In the conditions of continuing foreign policy instability, the problem of ensuring economic security at the national and régional levels is steadily increasing. The existing methodologies for assessing the security status of regional economies are static. Furthermore, they include a scattered list of indicators that are difficult to consistently interpret when conducting an analysis. Therefore, the authors proposed an indicative dynamic method for assessing changes in the security situation of the regional economy. As the initial data we have used indicators of the development of the Sverdlovsk region for the period from 2010 to 2017 inclusive. We have achieved the following results. Firstly, we have suggested the set of the indicators, which result in changes in the level of economic security of the region. Moreover, we have structured the main factors that have a formative and destructive impact on the economy of the region. Secondly, the conducted analysis has shown that the economic development of the Sverdlovsk region can be divided into two main phases: upward (2014) and downward (from 2014 to the present). This is a consequence of the instability of the regional economy to external shocks due to weak diversification as well as low entrepreneurial activity. Thirdly, the growing threats to the economy of the Sverdlovsk region lead to a decrease in the welfare of the population. In 2015, the level of wages in Moscow was 2 times higher than in the Sverdlovsk region, however, by the end of 2017, the level of wages in Moscow was already 2,2 times higher than in the Sverdlovsk region. At the same time, in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Tyumen, the growth rate of income of the population was about 10-11 % for 2017, while, in the Sverdlovsk region the income growth for the same period was only 5 %. The obtained results can contribute to the development of the Sverdlovsk region strategic programs aimed at ensuring the sustainable socio-economic development of the region. The findings concerning the level of economic security in the Sverdlovsk region are not final. This means the need for further development of economic and mathematical models that will logically complement the methods proposed in this article for assessing the economic security of Russian regions.

The article demonstrates the states growing responsibility in making management decision in the context of the world and national economies’ unstable development. Industrial policy is one of the key instruments for implementing managerial decisions. We identified the notions of industrial policy (in a broad sense) and structural policy. Further, we classified concepts of industrial policy according to the scale of regulation subject and the states role in economy. The appearance of a network aspect of industrial policy focused on the concept of digital state (e-state) was noted. 200 years of industrial policy’s evolution demonstrate its constantly growing obligation to be the guarantee of social welfare. Nevertheless, in Russia legal understanding of industrial policy does not include any aspects of social guarantees. Therefore, we analyzed industrial policy theoretical foundations showing the necessity for its reconstruction using a theory of new structural economics. We established premises and tools for the theory’s successful realization. Industrial Development Fund plays an important role in implementing industrial policy’s priorities as a variety of important programs including “Industry digitalization” are financed by this organization. On the level of regional economics, different regional funds are involved in the process of structural transformations.

The article focuses on comparing research approaches to analyzing the problem of territory’s economic security in three leading centers in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and Ekaterinburg. In this case, research centers are seen not as scientific schools, but as analogues of foreign “Invisible colleges”. I found that Moscow economists employ global approach to economic security as they consider the problem on a variety of levels: from national one to the level of a certain enterprise. Each level demands developing its own set of indicators (including threshold ones). Saint-Petersburg researchers prefer a highly specialized approach focused on economic and legal analysis of criminal aspects of economic security’ threats. In the Urals regional approach prevails; however, territory’s economic security is assessed not only in general, but in the context of different fields (energy security, social and demographic security, and so on). Another characteristic of regional analysis of economic security’s aspects is extensive use of economic and mathematical modelling by Ural academic economists. Based on dialectic comparison of general and specific approaches, it is necessary to find a theoretical and methodological consensus in order to successfully study problems of territory’s economic security.

The next industrial revolution is expected to give new impulse to productivity growth. In practice, the macroeconomic growth rate of this indicator decreases in developed countries and in Russia. However, productivity paradox, when technological innovations are accompanied by a slowdown in productivity growth, is observed only in parts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The article is aimed to determine the reasons of a significant divergence of regions in the dynamics of labour productivity. For this purpose I identified two groups in the plurality of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The first one groups subjects with the most significant decrease in the labour productivity index. The second group covers the subjects of the Russian Federation where such decrease did not occur or it was small. The scientific contribution of the article consists in the results of a comparative analysis of the selected groups of regions. This analysis has revealed significant differences in the dynamics of expenditures on technological innovations and the share of these costs in the investments in fixed assets, in the share of investments to reconstruction and modernization, in the ratio of spending on research and development to the gross regional product. Thus, average annual costs of technological innovations during 2014-2016 in comparison with the period of2010-2013 in the group of regions with a paradox of productivity grew by 1.82 times. However, and in the second group of regions these costs only increased by 1.03 times. The research has confirmed that, at the regional level, the productivity paradox is caused by the gradual exhaustion of reserves for improving previously mastered technologies. Furthermore, another reason of the productivity paradox is the diversion of resources from current production for its reconstruction and modernization or for research and development.

