selected 6 key indicators: natural population growth rate, mortgage arrears, total unemployment, percentage of the population with incomes below the subsistence level, ratio of budget spending on education to the gross regional product (GRP), ratio of budget spending on healthcare to the gross regional product (GRP). The value domain of each indicator is divided on 7 crisis zones. This allows assessing the socio-economic system situation. We have substantiated the behaviour of regional socio-economic system on the example of the Ural Federal District in the period from 2000 to 2017. Furthermore, we have made projections for the period from 2018 to 2021. The dynamics of four indicators from six demonstrates reveals a post-crisis recovery. However, the direct impact on two budgetary indicators can increase the general welfare in a region. Comparing the dynamics of the index of the welfare of an individual and inhabited area with GRP shows that we can use the index of the welfare of an individual and inhabited area to forecast the dynamics GRP. The research results can be applied for developing measures to enhance the socio-economic development of regions.

The article analyzes the contradictions that have developed on the modern stock market. Markets are becoming more volatile, which creates conditions for manipulating prices on individual financial instruments. The institutional regulation does not solve these problems and, ultimately, is limited to an ineffective control over the markets by regulators and the search for new options for economic imbalances by economic agents. We introduce the terminology and justify the notion of «dominant economic agent». The emergence of dominant economic agents is viewed through the instability of the global financial system, through the access of this category of market participants to unique information technologies, when the opportunities to take advantage of information asymmetry give even greater volatility (variability), primarily, to the financial market and its instruments. Increased volatility attracts new economic agents to the financial market. The role of the dominant economic agents is only increasing. Such an unstable equilibrium develops on the market, when any competitive advantage from a local one can turn into a key one. We investigated the mutual influence and interpenetration of the postulates of the theory of effective financial (stock) markets and the theory of asymmetric information. The hypothesis of the research is based on expert assessments and the practice of financial instruments circulation. Furthermore, the hypothesis confirms that the levels of stock markets efficiency associated with the receipt of new information are erased due to the subjective behaviour of the dominant economic agents. It is not possible to prove that the actions of the dominant economic agents, through the high volatility of financial instruments and individual market segments, lead to the manipulation of the market within the framework of the existing regulatory standards. However, it is undeniable that an excessive volatility of certain financial assets creates problems for accelerating market transformations and institutional changes in the Russian economy. Under current conditions, we recommend solely passive asset management strategies, where fixed-income instruments are basic, and the investor does not need to track the dynamics of changes in their prices, and the effect of information asymmetry is minimized. We have proposed and justified a modern interpretation of investment risk. This interpretation suggests taking into account not only the market dominant, but also the behavioural component. This component is based on the psychology of the agent’s behaviour on the market, and also on the asymmetry of information on the financial markets that dominate economic agents. The results of the study have theoretical and practical significance and can be used both in the development and implementation of measures in the field of financial market regulation, as well as in analyzing the low activity of the population in the investment process.

The article investigates the major determinants of total factor productivity of Russian regions, in particular, the role of spillovers and agglomeration effects. Agglomeration effects are found to be important in regions located in the European part of Russia and in regions with low shares of extraction in the gross regional product (GRP): employment density in such regions turns out to be a significant factor determining total factor productivity. At the same time, neither employment density nor the degree of urbanization affects regions’ sensitivities to spillovers of total factor productivity from other regions — instead, these sensitivities depend only on the sizes of regional capitals and on shares of credit in GRP. This suggests that firms from regions with large capitals and high shares of credit in GRP are more actively expanding into neighboring regions: through their linkages with local firms in host regions, they may create positive correlations between total factor productivities in such host regions and their home regions. The analysis is based on methods of spatial econometrics — namely, the spatial lag and spatial error models with constant and variable spatial coefficients. The estimation is performed with maximum likelihood.

The article substantiates the need to use new approaches in describing the regional economic security including the institutional theory. We argue the importance of economic security for overcoming governance imperfections. Moreover, it is significant to a new paradigm unifying various theories that differ from one another according to methodological features — substantive, functional and axiological ones. In the modern theory of socio-economic development, more attention has been paid to the regional economic security and its institutional explanation. The purpose of the article is to study the economic security of a region through the prism of institutional factors. These factors allow revealing internal features that determine the nature of regional economic security. However, studying these factors using traditional economic theory remains less accessible. The research hypothesis supposes that our method of studying the economic security increases the effectiveness of scientific analysis. Moreover, it allows to identify a region as a complex phenomenon where universal standards of market behaviour can be considered as the special cases of economy. In this regard, the research contributes to the concept of regional economic security. We consider a region using the French «theory of agreements». The application of the theory of conventions allows to re-formulate the concept of the interaction of regional government bodies with a multi-institutional object of regulation. This is a typical for addressing the issue of economic security of northern regions where the problem of market behaviour has more acute and painful form. The outcome of this work can be used as a guide for the modernization of regional governance.

