Assessment of Regional Development Institutions and Executive Authorities of the Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation

Abstract

Regional development management involves the use of development institutions, which are designed to enhance the functionality in solving the problems of the regions. For Russian regions, it is quite often proposed to borrow such institutions, for example, in the form of agencies and corporations for regional development, which looks very unreasonable. The task of distributing resources between regions, which cannot be considered solved in Russia, involves assessing the effectiveness of regional management, executive authorities, for which a system of indicators (of 20 parameters) and corresponding methods have been developed and approved, which are currently being improved and processed. The unresolved nature of these problems makes us once again turn to the validity of the decisions made and the argumentation of the position on the use of development agencies as institutions. This study provides a critical analysis of the borrowing of development institutions for the regions, demonstrating the importance of the project management method, which involves a comprehensive assessment of the feasibility of new functions, which is difficult to implement without a reliable assessment of the reasons for the negative work of existing functions and institutions at the regional level. Using a comparative survey method of analysis, measurement principles suitable for assessing the effectiveness of management, an alternative methodology for measuring the effectiveness of regional authorities in Russia is proposed. It allows you to assess the economic, social, administrative, budgetary and environmental aspects of the development of the region and the solution to breakdown in these areas by the executive bodies of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation. The advantage of the proposed alternative methodology is the smaller number of indicators, as well as the use of an already established accounting and measurement system, with minimal costs for the creation of new methods and their testing. Like any approach of this type, the assessment is conditional, but the convenience of the methodology, flexibility and simplicity, allow us to give a generalized assessment of both the development of the region and the management of its development. At the same time, the use of private indicators characterizing individual spheres of the region’s functioning can occur within the framework of each of the areas of work of a government body. Thus, the analysis performed casts doubt on the need for regional agencies and corporations as an institutional panacea for development. In addition, it allows us to propose a different institution for assessing the effectiveness of management, on which the procedures for allocating resources between regions will depend, which is especially important in connection with the goals of restructuring regional debts and the implementation of infrastructure loans declared by the Federal government.