Region Foreign Economic Relations as a Factor of Reindustiralization

At present, the strengthening vector of the developing economies, in particular, of the countries of Eurasian Economic Union and BRICS, in the geographic structure of Russian foreign economic activity is observed. The subject matter of the article is to see, how the development of this direction can be economically favorable. For this purpose, the forms and degree of the development of economic partnership including collaboration with the Russian regions are investigated. The agreements on the economic partnership with the regions of partner countries of Russia, their production relations are considered. The analysis of foreign trade shows that in the case of the partner countries within Eurasian integration and the BRICS group — Russian economy gets the high possibility to become the supplier of products of relatively high degree of processing which is the key factor of development of its processing industry, i.e. the factor of reindustrialization and export-oriented import substitution.The article has been prepared within the project of fundamental research of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (20152017) No. 15-14-7-13 “Scenario approaches to realization of Ural vector of management and development of the Russian Arctic in terms of world instability”

Central Asia’s Transition After Fifteen Years : Growth and Policy Choices

This paper presents a coherent and systematic analysis of the collapse and subsequent revival of the Central Asian Republics (CARs) since 1990. The focus is on the pattern of growth and structural change during the cycle of decline and subsequent revival in the CARs which have been inadequately analyzed in the literature on transition. The paper relates economic performance to initial conditions, country characteristics and policies. Within this framework, it proposes a simple typology of policies (including a new Type III set of policies on regional cooperation and industrial competitiveness) and relates them to the cycle of decline and revival in the CARs. It goes on to examine medium-term prospects and policy needs for the CARs.Growth, economic reform, regional cooperation, industrial competitiveness, central Asia, transitional economies

Government support for monotowns in the Republic of Kazakhstan

The objectives of the study are to identify the role of single-industry towns (also known as “monotowns”) in the economic development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to determine the specific features of monotowns and to assess the effectiveness of government program documents aimed at supporting these entities. A number of research methods were used, including logical, systematic, structural-functional, comparative analysis, statistical and index methods, economic forecasting and sociological surveys. Using these methods in combination allowed the researcher to consider the phenomena and processes, the dynamics and development, thus providing evidence as to the reliability of the conclusions obtained. As a result of this study, distinctive features of the socio-economic development of monotowns in the Republic of Kazakhstan were revealed. In addition, an evaluation was made of the main program documents aimed at supporting the development of monotowns; and the factors affecting their further development were identified. Proposals have been made in this study with regard to best ways in which to improve the monotown management systems both in terms of improving the program documents and in developing new evaluation tools. The principal novel feature of this study is the identification of the main trends in the development of monotowns in the Republic of Kazakhstan. These trends reveal that, although monotowns do play an important role in the economy of the country, they also tend to develop in extremely uneven and inconsistent ways and are characterized by having weak economic diversification and a strong dependence on the town-forming enterprises, with these enterprises mainly being mining companies. The recommendations in this study are based on the need to improve both the administrative and economic methods used for the state regulation of monotowns. During this study, the feasibility of making adjustments in the current development programs aimed at supporting monotowns and the consistency of development programs were considered.The empirical basis of the analysis was the results of studies conducted in the framework of the R&D work “Development of theoretical and methodological fundamentals of corporate governance of regional technical higher school in the conditions of industrialinnovative development of Kazakhstan”, performed under grant funding of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (grant number: 1274/GF4)

Central Asia after Fifteen Years of Transition: Growth, Regional Cooperation, and Policy Choices

This paper presents a coherent and systematic analysis of the collapse and subsequent revival of the Central Asian Republics (CARs) since 1990. The focus is on the pattern of growth and structural change during the cycle of decline and subsequent revival in the CARs, which have yet to be adequately analyzed in the literature on transition. The paper relates economic performance to initial conditions, country characteristics, and policies. Within this framework, it proposes a simple typology of policies (including a new 'Type III' set of policies on regional cooperation and industrial competitiveness) and relates them to the cycle of decline and revival. It goes on to examine medium-term prospects and policy needs for the CARs.growth; economic reform; regional cooperation; industrial competitiveness; Central Asia; transitional economies

Central Asia’s Transition After Fifteen Years: Growth and Policy Choices

This paper presents a coherent and systematic analysis of the collapse and subsequent revival of the Central Asian Republics (CARs) since 1990. The focus is on the pattern of growth and structural change during the cycle of decline and subsequent revival in the CARs which have been inadequately analyzed in the literature on transition. The paper relates economic performance to initial conditions, country characteristics and policies. Within this framework, it proposes a simple typology of policies (including a new Type III set of policies on regional cooperation and industrial competitiveness) and relates them to the cycle of decline and revival in the CARs. It goes on to examine medium-term prospects and policy needs for the CARs.growth, economic reform, regional cooperation, industrial competitiveness, Central Asia, transitional economies

Regional integration in Central Asia: A firm-centered view

Regional integration remains among the main topics of international discourse in Central Asia, though the progress of international cooperation is very limited. Our aim is to understand the connection between the organization of economic institutions in Central Asia and the regional integration. The existing literature has explored the state level of integration in great detail: varying from rational choice explanations of security dilemma to the studies of social construction of the region in Central Asia. This paper, however, provides a firm-centered perspective on the regional integration. Thus, it first considers how varieties of political economies of Central Asian countries influence the regionalization process in the region through economic networks established by private actors, and how institutions are shaped by regionalization. Second, it considers how political institutions determine the impact of informal networks on formal regional integration initiatives, and looks at the potential effect of formal regionalism on regionalization process in Central Asia.Regionalization, informal integration, transition