The article suggests an original uniquely designed model based on the entropic approach and the method determining the synergizing effect from the convergence of information spaces in the context of the digital economy. The model includes a 3D-modeling-built surface characterizing the reduction of the entropy of information systems clusters in the regional information space, which occurs in the process of network convergence. This model defines the entropy changes for the information systems clusters with the most typical parameters based on “The State Information System Registry of St. Petersburg” in terms of the number of modules, general typology, and functional purpose. Moreover, the model considers ranges of specific indicators characterizing the real regional information systems of St. Petersburg. We have concluded that the synergetic effects of convergence in the context of the digital economy lead to a reduction in the regional information space entropy. We have discovered that the increasing number of the converged clusters of information spaces leads to a stable entropy decrease in them. These features allow numerically describing the discovered convergence effects and estimating the effect of digital structural transformations of the economic system on the information space of a region in terms of its management efficiency. We have concluded that increasing the number of information systems involved in the digital convergence processes causes a more considerable entropy reduction and, consequently, a more significant increase in the effectiveness of regional system management. The research has revealed a relevant area of cross-disciplinary research, which consists in the emergence of a whole class of new neural network in the modern digital neural network economy. This research is of practical significance in developing new management algorithms and making effective managerial decisions in the conditions of large-scale digitalization and networking of regional and national management.

In the conditions of developing cluster policy and the application of cluster approach by regions, the issues of interference assessment of clusters and regional economics become essential. The purpose of the paper is to determine if created clusters allow to develop and, in particular, diversify the economy of a region, as well as to identify whether the industrial specialization of a region influences the specialization and success rate of clusters under formation. The method includes two parts. First of all, it is the assessment of the cluster development level and the identification of the influence of regional specialization on cluster development. The second part is the assessment of regional industrial specialization within the period of cluster functioning. I have distinguished factors conditioned by regional industrial specialization, which are important for cluster formation. The extractive specialization of Kemerovo region (the contribution of mining operations to the gross value added of the region was more than 25 % in 2015) defined the specialization of only one cluster connected with coal and conversion. The analysis of biomedical, tourist-recreational, agro-industrial clusters, created in the region within the period 2011–2016, showed that prerequisites for cluster formation were the concentration of participants, their territorial proximity, share of small and mediumsized enterprises in a cluster, scientific, technological and educational potential of the territory, tendency to structural changes and natural potential, cooperation in the industry and science, and last, the strategy of development of a cluster. Cluster forms in those types of economic activity, which are less provided with investment but require the incorporation of resources for development, including through the mechanisms of governmental support. The level of development of created clusters has not influenced any changes in the region specialization. For the period of clusters existence, there has been the increase of the index of production per capita in the trade group “coal” (from 29.68 in 2011 to 31.72 in 2016), Herfindahl-Hirschman index in 2012 was 1366.89, in 2015 it was 1327.65; the regional marketability index for coal over a period of 2014–2016 changed from 0.98 to 0.93. This result might be applied to actualize the strategy for regional development as well as for the implementation of measures for cluster support.

The article is based on the system approach and the analysis of ensuring economic security as well as on the developed conceptual techniques devoted to the security of regional enterprises. We consider the issues of the interaction of subsystems of the general system of national security in regions. The purpose of the study is to develop a comprehensive methodology for the assessment of the national security in regions including all main directions: economy, ecology, information, etc. Currently, the need for a theory of security of regional enterprises has, first of all, an applied nature. At the same time, without basic fundamental knowledge of the theory of comprehensive security, it is impossible to provide sustainable development of regional enterprises. We conduct a comprehensive research of all types of security on the basis of the system approach and the analysis. Furthermore, we move from task-specific study to the system research of the examined objects and systems. It has allowed analysing the internal interrelations of subsystems including the subsystems of economic security in the framework of the general system of national security. We propose the method, which substantiates the quality of enterprise security using the fuzzy set method and fuzzy multi-criteria method in relation to the paper’s topic. Moreover, we apply the Bellman and Zadeh’s principle allowing to choose an option, which satisfies all criteria in the maximum degree. The developed approach to the formation of a comprehensive assessment of all types of security will allow providing sufficient explanations to the influence and interaction of subsystems within the national security’s general system as well as will significantly increase the economic stability of regional enterprises and organizations.

Despite the relative «youth» of hypercompetition theory, a lot of research has been carried out currently. But most of them study hypercompetition threats from the perspective of transnational companies. We estimate that enterprises of all sizes, including small ones, are exposed to this threat, because hypercompetition reduces the life cycle of competitive advantage, and thus constantly changes the positions of market players. The study determines to what extent the hypercompetition drivers are manifested in the Russian economy, in which industries and regions the small industries are subject to its threats the most. We have classified small enterprises of manufacturing industries to «small industry» as prevailing in small industrial structure. The paper revealed that the Russian economy has already shown the driving forces of hypercompetition and sectoral and regional differentiation. This conclusion is based on the analysis of changes in conditions and rules of competition. Therefore, the challenge was to develop a research method to assess small industry resistance to hypercompetition threats in the regions. The method has allowed to assess 47 Russian regions according to three criteria: the degree of hypercompetition threat; potential growth and importance of small industry for the regional development; open innovations availability for small industries as an effective method for increasing hypercompetition resistance. The integrated results of these assessments made it possible to identify 11 regions: the Republic of Mordovia, Chuvash Republic, Sverdlovsk region, Tula region, Krasnoyarsk region, Chelyabinsk region, Vladimir region, Lipetsk region, Penza region, Republic of Mari El, Ryazan region. These are the areas where, on the one hand, threats of hypercompetition for primary branches of the small industry are rather big. However, on the other hand, small industry has a high development potential even in hypercompetition through open innovation.