We conducted a research on the global market of artificial intelligence systems and technologies and its new stage of development. The relevance of this research is caused by recent economic slowdown, structural changes and imbalances of the world economy. The need for creating a new base of economic development for successful companies’ and countries’ competition in the world market sharply increased. Thus, we aimed to identify critical parameters, trends and barriers for such market’s development. Scientific interest to artificial intelligence (AI) as a subject of economic research steadily increases. At least, in the medium term, new large corporations will appear unprecedentedly quickly in those world economy industries that form consumer demand for goods and services. In certain industries, for example, in automotive ones, the use of AI is limited by natural restrictions. In some developed countries the use of AI is connected with calls for improving competitiveness of their social and economic development models and with low rates of economic growth. Development of the world market of artificial intelligence systems is at transitional stage, giving new opportunitiesfor goods production improvement and economic growth all over the world. At the same time, the accruing foreign trade protectionism breaks global chains of added value and slows down dissemination of new technologies that promotes decline in productivity. Therefore effective instruments of the international cooperation are necessary for preserving past achievements. New system of competitive advantages and place of the world economy actors in the international division of labour has to be established. Developing the market of artificial intelligence systems will inevitably lead to searching for a new paradigm of national innovative systems’ advancement. This, in turn, will promote further aggravation of the competition between countries and between the largest multinational corporations. The AI and digital technologies has become a significant factor for the world economy development in the conditions of economic growth slowdown.; However, the positive effect from their implementation remains disputable. This factor will significantly define countries’ economic policy. In Russia, developments in the field of AI are promising, but their implementation demands complex institutional conditions.

Russia’s economic power rests upon large business. Thus, it is essential to develop taxation models for maintaining the balance between the interests of both entrepreneurs and the state, while saving high national budget capacity and business activity. We analyzed a new mechanism of profit taxation regulation for consolidated groups of taxpayers (CGT) in order to assess the impact of CGT on budget revenues formation. Research results have confirmed the hypothesis about low efficiency of tax consolidation. The CGT regime leads to unfair tax revenues distribution among sub-federal budgets, creating budget planning uncertainty. Examples of largest ironworks corporations reveal destructive influence of CGT on regional budget revenues formation: our calculations have illustrated that at least in four Russian regions annual budget losses range from 3 to 9 billion rubles. We have demonstrated the correlation between balanced calculation of tax base within CGT and profit taxation minimization as the main source of corporate owners’ growing welfare. Reduced tax burden of consolidated taxpayers is not accompanied by intensified investment activity. We have concluded that consolidation of tax liabilities has led to formally legitimate but unprofitable optimization. A steady decline of tax revenues from consolidated groups has intensified destabilizing processes in regional budget systems and has become a motive for CGT abolition by the government. Considering that consolidated groups formed in the period from 2012 to 2013 will operate until 2023, we propose measures to neutralize the negative consequences of their functioning.

At the modern stage of globalization pressures, imbalance in the distribution of cities in territorial space poses a threat to Russia’s economic development and social stability, which actualizes economic research on this issue. The purpose of the article is to analyze the distribution of cities within the boundaries of federal districts with the application of the Zipf law. I have chosen this law as it allows connecting the population of the city with its place in the hierarchy of the urban systems in regions, federal districts and the country, in general. The Zipf law holds if the distribution of the population is uniform. The information base is the data of the Federal State Statistics Service. For the study, I have formed a sample of cities for each Federal District. This sample included 10 most populous cities by 2015. The hypothesis about the lognormal distribution of cities within the borders of the Russian federal districts is tested using the method of least squares. The calculations determined the estimated parameter K in the range from 0.6 to 1.4, which demonstrates the uneven distribution of cities within the borders of the federal districts of Russia (the exception is Volga Federal District K = 1). In the Central Federal District, Northwestern Federal District and Ural Federal District, the population is concentrated in large cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg and Ekaterinburg. In the North Caucasian Federal District, Privolzhsky Federal District, Siberian Federal District and Far Eastern Federal District, the population is disproportionately dispersed. In the territory of Russia, there is no intermediate group of cities with the population from 2000 to 5000 thousand people. The identification of the peculiarities of the distribution of cities within the borders of the federal districts of Russia is necessary for the development of scientifically substantiated recommendations of social and economic policies. The conducted research is a stage in the development of methodological tools for choosing the location of industrial production in the territories and for determining the optimal size of a city.

