Investment Activity in Russia’s Regions

Abstract

Any economic system, no matter what its internal configuration is or what kind of external impact it is exposed to, needs investment for rational development. The volume and structure of investment, as well as the efficiency of the way it is used, may influence the development of both the country as a whole and its specific regions in particular. The management of economic systems will not be thoroughgoing without the management of investment. Economic reproduction is characterized based on the rate of investment activity. Some discouraging figures posted in this context in the Russian Federation (RF), namely 8.4%, which is the share of organizations engaged in technological, organizational, and marketing innovation (Rosstat, 2017), are a clear testimony to the topicalness of the issue in question. This paper presents an assessment of investment activity in Russia, as well as across its regions. The authors have developed a methodology for forecasting the investment-based development of regions based on the calculation of the share of investment in the gross regional product (GRP) and the use of an integral indicator which factors in the effect of various factors on investment activity in a region. A separate stage in these assessments is the calculation of an integral coefficient which reflects the impact of factors impeding investment activity. The study’s primary purpose is to assess investment activity in Russia’s regions and forecast the share of investment in the GRP of the RF constituent entities based on a multi-factor model.