Environmental problems concern both the economic and social interests of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Therefore, it is necessary to elaborate a common assessment methodology for socio-economic consequences of emergency situations. We suggested the original methodology for the evaluation of direct and indirect socio-economic consequences of emergency situations in the Republic of Kazakhstan. We have developed an algorithm for the evaluation of socio-economic consequences of emergency situations for Kazakhstan at the present stage. As a result of industrial and socio-economic development, a priority place in the system of national security belongs to a subsystem of ecological security. It is connected with the fact that ecology is indispensable for the survival of mankind in the conditions of the newest ecological shocks of the 21st century. Moreover, the ecological safety is a component for the sustainable development of the state economy as well as for its social prosperity. This circumstance is due to the fact that huge financial means will be spent on the liquidation of possible environmental disasters that may negatively influence further development of a state. Moreover, territories suffered from environmental disasters would be announced as the zones of disasters, where any socio-economic activity would be forbidden. There are many such examples in the history of Kazakhstan. We remember Semipalatinsk Nuclear. From 1949 until 1989, there were more than 450 explosions, during which more than 600 nuclear and thermonuclear devices were blown up. We would also like to note the region of the Aral Sea, where millions of hectares of the earth have been brought out of agricultural turn, as the mistake using the irrigation areas. These facts indicate that those enormous territories of the Republic became the zones of ecological catastrophe and cannot be used for the socio-economic activity.

At present, the development of entrepreneurship is a priority task of social and economic development of Russia. The observed rates of socio-economic and innovative development of regions indicate that the private business initiative is not sufficiently developed. At the same time, the private business initiative is the leading driver of economic renewal of the territories. As practice shows, current measures, aimed at stimulating entrepreneurship, do not provide the growth of business activity and seem insufficient. These measures do not consider specific spatial context in which the business develops. Therefore, these reasons significantly reduce the effectiveness of these stimulating measures. In this regard, we estimate that the environment in which the elements of the system interact is gaining a great importance in the framework of a system approach to the study of the entrepreneurship development at the regional level. In practice, to manage the development of business structures in a spatial context, the ecosystem approach seems to be very promising. This approach takes into account the nature of the interactions of economic agents and their relationship with the environment. We highlight that the ecosystem approach to entrepreneurship is a transition from a traditional economic view of entrepreneurship, which is market-oriented to a new economic view that emphasizes people, networks and institutions. We substantiate that it is necessary to develop a methodological toolkit for monitoring the attractiveness of a regional entrepreneurial ecosystem for the generation and development of entrepreneurial processes. It is being an important element of the mechanism for designing and managing the development of business ecosystems. To determine the current state of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in a region, we have proposed a methodology for monitoring the state of the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. This method is based on a statistical analysis of the demographic quantitative and qualitative indicators characterizing the intensity of the development and extinction of entrepreneurial processes. As a result, we have expanded the concept of the ecosystem approach. Furthermore, we have justified its application for the investigation of entrepreneurial processes at the regional level. To study the current state of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems, we suggest to use a special statistical apparatus. This apparatus is based on demographic indicators characterizing the viability and growth potential of entrepreneurial structures in a specific spatial context. To further develop the ecosystem approach for the study of entrepreneurship at the regional level, there is an urgent need for further research that will allow to identify and understand the patterns of the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems. It will increase the effectiveness of practical measures for designing a mechanism for managing the development of regional entrepreneurship.

Regional disproportions of the Russian insurance market have a considerable impact on insurance coverage of regional needs. The development of insurance relationship results from high-quality and structural changes in insurance interests both in corporate and in retail insurance, in voluntary and mandatory forms. Regional conditions define the quality and dynamics of insurance offer. At the same time, organizational, legal, financial requirements to insurance companies do not consider their specificity. Therefore, regional organizations are driven out from the market. Moreover, an insurer, especially in personal insurance and property and casualty insurance, remains with representative offices of the federal companies offering the uniform customs and not assuming individual approach. The results of the study have proved that during the development of Russian insurance based on market principles, territorial disproportions had a significant impact on the satisfaction of insurance interests. Currently, the situation has been aggravated due to increased insurance supervision, increased requirements for the authorized capital of insurance organizations, asset quality, significant additional costs for the transition to a new chart of accounts, XBRL data formats at the request of the Central Bank of Russia, the development of insolvency, temporary administration, bankruptcy. Additional diversion of resources to counter «insurance lawyers», the settlement of problems with the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) significantly affects the financial condition of insurance organizations, which are not in the list of the top 50 insurers. However, the access to the insurance services is not equal. Thus, in any region and locality in the country, consumers can not obtain insurance products of the required quality, even in the case of MPTL insurance for car owners. The conditions are unequal even for the settlement of claims in the area of insurance risks. We have considered the characteristics of the regional development of the insurance market and proposed additional criteria for their evaluation. We have identified the main problems of regional development, proposed a number of organizational and regulatory innovations to optimize the structure of the market. On the basis of the system comparative analysis of the regional insurance markets of Russia, we have concluded that there is a need for different approaches to determining the directions and key indicators for the development of regional insurance markets. The state of regional insurance is compared with the specificity of the regional economy, which is the basis for the development of insurance. We propose different requirements for the federal and regional insurance organizations. We have suggested new approaches to the regulation of regional insurance companies, which will allow to equalize supply and to improve the quality of insurance services in regional insurance markets.

