Assessment of diversification in the regional economy (Case study of subjects of the Siberian Federal District)

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of assessing economic diversification at the level of individual federal subjects. Diversification is one of the strategic goals for development of Siberia. Assessing the progress in furthering this goal requires its consideration at the level of measurable indicators. In world practice, measurement and evaluation of the level of diversification of the regional economy are based on a variety of indicators reflecting individual characteristics of diversification processes. This paper presents a comparative analysis of diversification in subjects of the Siberian Federal District over the period of 2008-2013. In assessing diversification, we used the Herfindahl-Hirschman indices (gross value added and number of employees by economic activity, the structure of shipped products in manufacturing, the export commodity structure) and the proportion of manufacturing, share of single-industry towns resident in the regional population, and the number of small businesses (enterprises) per 10000 people. Discrepancies in the estimates of various indicators and contradictory trends are shown in the development of diversification processes in individual subjects of the Siberian Federal District. Correlation analysis showed no strong relationship between diversification and the growth rate of the regional economy or the existence of a strong link between economic diversification and its stability. The regions are grouped according to the level of their stability.

Influence of the Industrial Structure of Economy on the Risk Level of Russian Regions' Tax Systems

“…Besides, they support results earlier obtained by (Ankudinov et al, 2012) and (Mikheeva, 2013) who detected positive influence of diversification of economy on main indicators of regional economies including growth and employment. But they apparently contradict to (Kravchenko, 2016) who used other indicators and measured diversification by means of Herfindahl-Hirschman index which suggests uniform distribution as benchmark, unlike the overall structure of Russian economy.…”

“…Another study of Russian regions conducted by (Mikheeva, 2013) for 2000 -2011 established that more diversified regional economies in Russia on average demonstrate more stable economic growth, whereas more specialized regions show the higher rates of it. On the contrary, (Kravchenko, 2016) in the study of the regions of Siberian Federal District revealed strong negative influence of the share of employed persons in manufacturing activity and the level of export specialization on the level of unemployment, concluding that there is no evidence of positive impact of economic diversity on its stability.…”

Methodological Toolkit for Diagnosing the Diversification of Rural Economy

“…В исследованиях российских ученых также предложены подходы к оценке уровня диверсификации экономики региона 1 [16][17]. Так, А. А. Кофанов [18] применяет структурный коэффициент вклада добавленной стоимости конкретного вида экономической деятельности в валовый региональный продукт, который определяется как частное от деления доли добавленной стоимости в валовом региональном продукте конкретного региона (dr) на удельный вес добавленной стоимости этого вида в целом по стране (drf):…”