Russian Regions on the Route From Industrial to Network (Russian Realities and Experience of the EU Regions)

This work reflects the results from the cycle of research done in 2001-2004 for 20 Russian regions. At the end of it it was possible to generalize the regularities of the initial stage of transition which were characteristic for the Russian regions on their move from industrial to network model of economic development; compare Russian experience with EU core regions experience (the latter has started this way 20-25 years earlier, in mid-seventies). Typical features of this period are the increasing economic role of support sector and knowledge economy in the regional development, the increasing role of the mobile assets and footloose firms, gradual transformation of the industrial complexes into economic clusters, changes in typology of infrastructural networks (from vertical hierarchy to horizontal grid), etc. Regional authorities in every region abandon previous style of administrative commands and shift to economic coordination with the actors of the regional economy. There are expectations in the Russian regions that this transition will help to overcome economic and environmental limitations of the industrial paradygm which are evident in late Soviet period. The speed, intensity, and vulnerability of these transition are different among northern, central, and southern regions of Russia. Old economic ranks of the Russian regions of the industrial period has changed essentially. Cities-service centers have increased their importance; on the other side, role of big and small industrial cities and settlements have universally decreased. The most painful transformation is characteristic for the big industrial regions like Kuzbass (analogue of the German Ruhr). On the other side oil and gas regions of Russia are passing this transformation in easier way. But each Russian region has its own peculiarities in economy and social sphere which determine the trajectory and speed of transition.

A comparative analysis of the cohesion policy in the Russian Federation and in the European Union

First years of the economic growth of the Russian economy on one side, and the enlargement of the European Union on the other side, create mych more similarities in the cohesion policy of both entities now than in the 1990-s. Russian Federation is experiencing the shift from the dominance of the operating transfers in the investment transfers as the equalizing tool. their relative importance is naturally increasing in the contemporary period of stable regional development. On the other hand, after the access of new countries in the EU the contrast between regions will irrevitably increase though not reaching the level of disparities between contemporary Russian regions. In the year 2001 federal program of diminishing interregional disparities was elaborated in Russia. Its methodology, principles and methods of distribution of investment transfers took into consideration European experience in this field. Both Russian Federation and the European Union use simple formula-based criteria to determine the exact regions-participants of the equalizing program. Both entities have special approach for the rules of distribution of the central investment transfers for most lagging countries. But in contrast with the Structural Funds policy of the European Union the stress in the Russian case is mainly on the support of the "hard" factors of regional development - physical infrastructure and not on the "soft" factors (quality of the human capital) and direct branches of the economic activity like agriculture as is the case in the regional policy of the European Union.

Tools and institutions of interregional convergence: the case of Russian federal policy

After a decade of reform contrasts between regions in Russia in per resident regional gross product and per resident real income have increased essentially. The challenge to smooth these inequalities is one of the high priorities for the contemporary Russian federal regional policy. For this purpose in the year 2001 federal program of diminishing interregional disparities was elaborated. In 2002 forty regions will receive federal assistance in this Program. Institutional factors on the regional level are critical to make this assistance more efficient. To understand this influence special research of the link between the structure of the regional authorities and the regional economic growth has been undertaken for 10 regions. The model of regional authority-'open corporation' is more effective in attracting additional external investments for the federal assistance money. The model of regional authority-'closed partnership' is more effective in decreasing transaction costs of utilising federal money in social projects to fight inequalities. In the ethnic republics federal assistance sometimes in reality can increase disparities as it is chanelled for the clan in power and not distributed evenly among all the groups and localities. The paper concludes by suggestion for the improvement of the contemporary federal regional policy in Russia.

Macroeconomy of the Russian regions ? neighboring with the New European Union

In the paper is presented the comparative analysis of macroeconomic indicators of six regions of the Russian Federation neighboring with six countries of the New European Union (EU). The basic line of investigation: ? Interregional comparisons of gross regional products (GRP) by production and by final use; ? Estimation of regional net export; ? Evaluations of financial flows in the system ?region ? national economy ? global economy?, including outflows from regions to abroad of Russia; ? Differentiation of regions by GRP per capita and the econometric analysis of the differentiation factors; ? Changes of GRP in 1996-2001 (divergence or convergence?); ? Major tasks of regional policy. Comparison GRP of Russian regions and GDP of neighboring EC countries (in accordance with methodology of international comparisons) is carried out for the first time. Following tasks of research are formulated.