A lack of practice in assessing sustainable development of Kazakhstan regions for effective territory policy has necessitated studying the experience of environmental and economic indicators application into accounting. The article deals with the assessment of the regional green economy development at the meso level using integral indicators. The recommended practice is based on the approach of applying an environmental and economic indicator in Russia. This approach is based on the World Bank principles for developing the indicator of adjusted net savings. The official statistics of the socio-economic and ecological status of the regions in the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2006–2015 became background of this research. According to the calculations, we have grouped the Kazakhstan regions into three ecological categories. We propose to compare the formed groups with the classification of Kazakhstan regions by the level of economic development taking into account innovative activity, degree of human capital development, regional accessibility and concentration of business as well as the regional gross product per capita. To group regions, we used hierarchical cluster analysis and the Ward’s method. The research findings have revealed the relationship between the level of economic development of the country’s regions and their environmental situation. The majority of regions focused on the industrial development have an average indicator of adjusted net savings. Oil-producing regions have a distinctly negative rate. At the same time, agrarian regions have a high and above the average values of adjusted net savings. Empirical conclusions of this research can be used for developing effective environmental and innovation regional policies. Thus, according to the results of the analysis, we recommend to avoid destructive projects with strong environmental impact in those Kazakhstan’s regions, which have the high values of the index of adjusted net savings and possess the enormous potential of ecosystem services and biodiversity. In the regions with low values, we recommend to increase investment in the implementation of eco-innovation projects and to diversify production in order to reduce the level of ecological loads.

The research of the factors of emigration from Russia taking into account regional features is a relevant topic for modern Russia. Despite essential emigration decrease of Russians, in comparison with the 1990th, a problem remains critical. Along with general tendencies, in the regions of Russia, a wide range of factors determining the scales and directions of emigration from Russia has emerged. The identification of a role and quantitative assessment of the effect of these factors will promote the creation of more effective mechanisms for the modern migration policy of the Russian Federation. We consider the scale, dynamics and specific features of the emigration of Russians in the post-Soviet period. The paper indicates the shortcomings of statistical accounting of emigrants from the Russian Federation. Several waves of emigration have been singled out, which differ significantly in their qualitative and quantitative characteristics. Based on the analysis of the constructed indicators characterizing the emigration activity of Russians, we have revealed the peculiarities of emigration in the regions of Russia. We used the regression analysis to quantify the factors responsible for the emigration activity of the population. As initial information for the analysis, we used the official data of Federal State Statistics Service on the number of the Russian citizens who have gone abroad for 2014 considering a region as well as a number of the socio-economic indexes characterizing the level and quality of life of the population. Russians from the border regions are more likely to travel to a permanent place of residence abroad than residents of other regions of the Russian Federation. In the course of time, there was a significant expansion of the directions and channels of emigration, and the socio-demographic portrait of the emigrant has also changed. Emigration from Russia has become “younger”. To a greater extent, women are involved in emigration mainly through the marriage channel. The emigration activity of Russians is significantly influenced by several factors in the regions of current residence. Among these factors, indicators that characterize tensions in regional labour markets and those that play the role of “pushing out” are particularly noted. At the same time, the restraining factor is the proportion of the population with incomes below the subsistence level. The paper also analyses the socio-demographic and economic consequences of emigration. The results of the study can be used to improve the migration policy of the Russian Federation.

The quality of human capital is a priority factor for the development of modern economy. Apparently, the system of higher education has a significant impact on the human development. There are a number of approaches to assessing this impact and to enhancing its positive outcomes. Studying the professional and social trajectories of graduates allows obtaining an objective picture of a practice-oriented influence of higher education on the human capital formation. The article explores young professionals’ career development six months after graduation. We analyse the characteristics of young professionals’ occupational and educational trajectories through examining the indicators of graduates’ employment monitoring in 2014–2016. The data are supplemented by the results of the graduates’ survey conducted in 2017 using administrative data. The data were processed using the methods of cluster and regression analysis, classification method and expert estimates. We have disproved the hypothesized significant impact of graduates’ performance at the university and their training basis (fee-payment or budgetary funding) on the financial success of graduates. Furthermore, we have identified five tendencies. Firstly, the graduates are increasingly involved in unstable employment. Secondly, working experience has a significant impact on successful employment. Thirdly, graduates continue their training to adapt themselves to the labour market. Fourthly, the financial and social success is highly dependent on the choice of training specialities, which are in demand in the modern economy. And last, there is a high mobility among graduates. Up to 30 % of them are moving to another subject of the Russian Federation. The study results can be applied to improve the quality of bachelor and master degree programmes, taking into account the identified specifics of young professionals’ unstable employment and to determine areas for effective government investment in the development of the Ural region human potential.