Currently, green production is becoming more important than ever before. Reasons are obvious without being specifically mentioned. Policy makers support various tools to encourage individuals and entities of using green products. Green public procurement (GPP) is a tool intended to support the achievement of environmental goals through the green purchasing. However, there is still scope for better use of GPP. What do policy makers need to know to propose an efficient intervention to stimulate the use of green products? An analysis of individual attitudes towards green products is particularly interesting in designing effective public interventions. The conclusions drawn from the literature review lead me to formulate the following research questions. What attitudes have Europeans towards green products? Which characteristics of individual influence his positive attitudes towards green products? I used the Open Data Barometer from 2012 and ordered logit models to identify statistically significant characteristics of individuals, which they use to determine their attitudes towards green products. Based on the results, I estimate who has a higher odds of having a positive attitude towards green products and therefore is predisposed to use them. Gender seems to be statistically significant predictor of more positive attitudes towards green products. Women have higher odds to have more positive attitudes comparing to men. Moreover, individual attitudes towards green products are determined by age, municipality size and working aspects. The results may be considered when making tailor-made interventions to support GPP and environmentally friendly production. This can be of interest to policy makers at regional or local level.

According to human capital theory, education is not a product of final consumption, but a means of producing added value, an important factor in national and global macroeconomic growth. The topic of converting human capital into relevant material indicators described in economical terms is yet to be sufficiently developed; thus, it is necessary to identify key factors that influence the educational activity of working citizens and to establish the role of the Adult Education and Vocational Education and Trainings (AE&VET) in the macroeconomic development of regions. Using statistical analysis the authors established a correlation between the supplementary education’s rate and the volume of fixed capital investment per capita in the Russian Federation regions, which indicated the importance of investments in education and personnel training: in the regions with growing volume of investments, the amount of grown population who continue education in order to implement their knowledge at new enterprises is also increasing. This, in turn, boosts the investment appeal of the territory. The authors confirmed the hypothesis that investments in educational programs lead to the increase in labour productivity; this phenomenon has a positive impact on the growth rates of both wages and gross regional product. Thus, it was concluded that socio-economic differentiation of subjects of the Russian Federation is directly related to the general indicators of the regional AE&VET systems. Effective development of AE&VET requires active participation of all stakeholders (workers, employers, investors, regional authorities, and the government). The main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used for development of the regional AE&VET- systems for ensuring the economic growth as well as the investment appeal of the territory.

Vietnam builds the market economy from the planned economy, in which development plans, especially the medium-term socio-economic development plans, were determined by the leading economic management tools. Currently, the development plans remain the important tools of economic management. However, the contents and methodologies for development planning have changed considerably. The plans have been built according to the direction of the market and consider macroeconomic forecasts as the most important input for planning. The purpose of this paper is to briefly present the structure of a macro-econometric model for medium-term socio-economic development planning in Vietnam. The model is based on the main ideas of the forecasting procedures and the system of forecast models for strategic planning in the Russian Federation. Furthermore, the model utilizes the experience of macro-econometric models in other countries. This model is based on the approaches of supply and demand, and is organized into blocks that have a close relationship to combine forecasts from the built model and using judgmental methods in a favourable way. The model can fully forecast the needs of socio-economic development planning. It is also used to build forecast scenarios and to assess the impact of shocks and economic policies.