Central Asia : Mapping Future Prospects

Central Asia has emerged as one of the worlds fastest growing regions since the late 1990s and has shown notable development potential. This is significant for a region comprising largely of small landlocked economies with no access to the sea for trade. Among the advantages, of the region are its high- priced commodities (oil, gas, cotton and gold), reasonable infrastructure and human capital as legacies of Soviet rule; and a strategic location between Asia and Europe. Furthermore, many Central Asian Republics (CARs) have embarked on market-oriented economic reforms to boost economic performance and private sector competitiveness. Central Asia : Mapping Future Prospects considers the regions economic prospects to 2015. It charts recent economic performance, highlighting the economic revival. It also synthesizes recent forecasts and constructs scenarios for future economic variables against a constant global background. Projections include, among others, gross domestic product (GDP), manufactured exports per head, GDP per capita and poverty. A special theme chapter develops a manufacturing competitiveness index to compare the CARs with other transition economies and explores the impact of economic reform and supply-side factors (e.g. foreign investment and human capital) on industrial performancecentral Asia, future economic variables, gross domestic product, manufactured exports per head, GDP per capita, poverty, manufacturing competitiveness index

Central Asian integration as a way of guaranteeing regional security, economic growth, feasibility and prospects

Nowadays, CA countries are facing serious challenges. Their industries are slowly recovering from the disruption of “supplier-producer” ties among former Soviet republics and East European states. The transformation from centrally-planned economies into market oriented ones requires absolute reconsideration of political and economic values. The focus towards industrialization has been implemented. For instance, Uzbekistan is among the very few former USSR countries which have developed motor-car and aircraft industries. The textile industry is another sector which is currently experiencing a boom. Expansion of Turkish and South Korean businesses and inflow of substantial investments from these countries can be observed currently in several CA states. Financial inflows from these countries are directed towards motor-car and textile industries as well as hotel and tourist infrastructure. CA is a potentially good area for foreign investors. Besides the industrial sector, the financial sphere is another field where fruitful collaboration with foreign countries could take place. The financial system in most CA states is still restructuring and developing. Significant human resources and comparatively much lower wage rates and costs of production make CA attractive for investing. In order to attract foreign investments, a number of preconditions have to be met: - Political stability and security must be achieved; - Trade barriers should be removed; - Transportation infrastructure within the region needs to be improved. Achieving these points implies integration! Integrated CA is more likely to be able to cope with challenges of today’s insecure world. Moreover, integrated CA has better chances to assert its claims and interests, especially, CSR resources distribution, balancing interests of superpowers, and confronting external shocks and pressures. Adjacent to Russia, China, Iran, and Afghanistan, integrated CA states will be equipped with additional policy options due to its extremely important strategic location and geopolitical influence. Nowadays, the population of CA exceeds 60 million inhabitants. Abolishment of trade and tariff barriers will simplify labor mobility and free flow of capital. Since it represents vast markets, the region will be an extremely favorable environment for growth. Industries of consumer goods will have a boost. With influx of investments, textile and food industries, which are currently largely underdeveloped, will experience a continuous boom. Furthermore, these sectors also have considerable export potential, since, raw materials necessary for these industries are locally abundant. Over time, the abundance of cheaper labor resources will be a competitive advantage of CA industries compared to foreign producers. This might become the locomotive of integrated CA economy and will have profound effects, economic as well as social. The demographic profile of the CA area is unique with a high proportion of young people. Here, industrial development is crucial for eliminating the unemployment problem. Besides rich energy resources, the CA region also has plentiful ways to transport them, thanks to its strategic location: to China, to the sea (through Iran), to Turkey (through Caucasian states) and to Russia. This will make the region extremely important and powerful. The source of inter-ethnic conflicts is mainly rooted in social and economic hardships. Mostly, ethnic conflicts occur between indigenous populations and minorities. Sometimes, they are fueled by political reasons and inter-state disputes. Integration implies dissolution of such disputes. In fact, even historical evidence supports these ideas. During the Soviet period, all CA republics were part of single country. Back then, ethnic clashes were far less frequent than in the last 20 years. Between CA states, competition for the leadership in the region can be observed at present. This is a destabilizing factor, since outside powers frequently take advantage of such inter-state disagreements. Integration will prevent these trends and lead to one single powerful actor instead of several competing states. Some might argue that it is very unlikely for countries with different ethnic composition to integrate and actually the integration will intensify inter-ethnic tensions. But, there are examples of multi-ethnic states, such as Switzerland and Canada, which are quite successful and where various ethnic groups peacefully coexist and form single multi-ethnic society. One of the biggest fears among nations of CA is that they could lose their sovereignty through integration. They are afraid that one nation will dominate or even suppress the others. Nevertheless, the experience of European nations clearly demonstrated that such a situation can be avoided. Structure and system can be achieved if the principles of equality decision-making and benefits distribution are followed. The uniqueness of the European integration is characterized by the fact that smaller states are enabled to impose significant influence in decision-making and, subsequently, to enjoy significant benefits (Seidelmann 2004, p 3). Another good example would be the USA, where there is no “discrimination” among the states. The experience of European Union, which clearly demonstrated evident advantages of integration, might serve as an example and stimulus for the unification processes in the CA region in future