Inclusive Development of Kuzbass: Assessment Experience

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of assessing the inclusive development of the economy of the Kemerovo Region—Kuzbass, the only coal mining region in Russia where it forms up to a third of the GRP and about 40 % of the income of the consolidated budget of the region. Numerous representatives of various scientific schools have been tracking the trends in the socio-economic development of this territory for 70 years and trying to assess its prospects. In recent years, an inclusive approach to assessing the effectiveness of the development of subjects of the Russian Federation has become increasingly widespread in local science. However, we are not aware of works that would give quantitative estimates of the inclusive development of Kuzbass not only as a particular region of Russia, but also as the only coal industry cluster. This article attempts to quantify the level of inclusive development of Kuzbass during the period 2005–2020. To do this, the authors took the WEF methodology as a basis and adapted the Inclusive Development Index indicators to calculate the regional inclusiveness index using publicly available statistical indicators. The results of the calculations show: in 2005–2020 neither the growth of industrial production, including the growth of coal mining, nor the stimulation of housing construction or projects in the field of scientific and technological development have led to an increase in the index of inclusive development in the Kemerovo region. At the same time, it has been proven that the inclusiveness index in Kuzbass is significantly lower than similar indicators for the development of neighboring regions of Siberia, including those with a similar economic structure. This may serve as a sign of the inefficiency of the current model and the tools used for the development of Kuzbass. The lack of inclusive growth of the Kuzbass economy over the past fifteen years, proved by the authors, casts doubt on the possibility of implementing accelerated growth programs in the Kemerovo region and making breakthroughs in inclusive development in the horizon of at least 10–15 years. The authors argue that there is only one way to resolve this problematic situation – the socio-economic transformation of Kuzbass based on the principles of inclusiveness.