The article discusses the problems of the innovative activity of managers in Russian enterprises as one of the conditions for the development of the labour potential of a region. The paper shows the main reasons for the low innovative activity of Russian enterprises. The systems of labour relations that have developed, as a rule, generate labour and innovative passivity as well as the opportunistic behaviour of managers. Most Russian enterprises lack incentive schemes for managers’ innovative activity. We propose a systematic approach to stimulating the innovative activity of managers, relying on the authors’ experience of researching the innovative activity of managers in a number of enterprises. The authors’ system «Innovation», which is a Russian version of the Japanese lean manufacturing system, stimulates the innovative activity of personnel. Implementing this system in the enterprises of the Ural Federal District has convincingly shown that in modern conditions, a radical increase in the innovative activity of business managers is possible. It, therefore, stimulates the development of regional labour potential. Our hypothesis is that a high innovative activity of managers in Russian enterprises is possible by developing and implementing a two-sided incentive system for stimulating managers’ innovative activity. Such a system should provide not only incentives for innovative activity but also managers’ responsibility for their innovative passivity. We suggest a system of concepts of the innovative activity of personnel, which is necessary when organizing work to stimulate the innovative activity of enterprise managers. For the first time in the theory of incentives for staff and practical activities of enterprises, we propose to introduce a semi-annual assessment of the innovative activity of managers. The assessment of managers’ innovative activity is an instrument for incentives for an enterprise. Moreover, for managers, it becomes one of the motivational factors for the manifestation of innovation activity. The research results were applied in the development of the System of Innovative Activity of Managers in OAO Uralelectromed and OAO Shadrinsky Auto Aggregate Plant. The results of the research can be applied in industrial enterprises of different legal status and forms of ownership.

The spread of HIV infection with the consequent death from AIDS removes some resources from the economy, impedes the preservation of human capital in the economy and undermines the foundations of economic development. The analysis of foreign and domestic research demonstrates the difficulty of assessing the impact of HIV infection on economic development. There is a variety of approaches and methods used for these assessments. Thus, the search for an optimal model to assess the impact of HIV infection on economic development becomes increasingly relevant. We have substantiated the calculation the economic burden of the disease caused by HIV infection. The proposed method for assessing socio-economic losses due to premature mortality from HIV infection includes three main types: the explicit economic costs from the premature mortality of the working-age population, the implicit costs from the premature mortality of the incapable population and the implicit economic costs from premature mortality of women of child-bearing age due to their inability to participate in the reproduction of the labour force. The magnitude of the region’s gross regional product (GRP) losses from fatal HIV infection increased 1.85 times between the years 2012 and 2016. As a result, of premature mortality from HIV infection, the Sverdlovsk oblast GRP decreased by 1.68 % in 2016, total losses were 16.2 billion roubles. In the structure of the total losses, about 70 % are implicit losses associated with the mortality of women of child-bearing age and therefore, the loss of the opportunity to increase the population of the region. The further direction of the research is to assess the socio-economic impact of investments in HIV treatment on the quality of life in the region.

The ongoing changes in the pension system of Russia gave rise to a discussion about the degree of financial security of the pension rights, the ratio of «own» revenues and transfers of the federal budget to ensure payment of pensions. It can be assumed that the ideas about the schemes and directions of financial support for the pension system of the Russian Federation that have been developed in modern literature and society are rather limited. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is a comprehensive assessment of the types and directions of expenditure for pensions in the Russian Federation, conducted from the perspective of their display in the System of National Accounts (SNA). The article generalizes the cost-determination principles for pension support for households within SNA as well as allocates basic differences in the forms of the pension system and their description in accounts of SNA. I have classified the types and sources of financial flows of the pension system in the Russian Federation as well as highlighted the channels and dynamics of the financing of pension liabilities. I have compiled the flows of the Russian Federation’s pension system depending on various sources: the Pension Fund of RF, law enforcement agencies, justice system, etc. On this basis, I have undertaken a comparative analysis of the key parameters for various sources of funding: the average pension, the burden of pension deductions for wages, the ratio of employed and retired people in various forms of the pension system. The research shows that in Russia, there are several forms of pensions, different in scale and sources of funding. Using uniquely the data of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation for the analysis of properties of the pension system is incorrect from the point of view of both the basic principles of accounting of SNA flows and the real replacement of pensioner’s incomes. I prove that a significant part of the expenditure obligations for pension security is due the adoption by the government of increased social obligations, rather than a lack of income from the working population. The results of the research can be a basis for the calculation of pension liability in the Russian Federation.

The topic of sustainable development in the modern context has emerged due to international reports «The Limits to Growth» and «Our Common Future», the Rio de Janeiro conferences, the «Millennium Declaration» and the document «Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development». The documents noted the importance of developing indicators to measure sustainable development. However, practice has shown that the universal set of indicators at the country and international levels is still has not been developed. In the main systems of indicators of sustainable development, demographic indicators are insufficiently represented. The use of demographic indicators will allow to move to a new assessment — demographic sustainability. Since the early 1990s, more than 35,000 domestic works have been published on the topic of sustainable development, but only 1.3 % of them have been devoted to demographic issues. The article suggests evaluating demographic sustainability according to twenty-five indicators. On the basis of these indicators, we have calculated the integral index of demographic sustainability. It allowed to rank all northern regions according to the degree of sustainability: critical, low, medium, high. From 2000 to 2015, there was an increase in demographic sustainability: there were no regions with critical sustainability. But nowadays, most of the regions are still characterized by low and medium sustainability. We have substantiated that the demographic sustainability of the northern regions can be achieved under the following conditions: slightly expanded population reproduction; the able-bodied part of the population is sufficient to supply the branches of the national economy with labour resources; the number of people entering into labour activity exceeds the outgoing human resources; sex-age proportions are optimal; reduction in the difference in life expectancy between the sexes, a city, a village, separate ethnic groups. Furthermore, the negative migration balance of the territory is formed as a result of the fact that the number of retiring persons older than the working age and who have lost their ability to work exceeds the incoming migration flows from persons of working age. The results of the study can be used as a theoretical and methodological basis for determining the demographic sustainability at different levels of governance.

