Druzhinin P.V. Influence of foreign relations on the development of Russian regions

Pavel Vasilievich Druzhinin
Doctor of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor, Head of Department of Modeling and Forecasting for Regional Development, Institute of Economics, Karelian Research Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences
pdruzhinin@mail.ru
Prosp. Nevskogo, 50, 185030 Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Russian Federation

Abstract.
Problems of the economic development of Russian regions are analyzed in the article. Research processes of the intensification of the international trade, creation of customs unions have an important place in the theory of the economic growth. The real data showed how the orientation on the export of regional economies influences the rate of the economic growth of Russian regions. The development of the Russian regions from 1990 to 2013 is analyzed and major external shocks of this period connected with the global economic crises and drastic decisions of federal authorities are isolated. It is shown that in general, for the period from 1990 to 2013 there has been some positive impact of the regional export orientation on the rates of the economic growth but in some years the export orientation of the economy was one of the main of the factors of the economic growth. The liberalization of the foreign trade in Russia in early 90s was one of the key factors of the economic recession, especially in the regions with a large proportion of the manufacturing industry. The larger the export quota became the more the GDP fell in 1992. But the next year the relation became very weak and other factors became the leading ones. Openness of the economy, reduction of customs tariffs for a number of countries, including the creating the Customs Union has a significant influence on the development of the regional economy. External shocks influence a lot the economy of the regions oriented on the export. The territories survive world crisis in a milder way, they have a larger potential for growth at the exit from the crisis but not all the regions are able to bring it to life. For border regions the influence of the export orientation in the period of a successful development of the Russian economy in 1999-2007 became a negative fact. The higher the export quota of a border region was the lower the growth rates were.

Key words: regional development, external relations, export, domestic market, the gross regional product, factors of economic growth, customs union, export quota, border region, mild factors, customs tariff.

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