Active interactions between the countries, regions, economic entities, non-profits, and inhabitants of the Baltic Sea territories contributed to the emergence and development of a transnational socioeconomic region. The Baltic macroregion is one of the most developed among international regions that appeared as a result of regionalization, which is strengthened by globalization. At the same time, its creation is a consequence of coastalization, which affects settlement patterns and the spatial organization of the economy. In academic literature, this factor is primarily seen as a general tendency; however, there are significant geographical differences. The impact of the coastalization on the Baltic region has not been studied sufficiently. Based on available statistics, this article analyses differences in the levels and rates of settlement and economy in the coastal zone and the rest of the Baltic region. The economic, statistical and cartographical methods were applied. The indicators of the study objects condition include population density and growth rate, gross regional product (GRP) per capita, and GRP growth rate. The study covers the period from 2005 to 2016. The obtained results have allowed identifying the features of ‘coastalization’ at the microlevel by country, showing that this factor is less significant in Russia, Germany, and Poland than in the other countries of the region. Thus, the study identifies microregions with a varying effect of the ‘maritime’ factor on their development. These patterns can be used in developing national strategic and spatial planning documents and in international spatial planning efforts in the Baltic region.

The issue of economic growth has become urgent since the country’s leadership set the task of doubling general domestic product (GDP) for the period from 2001 to 2010. We calculated the required annual growth rate and analyzed it both by year and over the past few years. The results suggest that GDP has not doubled within 10 years. Thus, it is appropriate to consider separately the pace of Russian economy on the whole and the total gross regional product (GRP) of its constituent regions. We analyzed its contradictions and disproportions restraining dynamic economic development at different levels. As a hypothesis, we assumed that the problems of the country’s economic growth mostly stem from such contradictions in the regional development. The research base was information on the volumes and dynamics of the Russian Federation GDP and GRP of its regions from 2001 to 2016, which indicate economic growth. We have assessed whether GDP and GRP dynamics was conform to the strategic guidelines of Russia’s economic development. We processed the dataset using a number of methods such as grouping, average and relative values, analysis of time series. Firstly, this processing has revealed, that the objective of doubling Russia’s GDP has not been met even over 16years (only 3.57 % was reached instead of the required average annual rates of 4.42 %). Secondly, over 16 years, the leading regions have been steadily developing whereas outsiders have become weaker, and the factors of regional development have remained unchanged. Thirdly, the analysis of the Republic of Bashkortostan case demonstrates that the existing model of regional economic growth, as well as the impact of the base effect, has reached its limits. Thus, growth rates are slowing down alongside with increasing absolute production volumes, while the ratio of intermediate and end products persists in the long term. Consequently, the regional economy lacks systemic positive structural changes, without which breakthrough economic growth is impossible. The obtained results can be used for improving the analysis and forecasting techniques of Russian regional development and forming an effective regional policy.

A breakthrough in innovations largely depends on the quality of human potential. In the context of demographic threats for economic security of the region, the national project “Healthcare” has prepared measures for reducing the mortality of the working age population, including mortality from cancer. However, the costs of cancer detection and treatment, as well as social costs of temporary disability are later compensated by reduced mortality losses and increased contribution of the labour potential to gross regional product (GRP). During the research we applied systematic and integrative approaches, methods of comparative and statistical analysis using modern IT solutions. The research is based on the data from oncology services of Tyumen and Sverdlovsk regions. The organizational and medical innovations in Tyumen region, including modern diagnostics on the basis of radiological centre, have increased the detection rate of malignant neoplasm. Moreover, these innovations have significantly reduced the number of cancer-related deaths in comparison with the national average value. In 2017, this indicator per 100 thousand was 112.78 in the Russian Federation, while in Tyumen region it was 90.04. For the period from 2013 to 2017, improvements in diagnostics and quality of the oncology service in Sverdlovsk region contributed to a higher detection of various diseases, longer treatment in the hospital and at home, which did not allow achieving economic effects by reducing costs. However, these measures have led to significant reduction of damage from working age population mortality. An indicator of “multidimensional economic effect in health care” is calculated as the sum of various types of effects. Its value demonstrates compensation for costs incurred at certain stages of medical assistance with the effects resulting from preservation of human potential by reducing mortality. Our forecast shows that medical and demographic indicators of the oncology service of the Sverdlovsk region will improve by 2022. Such improvements will result from constructing and equipping the centre of nuclear medicine and the proton centre in the framework of the public-private partnership in Sverdlovsk region healthcare. The results of the study can be applied for an objective assessment of health care and its contribution to the regional economy.