The purpose of this study is to identify factors that affect the level of employment in Russian regions. However, Russia is not a homogeneous country, and this effect may not be the same for all regions. That is why we split the regions of Russia into three groups, depending on the state of the labor market in this and neighboring regions. The HH (high-high) group comprises regions with a favorable situation in their labor markets, and which are also surrounded mostly by prosperous regions. Two groups of regions with a less favorable situation are located respectively in the south of Russia (LL1, low-low group 1) and southern Siberia and Zabaikalye (LL2, low-low group 2). We considered the twelve-year period from 2005 to 2016. As explanatory variables, we used variables for the attractiveness of the region, demographic characteristics of the region, and the degree of diversity of employees by economic activities. We tested hypotheses about differences in 1) the spatial effects and 2) the impact of the various explanatory variables for these groups of variables. To test our main hypotheses, we used spatial regression dynamic models estimated with the help of the generalized method of moments. Both main hypotheses received empirical confirmation. Spatial effects were different. The regions of the LL2 group are not affected by the situation in other local markets; regions of LL1 and HH groups are affected by the rest of Russia’s regions, and the extent of this influence decreases with the increase in geographical distance between regions. Moreover, the regions of the LL1 group compete with neighboring regions: if the situation in one of them improves, then it draws on the resources of the others. Regarding the impact of the explanatory variables, the “group effect” was revealed for the variables: share of urban population, net migration rate, shares of people below and above working age, share of people with higher education. Our results can favor the better design of national and regional policies to improve labor market performance in Russia based on the heterogeneity of the Russian regions.

The numerous publications of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods are devoted to the consequences of the unfavourable impact of natural and climatic conditions on the health and life activity of both the indigenous and incoming population, especially in the areas of new industrial development. However, the issues of an integrated assessment of natural and climatic conditions in terms of their influence on the comfort of living remain insufficiently studied. The purpose of this study is to develop a consistent approach to assessing the degree of the comfort of living in the northern regions with the help of an integrated indicator, as well as to test this approach on the example of the territory of the Ural North. The study is based on the hypothesis that natural conditions are one of the main factors affecting the level of foreign population and increasing the cost of infrastructure facilities construction and ongoing production activities in the North. The article analyzes the state of methodological support for the assessment of natural conditions and the comfort of living, proposed by the representatives of various scientific fields — by economists, sociologists, demographers, geographers, ecologists, physicians, etc. We have proposed the basic principles and factors for determining the comfort of living in terms of climatic, socio-economic, medico-demographic and ecological approaches. By means of the empirical analysis, we have justified the methodological approach to assessing the comfort of living in the northern territories on the example of the areas near to the Ural mountains. We have proposed a set of indicators, which allow to adequately reflect the degree of comfort of living, and a calculation formula for its scoring. In the natural climatic zoning of the territory, we took into account zonal and azonal factors. The results of the assessment of the comfort of natural conditions are necessary to address a number of issues. Firstly, these results are needed to define a degree of comfort of human settlements conditions. Secondly, the natural conditions assessment is important for identifying the features of immigrants’ adaptation. Thirdly, the results of this assessment will contribute to establish opportunities for the formation of resident population from incoming population. And last, the assessment of the comfort of natural conditions is necessary to study the environmental sustainability to man-made activities, etc.

The growing complexity and uncertainty of economic processes in the digital economy require an increase in the accuracy of the company’s performance. This explains the interest in the development of the methods of value-based management (VBM). The development of the digital economy is accompanied by an increase of the update requirements of products and technologies. This makes it necessary to assess the profit potential of companies as an internal source of capital accumulation funds and as the base for investment attractiveness of projects. I consider how to refine the method of economic value added taking into account the market rate of profit reinvestment. For an integrated assessment of the factors of the capital present value and the factors capital reinvestment, I propose an indicator of the systemic value added (profitability added) of a company. Accelerated profit shifting through dividends reflects how business owners assess their business risks as well as characterizes the possibilities for modernization in the conditions of restricted external financing. Therefore, that is of interest to estimate the investment attractiveness of companies. The proposed approach allows assessing sustainable growth prospects taking into account the balance of the interests of strategic stakeholders in the development of the policy for the profit distribution. The proposed approach was applied for the study of four Russian companies in the telecommunications industry in 2015–2016. Analysing the companies’ financial statements, I show that the analysis of the factors of economic value added specifies the assessment of the economic potential of a business. I propose to classify four levels of sustainable growth depending on the accepted strategy of net profit distribution in a company. The table of equity management strategies has resulted from the analysis. I have determined the indicators that allow monitoring the dynamics of the risk of investing in a company. The proposed approach specifies criteria for the fundamental analysis of issuing companies, expands the possibilities for the assessment and forecast of investment attractiveness of shares and debt instruments of companies.

