Political Aspects of the Introduction of Digital Technology and Principles of Budgetary and Managerial Efficiency in Subjects of the Russian Federation (On the Example of the Central Federal District)

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the analysis of the correlation between the level of implementation of digital technologies and the efficiency of the budget and political management in Russian central regions. The methodological basis of the study is a comparative analysis of the main socio-economic indicators. To maintain compliance with the comparability criteria, we based the choice of regions on their location within one Federal district (historical and cultural proximity) and proximity to socio-economic well-being (similarity of the development stage). The authors chose Kaluga, Lipetsk, Tula and Yaroslavl regions as the representatives. We identified the factors contributing to the unequal development of the digitalisation process. We interpret it as the result of differences of three indicators “digitalisation - financial management - political decision making” in these regions. As a result of a comparative analysis of the four economically developed Central regions of Russia in terms of the level of digitalisation of management, budget and management efficiency, we derived two fundamental theses. First, the full attraction of investments in the regional economy and the adoption of competent management decisions in today conditions are directly related to the introduction of digital technologies in the management system. Secondly, on the contrary, the introduction of digital technologies depends on the interest of regional authorities in their application and the amount of funding for digitalisation programs.