The research is aimed at developing and testing a methodology for analyzing demographic potential of Russian regions. The initial data are the regional official Russian statistics indicators. We proposed an approach for assessing the demographic potential based on a differentiated analysis of its quantitative and qualitative components. The paper presents the developed methodology for estimating the demographic potential, combining multidimensional data classification (fuzzy clustering) and expert assessments. Application of the proposed methodology revealed five specific models in the demographic space of Russia. The first model combines a low level of quantitative components of the demographic potential with a high level of its quality. The second model is characterized by average levels of both components. In the third model, an average level of the quantitative component is accompanied by a rather low level of the demographic potential’s quality. The fourth model combines a high level of quantitative component of the demographic potential with an imbalance of its quality indicators, and the fifth — a high level of both components. We have obtained estimates for the quantitative and qualitative components of the demographic potential for each region and rated them. This has allowed identifying “anchor”-regions and “driver-regions, as well as regions with the most and least balanced assessments of the two components. The paper shows the potential application of the developed methodology. In particular, this methodology allows identifying groups of regions, which need the implementation of specific measures for increasing the quantity and improving the quality of the demographic potential. The most significant limitation of the developed methodology is the lack of a complete set of indicators in the official Russian statistics for assessing the demographic potential. Future research will be aimed at applying fuzzy clustering methods to various demographic phenomena, since this approach takes into account the natural uncertainty, which is typical for such processes and, therefore, makes the results of demographic analysis more formalized and valid.

Current strategic development goal of Russian education is to increase its competitiveness through integration into the international educational and scientific community. The article aims to consider a set of issues related to the study of trends and prospects of cross-border cooperation’s development between Russia and Kazakhstan in the sphere of education. As a research methodology we used system and functional approaches, economic and statistical methods, which allow identifying the features of cross-border cooperation in the field of education exports at the regional level. Besides analyzing the status of such cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan, we performed a research on foreign citizens who study in Russian universities. Therefore we revealed the main directions of cooperation between the Orenburg region and Kazakhstan in the context of the regions leading universities: network interaction, export of educational and scientific services, international academic exchanges, training programs. Particularly, we focused on indicators of foreign Kazakhstan students’ training. They include changes in the pupils number, the most popular education programs, and sources of funding. We have concluded that it was necessary to create a concept for the development of education exports in the context of cross-border cooperation. These findings can be used for developing comprehensive measures and introducing new approaches to the use of universities’ potential and resources in the border region and Kazakhstan for achieving maximum results in all areas of cooperation.

In recent years, new and promising developments have made new economic geography (NEG) a popular framework for examining the spatial distribution of economic activity around the world. A major NEG prediction is that wages are higher in regions with a large market and easy access to suppliers of intermediate inputs. Based on this principle, we examine this hypothesis by using provincial data in Vietnam. Since the Doi Moi reform in 1986, the Vietnamese economy has successfully transformed from a centrally planned to a market-based economy. The Vietnamese experience has been seen as a valuable case study for other economies in transition. This paper estimates a structural model of NEG using Vietnamese provinces data for the period 2000 — 2012. Using instrumental variables based on the principle of generalised method of moments (GMM), we take account of potential endogeneity problem between regressors. We provide evidence that the industrial linkages and trade costs are statistically significant and quantitatively important in explaining variation in provincial wages. This finding is robust to controlling for a wide range of considerations. Moreover, local governments need to strengthen human capital as the first step towards improving average wages. Indeed, a better education system is not only instrumental to raising average earnings per worker, but also crucial for minimizing income inequality in the long run.

Earlier in Europe, there existed many local textile brands and manufacturers. However, these have experienced significant pressure from the rapid expansion, and success of the European based global textile industry corporations, such as H&M and Inditex (Zara). Their further advancement is supported by the expansion into the new locations and application of nearshoring strategies to the favourable markets, such as Russian, which have attracted to some extent previously entirely offshored European manufacturing located in China. In this regard, the objective of the current study is the assessment of the business activities of the given companies, as well as one company from Finland, and three major textile companies from the Baltic States, through the designed methodological approach. Due to the fact that most performance indicators of companies are based on empirical data, the study is explorative in its nature. Moreover, it shows the relationship between the main key performance indicators of the company with one of the functional areas of logistics (warehousing and inventory management). In particular, analysis of this research shows that two global actors (H&M and Inditex) have experienced exceptional growth, profits and profitability during the years 2001-2016. It was concluded that nearly all of these earlier successful ones and smaller actors have faced difficulties in the past decade, and best growing has been company concentrating on warehousing and retail, instead of manufacturing. Most of these smaller actors have faced profitability challenges, and considerable amount of shareholder value has been lost during the decade.