The interest to a research of the factors affecting the development of the machine-building and metal-working industry is connected to a research of the influence of institutional factors on the sectoral composition of the economy in a natural resourcerich region. The initial data are the results of the questionnaire survey and statistics. The research is focused on the factors of the evolution of the machine-building and metal-working industry in a natural resource-rich region. We analyse factors influencing the development of this industry in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug — Yugra. The purpose of the study is to identify the factors that influence the development of the metal-working industry under crisis and sanctions. Our hypothesis is that the machine-building and metal-working industry in Yugra derives from oil production. The basic methods are questionnaire survey and economic and statistical analysis, in particular, the multiple correlation method and autocorrelation method. We have found the influence of informal institutions on the development of the industry. Moreover, we have revealed the most important factors and tendencies for the development of the industry. The machine-building and metal-working industry remains dependent on the rate of national currency, however the dependence on oil prices. The results of the analysis demonstrate that informal norms and rules have both positive and negative impact on the development of the industry. The most important positive factors are the level of competition in the industry, state strategy for the development of the industry. The most important factors that negatively affect the development of the industry are: skill level and composition of labour resources, geographical location of the region. There is a tendency of enterprises consolidation and the increase in labour productivity, a growth of capital intensity of production, positive influence of inflation, and increase in the role of export. The dependence on the rate of national currency remains, and the dependence on oil prices can be considered to be overcome. The scientific contribution consists in revealing the influence of informal institutions on the development of the industry, as well as in the identification of interdependencies and trends, which are difficult to explain. We have concluded that the machine-building and metal-working industry derives from the leading industry of the region — oil and gas production, and its development is increasingly defined by internal factors. The results can be applied in public administration at the regional level, as well as for legislative adjustments and further scientific research. The question of what is primary — regional economic institutions or whether the economic development of the industry in the region, remains contentious and can be considered as a limitation or direction for future research.

The purpose of the research is to substantiate what kind of influence the import substitution has on the positioning of different types of regions in the system of international economic relations. The research is focused on two types of regions — the industrial type (the Sverdlovsk region) and the agricultural type (Rostov and Krasnodar regions). The research hypothesis is following: import substitution influences not only the replacement of imported goods by the domestic ones, but also can change regional positioning in the international economic relations system. The authors propose the methodological approach. It examines the regional economy according to three levels: a system of entities engaged in foreign economic activity; a system of the support of import substitution and export orientation in a region; a system of international economic relations. Regional positioning in the system of international economic relations is expressed in manufacture and agriculture exports and imports. Our methodological approach reveals the dependence between manufacture and agriculture exports and imports and the manufacturing and agriculture output, including correlation analysis. . We have offered a technique based on the comparative analysis of the effectiveness of import substitution in two regions’ types applying correlation analysis. The analysis has shown the interrelation of the development processes of domestic manufacturing and agriculture, their export and import in 2005– 2016. The import decrease and export increase (after 2014) were mainly due to regional specialization in international division of labour. This demonstrates the results of import substitution. The research results can be used for further development of the strategies of regional international economic activity including such instruments as import substitution and export promotion.

A study of the influence of foreign trade on economic growth is one of controversial research issues. The economy of Russia is based on close interactions with foreign markets, which are sources of its growth. Russia has a large number of regional economies, which are disproportionately connected with foreign markets. The regional specificity may correct significantly a contribution of foreign trade interactions to the economic growth of Russia. The existing research of the influence of foreign trade on the economic growth of Russian regions are episodic and outdated. The main purpose of the article is to assess the long-term impact of foreign trade on the economic growth of Russian regions in a decade (2007–2016). The methodology of the research is based on the neoclassical model of economic growth expanded by adding the parameters of the foreign trade interactions estimated by regions in stable and current prices. The hypothesis of a long-term positive impact of exports and imports on the Russian regions’ economic growth for all model specifications was confirmed. The consideration of regional specificity has given a more exact assessment of the cumulative contribution of regions to economic growth if the foreign trade relations are compared with the aggregated models. We have revealed that indicators of foreign trade, in general, made a positive contribution to economic growth, compensating negative impact of other factors. The paper shows the dependence of the dynamics of regional economic growth on the current volatility of export and import. We suppose that the generally positive impact of foreign trade on economic growth is corrected by regions, in which production and consumption are subsidized within the existing budgetary process. The tendency of the positive influence of export on economic growth is underestimated due to the regions delivering their production mostly to the domestic market. The tendency of the positive influence of import on economic growth is underestimated due to the regions where there are no largest logistic centres and no interaction with foreign countries. These estimates can be a confirmation of the need to intensify the policy of trade openness with the purpose of accelerating the Russian regional economy.

The complicated conditions of the modern economy reduce the effectiveness of traditional instruments for economic regulation. The debt burden of the regions is growing, forcing them to cut spending on medicine and education, thereby, reducing investment in human capital. In these conditions, new economic tools for regional management are neecessary. We propose the investment multiplier as such an instrument. The novelty of the research is the investigation of the impact of the investment multiplier on the regional economy as well as in developing an information model for analyzing the regional investment multiplier. We also have developed a model that allows to assess the relationship between the value of the investment multiplier and the structure of the regional economy. We consider the main directions of the analysis of the regional investment multiplier, allowing assessing its structure, dynamics and factors influencing its value. The model is based on the data of regional statistics. This model allows estimating the relationship between the value of the investment multiplier and the structure of the regional economy. We have made the assessment of this relationship for the Central and Far Eastern Federal Districts. The obtained results allowed to reveal the reserves for the economic development of these regions, as well as certain barriers on the way of this development. We have ranked the economic activities of the region by the strength of their influence on the value of the investment multiplier with a view to further managing this value. Applying the obtained results in managing the regional economy will help to avoid a significant deviation of the actual data from the planned values of the key indicators of the regional economy. Managing the value of the investment multiplier will help counteract the economic recession, initiating growth even in relatively difficult economic conditions.