Multiregional analysis with use of regional accounts and Input-Output tables

Authors construct Regional input-output tables (11 products of goods and sevices) on the basis of regional accounts and National input-output table (120 products) by 79 subjects of the Russian Federation. Information of the Regional input-output tables is used for three types of multiregional models (size 79 x 11): a) multiregional input-output model; b) multiregional optimization model (with vector criterion function); c) spatially-economic equilibrium model. Multiregional economic analysis is developed by the following directions: 1) export-import impact on the regional economy; 2) possibilities of decreasing of regional trade deficit and deficit of regional balances of payment; 3) searching of equilibrium and quasi-equilibrium in the multiregional system; 4) possibilities of leveling of regions by the level of final consumption of households per capita; 5) use of reserves of the basic industrial capital in one regions for increase of final demand in another regions.

Titt i trave

Felsortering av sågtimmer i massavedsleveranser är idag ett problem som inte har fått till-räckligt stor uppmärksamhet inom skogsbruket. Även om problemet noterats bland skogsä-gare så ser VMF Nord att detta är ett problem som behöver belysas ytterligare. Felsortering av sågtimmer sker både i skogen och vid transport till industrin. Från skördarens felsorte-ring till transportörernas strävan om att alltid köra fulla laster till industrin. VMF Nord har en tjänst vid namn ”titt i trave” som syftar till att genom kontroller av råvaruleveranser kon-trollera sortimentsfördelningen i leveranserna. Dessa kontroller ligger sedan till grund för en uppföljning inom leveranskedjan som är tänkt att sänka andelen felsorterad råvara, i denna studie sågtimmer, till industrin. Målet är att uppnå en felsortering på maximalt 2 %. Studiens mål är att utvärdera tjänsten ”titt i trave” ur ett företagsekonomiskt perspektiv samt belysa den uteblivna intäkten som felsortering av sågtimmer i massavedsleveranser orsakar Svenska skogsägare. I Östersunds distrikt har man idag störst underlag från kontroller utförda med ”titt i trave”. Den i Östersunds distrikt felsorterade volymen sågtimmer i massavedleveranser uppgår till 3,6 %. Detta leder till att skogsägare årligen står inför en utebliven intäkt på 5,5 miljoner SEK orsakat av felsorterat sågtimmer i massavedsleveranser inom detta geografiska om-råde. Genom ett större användande av ”titt i trave” kan man minska denna uteblivna intäkt och öka lönsamheten för skogsägare. Resultatet från detta kandidatarbete är tänkt att ligga till grund för vidare studier inom ämnet samt peka på att skogsnäringen står inför ett faktiskt problem med felsortering av skogsråvara.Wrongly sorted saw logs in pulpwood supplies is an issue that has not received enough attention in forestry. Although the problem is noted among forest owners, VMF Nord can see that this is a problem that needs to be further elucidated. Wrongly sorted saw log takes place both in the forest and during transport to the industry. From the harvester's wrong-sorting to the carriers' desire to always run full loads to the industry. VMF Nord has a ser-vice called “titt i trave" the service aims to by checks decide the supply control range dis-tribution of supplies. These controls will then form the basis for a follow-up within the sup-ply chain that is supposed to reduce the proportion of wrongly sorted saw log in pulpwood supplies. The goal is to achieve a wrong sortation of maximum 2%. The study's objective is to evaluate the service "titt i trave" from a business perspective and highlight the missing revenue that wrongly sorted saw log in pulpwood supplies causes Swedish forest owners. Östersund district have today the greatest amount of data from inspections performed with "titt i trave". Östersund district have a 3.6 % wrongly sorted volume of saw logs in pulp-wood supplies. This leads to that the forest owner annually faces a loss of revenue of 5.5 million SEK caused by wrongly sorted saw logs in pulpwood supplies in this geographic area. Through a greater use of "titt i trave" the industry can reduced this type of loss of revenue and increased profitability of forest owners. The results of this candidate's work is supposed to be the basis for further studies in the subject and point out that the forestry industry is facing a real problem with wrong sorta-tion of forest resources