Over the past ten years, an ambiguous situation concerning Russian gas companies has been observed. On the one hand, companies’ reports represent conservative policies and sustainable growth in the coming years. On the other hand, companies’ financial performance suggests another situation because of the insufficient level of financial indices that reflect the inconsistency of existing sustainable growth approaches. This situation indicates the relevance of the research concerning Russian gas companies’ financial sustainable growth in the conditions of the global economy, “economic sanctions” and investment policy implementation. The primary purpose of the research is to analyse Russian gas companies’ financial growth strategy employing Geniberg Z — matrix as well as enhanced financial sustainability indicators system indices by identifying which indicators have a greater influence on sustainable growth rate. We found that return on fixed assets ratio, net profit growth ratio, debt equity ratio influence on Russian gas companies’ sustainable growth rate and recommended for the system of financial sustainability indicators (FSIS) usage. We associate the concept of Russian gas companies’ financial sustainable growth with environmental protection, energy savings, and social factors. Thus, we added to the financial model non-financial factors. As a result of the analysis, we have obtained the dependence of Sustainable Growth Rate to Environmental Ratings as well as Return on social responsibility costs. We recommend paying more attention to the energy, social, environmental, and economic determinants that could contribute to sustainable growth. We also found that Russian gas market companies could improve Financial Strategies according to sustainable growth point of view. We suggest ways to enhance the financial strategy of Russian gas companies.

The contradiction between relatively high level of domestic inventive activity and low effectiveness of the country’s participation in international trade is a relevant problem. That contradiction poses a hypothesis: the effectiveness of intellectual products’ commercialisation is determined not only by well-known institutional factors, but also by specific multi-faceted endogenous potential of these products. The implementation of this potential in practice, including international trade, depends on the level of professionalism, intellectual competenceand creativity of the relevant specialists. The purpose of the study is to identify and justify the leadingfactors that allow the fullest realization of intellectual products’ potential and their successful commercialization for ensuring country’s scientific and technological security. Factual and statistical materials were an empirical basis of this research. I applied a variety of methods: analytical and epistemological, economic and legal, structural and logical methods, statistical groupings, comparative assessments. For a focused quantitative assessment, I have selected a system of indicators: net value of the subject of technology agreements; balance of payments for technology; balance of license royalties for the use of objects of intellectual property (IP). The calculations revealed a comparative assessment of the products’ level of commercialisation in the leading countries (both recipients and payers of royalties and license fees). I have determined the main units of the productive institutional mechanisms of intellectual product’s commercialization in these countries that opens possibilities for creating a corresponding mechanism in Russia. A reproductive model for commercialization of intellectual products justifies the need of highly skilled, creative specialists in order to overcome the intellectual- and competence-based «failure» («trap»). Based on the system of the selected indicators, the study allows to objectively assess the implementation of intellectual products’ commercial potential. The results of the research can be used in development and application of relevant laws and regulations, as well as in training of specialists and experts.

Considering that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in the economy of country and taking into account the changes in the modern world economy, we investigated the problem of increasing the SMEs’ contribution into national economy by using new opportunities of business environment. The problem can be solved through the participation of SMEs in the links of the global value chain with high added value. However, it is necessary to find new instruments for SMEs’ support. The study is aimed at discovering relevant SMEs support tools focused on increasing the added value. The research is based on content and comparative analysis of the European Union and China experience using the material from the European Commission reports, national programs of European countries and China. The research terminology and analysis algorithm were refined. The set of new tools of SMEs support is presented in the context of groups and national characteristics. In European countries non-financial tools dominate among state support forms. They include creating special niches for small enterprises in the global value chain and giving SMEs access to the national supply base. In China non-state support forms dominate with a larger share of financial tools, including the provision of resources by participants of the value chains within regional integration associations, by financial units of large companies. The research results are addressed to the representatives of SMEs, large companies, public authorities.