The choice of economic policy instruments to ensure economic growth is one of the important problems of the country. The purpose of the article is to analyze and characterize the interconnection of income, inflation and aggregate demand in the Russian economy and at the regional level in order to increase the effectiveness of the state’s economic policy. We show the contradictory causes of demand-pull inflation and cost-push inflation, as well as anti-inflationary measures aimed at overcoming them. The hypothesis is that the decline in inflation results from tight monetary policy and the use of monetary measures. The decline in inflation have negative effect associated with a reduction in aggregate demand in the economy, a slowdown in economic development or decline in production, a decrease in investment and innovation activity in the country, a decrease in real incomes. Based on the analysis of tabulated models, we have determined functional dependencies between changes in household incomes, inflation and aggregate demand. We have revealed that there was no unambiguous correlation between the money incomes of the population, investments, government spending and changes in the level of inflation in Russia. Moreover, the increase in total spending was more often accompanied by a decrease in inflation than by the development of inflation processes. We have concluded that the transition to the state policy of stimulation of cumulative demand is appropriate. The results of the research can be used when developing the state economic policy and regional programs aimed at ensuring the economic development of territorial subjects of the Russian Federation.

The article deals with the problem of fair co-financing of socio-ecological and economic projects of a region, which is topical for the northern regions of Russia. At the same time, we solve the task of forming an optimal set of projects based on the fair sharing depending on the interest of business, state and society in the project implementation. In the process of analyzing the attractiveness of socio-environmental and economic development projects in a region, we have developed a scheme for solving this task. At the first stage, we recommend an expert assessment using the fuzzy scales developed by the authors. These scales allow to make a lexical assessment of the priority of criteria for assessing the development of a region and the degree to which the projects meet these criteria. In the second stage of calculations, the obtained expert assessments make it possible to determine a fair sharing in project financing. These shared assessments and project priorities allow developing a model of an optimal set of projects for the development of a region, taking into account the allocated financial resources. The system of expert assessments and models is implemented in the Excel-VBA program. This system has been applied to solve the problem of selecting social, environmental and economic development projects in the Russian Arctic regions.

Increasing fixed investments is the main task for the Russian economy. The restriction on the ability of a company to attract external financing demands increasing investments from the company’s own funds. The purpose of the research is to identify reserves for the increase in fixed investments from internal funds. Using data on the economy, in general, I have found that the most part of net profit is used for dividend payments (54 %) and financial investments (38 %) and only 8 % of a company’s net profit is invested into fixed capital. It proves that the financial policy of the Russian companies is focused on a short-term income to the detriment of long-term returns. I have proposed a methodology, which allows to define the company’s reserves for the increase in fixed investments from its own funds depending on an economically reasonable target value for the share of net operating surplus, which is directed to fixed investments. When the target level of net fixed investment is 50 % of net operating surplus, the fixed investments from the company’s own funds can be increased by 1.53 times or by 2.84 trillion rubles that makes 3.3 % of GDP for the total economy. The maximum opportunities for the increase in fixed investments at the expense of own means are available in the oil production (by 1.83 times), metallurgical production (by 1.76 times) as well as wholesale trade of fuel (by 34.6 times). State policy has to stimulate the companies to the greatest possible use of their own funds to invest into fixed capital. The results of the research can be used to select the companies applying for state support.

Enhancing the role of entrepreneurship as an instrument of export diversification for sustainable development of the economy of the country and regions is a topical problem. The research is focused on the regional export potential including youth startups (small and medium enterprises, or SME), whose non-raw exports should increase by 1.5–2 times by 2020 according to the roadmap «Export» approved the Government of the Russian Federation The purpose of the article is to clarify theoretical and methodological foundations as well as to develop assessment methodology and appropriate recommendations on the enhancing the export potential of technology SME. As a hypothesis, we have suggested that there is a relationship between the regional export potential and the development of the start-up youth movement. The study used mathematical methods for processing statistical data, in particular, a correlation analysis of export statistics and start-up companies. The methodological tools were tested on the example of statistical data of 2016 for 39 regions of Russia. According to the correlation analysis, we have identified the direct moderate dependence between the specific weight of technologies export in the gross regional product (GRP) and the number of residents of business incubators in regions. In other words, the influence of the development of regional technology export on the number of existing startup companies is positive but moderate. This conclusion contributes to the solution of the task to ensure Russia’s status as a global technology leader by increasing a share of high-tech export, including SME and start-ups focused on export. The content analysis has shown that the emerging regional concepts and export development strategies give insufficient consideration to the export potential of SME. Therefore, we offer a set of measures to enhance this potential including organizational and coordination aspect of the export ecosystem. The results can serve as a guideline for developing mechanisms and instruments to promote the development of non-raw exports of technology SME to diversify the regional economy.