Political and Economic Factors of Russian Regions Development

Abstract

The results of the study of 15 Russian regions conducted in the framework of the Federal Target Program "Diminishing discrepancies in socioeconomic development of the regions of Russian Federation (2002-2010 and till the Year 2015)" are presented in the article. Basic features of two models of regional power's economic behavior (rent-seeking and self-constraint), the role of regional economic, social and natural gaps in contemporary development of the subjects of Russian Federation are determined. The notion of the integral type of activity is introduced. The importance of landscape and ethnic factors in using schemes of property rights on basic regional resources is shown. On the example of some Russian regions with long lasting feudal model of land ownership the role of economic history in forming contemporary fragmented corporate structure of regional economy and poorly integrated regional agrarian markets is demonstrated.