“Bottom-up” cluster identification, as opposed to “assigning” clusters by the fact of enterprises coexisting on a compact territory, is an important scientific and practical problem. Its solution may be found in a survey of regions’ competitive specialization in order to identify spatial clusters based on industries with high-level competitive potential. The data on gross regional product (GRP) and national gross value added across industries were an empirical basis of the study. This article explores the possibility to identify territorial clusters in a region where its competitive specialization meets the high competitive potential of an industry. Research methodology stands on regional and spatial economics theories, employs traditional economic instruments of results’ verification. To achieve the expected results we employed traditional instruments of verification, economic and statistical analysis as research methodology. Studying a wide range of literature sources have resulted into development of innovative industrial approach to cluster formation by identifying clustering priorities and industries’ integration potential. The approach is based on the assessment of regions’ industrial specialization that can measure industry’s contribution to regions competitiveness, as well as density of interregional competitive relations. Such assessment is useful in determining industries potentially attractive for clustering. These industries can generate positive effect from utilizing territory’s specialization. Obvious specialization will either indicate potential’s depletion or reveal vectors for developing the most competitive industries that actually create efficient clusters. This approach contributes sufficiently to the theory and methodology of cluster paradigm of social and economic development, as it allows identifying de-facto existing clusters instead of creating them artificially. The key principle of the method is prioritizing as a cluster an industry, which is characterized by maximum productivity in social and economic spheres. Considering the competition between regions and different levels of industry development, it is possible to identify perspective directions for advancing regions strategic competitiveness. Further research will be aimed at the method’s verification and expansion by analyzing prolonged retrospective of specific data, including the gravity components of the connectedness of regions economic space and network interactions effects between the participants of “artificial” and “natural” clusters in the Russian Federation.

The article is aimed at assessing the results of the protectionist policy in the agro-food sphere. The consumer food market depends on the import substitution in agriculture. Apparantly, it is erroneous to build a modern model of the agro-food market on the basis of export of cheap agricultural raw materials (grain) and import of expensive commodities. I found evidence to support this hypothesis in the works of foreign and domestic scientists. As a method I use the tools of statistical analysis. The empirical base of the study is represented by statistical material on export, import and domestic production for the period from 2012 to 2017 both in the country and in a typical region in the context of foreign trade (Ryazan region). The results of the study have showed the imbalance and irrationality of Russian export, import, domestic production and consumption. Since August 2014 agricultural producers have received several preferences for the growth of production: an embargo on food imports, government support and the weakening of the national currency. On the other hand, consumer demand decreased due to rising prices and lower incomes. The outstripping rise in food prices and the increase in the share of food expenditures in household budgets reflect an uneven state of the market. A detailed analysis of the situation in the regional markets has shown that the decline in consumer demand and saturation of local markets with imported products leads to an escalation of the problem of domestic products sales. The results of import substitution policy at the regional level should be measured in terms of economic access to food and per capita consumption. As a tool for the regulation of agro-food markets I propose to use the model of optimal placement of agricultural production. The results of the study can be applied in the development of state economic policy for regulating agro-food markets.

Rural entrepreneurship is considered one of the key drivingforces for the development of rural and regional socio-economic systems. I propose to analyse the development of rural entrepreneurship in Russia within the framework of the entrepreneurial ecosystem theory. The article presents the results of studying economic and institutional factors constraining entrepreneurial activity in rural areas. The research, based on a survey of rural entrepreneurs in the Ural region, aimed to identify factors that have the greatest negative impact on the development of rural entrepreneurship. The survey questionnaire was compiled using the Likert scale. The survey was conducted over 10 years; each year a simple random sample of 30 respondents was chosen. Then the data was processed with the help of special software “Strata 11”. The obtained results have demonstrated that the main factors hampering the development of rural entrepreneurship were the lack of qualified workers able to perform innovative types of work (value 4.6), high cost (value 4.6) and high risk of innovative activity (value 4). The most interesting is the dynamic of the “enterprise immunity to innovation” aspect. While in 2007 it was named as one of the main negative factors (value 4.5), in 2017 its value decreased significantly (to 3). I claim, a lot of entrepreneurs incorrectly percept a business development model that is adequate to entrepreneurial ecosystem’s conditions. That misunderstanding leads to efficiency reduction of both certain enterprises and rural entrepreneurial ecosystem in general. The study’s results have both scientific and practical importance for defining a model of rural entrepreneurship development and determining the most effective mechanisms of its support.