The Neighbourhood Effect in Russian Regional Policies: Autocorrelation and Cluster Analysis
Regional convergence is one of the greatest strategic challenges for the Russian Federation. Socio-economic zoning directly affects the regional policy in Russia, as most administrative and political practices are reproduced within a federal district or an economic region. This study is aimed at ide...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)
2022-12-01
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| Series: | RUDN Journal of Political Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.rudn.ru/political-science/article/viewFile/32819/21391 |
| Summary: | Regional convergence is one of the greatest strategic challenges for the Russian Federation. Socio-economic zoning directly affects the regional policy in Russia, as most administrative and political practices are reproduced within a federal district or an economic region. This study is aimed at identifying steady clusters or, in other words, groups of Russian regions, based on quantitative data on socio-economic development. The study relies on the methods of spatial econometrics. The authors also aim to compare the results of their study to the macro-regions suggested by the Strategy of Regional Development of the Russian Federation and therefore to the current administrative practices. The paper determines 12 clusters continual in space, based on 62 regional development indicators and reflecting the statistical resemblance of the regions within a cluster. The study has not found stable macro-regions of similar values except in Siberia and the Far East. Thus, the authors conclude that addressing the wide range of socio-economic problems based on one standardized grid for dividing the country will likely not lead to success. Therefore, a more asymmetric and multi-level regional policy should be sought. This implies that every ministry responsible for an area of regional development should come up with its own spatial structure of Russia in order to define its targets and the practices required to meet them. |
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| ISSN: | 2313-1438 2313-1446 |