The Far East Region – The stumbling block in Sino-Russian relations?

Because of its significant remoteness from the main markets of Russia, the Far East region is closely tied to the markets of the Pacific Rim countries. Expanding trade and economic interactions with them has a positive influence on the development of the Far Eastern economy. Reducing trade barriers with the Pacific Rim countries could increase the value of bilateral trade, becoming a source of growth and development for the economy of the Far East region. To determine the scope of the trade increase, we evaluate the potential of bilateral trade interactions occurring as a result of lowering various barriers. The findings indicate that the Far East region has gradually deepened its trade interactions with neighboring Pacific Rim countries. Based on the gravity model, we evaluate and decompose trade barriers in ad valorem equivalent for trade interactions between the Pacific Rim countries and the Far East region. The main source of tariff barriers between the Far East and the countries of the Pacific Rim were the export and import customs duties imposed on the Russian side. The decomposition shows that the comparative institutional barriers between the Far East and Pacific Rim countries were significantly above the tariff barriers. This suggests that the lowering of tariff barriers was not sufficient for the purpose of intensifying bilateral trade. Our analysis implies that trade limitations initiated by the Russian side have caused a shift from tariff barriers to institutional ones. The trade between the Far East region on the one hand and China and the Republic of Korea on the other hand has intensified. The findings suggest that the relative institutional barriers with China will continue decreasing. Reducing the institutional barriers between the Far East and Japan could significantly increase trade interactions between the region and the Pacific Rim market

Based on the analysis of All-Union Population Census of 1926 and a wide range of general and regional scientific research, the author studies the processes of demographic and economic development of territories located in the Russian North and conventionally designated by the author as regions of Euro-pean, Ural, Siberian and Far Eastern North. The paper identifies key trends and features of Northern re-gions' development in the 1920s, caused by the first Soviet reforms of the administrative-territorial struc-ture of the country, economic development and national state policy, which had an impact on the demo-graphic processes in the regions including population size, its composition and settlement structure. It is found that the economic development was the most active in the bordering areas, where intensive development of industry and transportation implied the need to strengthen national defense and expand trade and economic ties. This mainly concerned the regions of the European and Far Eastern North. The regions that were rich in natural resources, especially gold deposits, such as Yakutia, also developed more actively. Other regions of Ural and Siberian North developed in a more traditional way, based on growth of wood harvesting and fishing industry. Improving of living conditions of the indigenous peoples of the North, material support for their farms, medical care and legal assistance, introduction of education among the population in the 1920s had a positive impact on the economic and demographic development of the indigenous population.

Border areas are both important territorial security barriers and portals to the outside world. Considering the complicated geopolitical environment of China’s inland borders, analysis of the current status and mechanisms of influence of geo-economy in border areas is of great significance. Namely, this analysis is important towards leveraging traditional advantages to accelerate China’s development in border and minority areas. Based on a comprehensive analysis, our study constructed a framework to analyze the geo-economy in border areas, and also introduced three indexes: local economy, export-oriented economy and local development. In addition, our study systematically described geo-economic evolution in the border areas of China. We also analyzed the mechanism of geo-economic spatial differentiation in these border areas by using geographical detectors. Our results indicated that the level of geo-economic influence in border areas has grown steadily with significant spatial differentiation. The absolute geo-economic dominance of Northeast China gradually declines over time. Areas with geo-economic advantages are highly dispersed, showing a spatial polarization pattern with several polar nuclei including Mudanjiang city (Northeast China), Baotou city (Inner Mongolia), Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture (Xinjiang), Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture and the city of Chongzuo (Yunnan-Guangxi area). Geo-economics in border area is mainly influenced by national policies, the development level of neighboring countries, as well as the desire of these countries to cooperate with China in bilateral trade. Favorable policies, traffic, cultural proximity and other factors also impact the geo-economics of border areas significantly. The Inner Mongolia and Tibet areas are mainly influenced by neighboring countries, while Northeast China and Xinjiang are mainly affected by Chinese policies; the Yunnan-Guangxi area is influenced by a combination of these factors. At the end of the study, we provide our recommendations for developing policies that further geo-economic advantages in complex geopolitical environments and in areas with varied development.

Regional inequalities in mortality are rising across the globe. The case of German reunification offers a unique opportunity to explore how such inequalities can be reduced, or even eliminated: following reunification, a long-standing life expectancy gap between East and West Germany was closed for women and markedly reduced for men in a period of less than 15 years. Drawing from theory on health inequalities, we investigate the contribution of material, behavioural and psychosocial factors likely related to the narrowing of the life expectancy gap between East and West Germany following reunification. We used regional data from official national statistics covering the period 1994-2020 for 15 regions in East and West Germany. Using fixed-effects models with an interaction term for regions in the East, we investigated whether within-region changes in key hypothesised factors (social security expenditure, healthcare improvements, changes in alcohol consumption, and life satisfaction), have had differential impacts on life expectancy at birth and at 65 years. We find that increases in social security benefits in the East following reunification has been the most important factor for lowering inequalities between the two parts of Germany: for every standard deviation increase in social security benefits, life expectancy at birth increased by an additional 0.20 [0.07,0.33] years for males and by 0.15 [-0.01,0.31] years for females in East relative to West Germany. We find the protective effect of social security benefits also for women at 65 years (additional 0.14 years [0.006,0.268]) but not for men. Overall, our findings suggest that increasing social security expenditure could be an effective policy-based tool for reducing health disparities across regions with different levels of economic development. This provides additional support for the relevance of the materialist hypothesis and the political economy of root causes of health inequalities. Key messages • Our findings suggest that increasing social security expenditure could be an effective policy-based tool for reducing regional health disparities. • We find support for the materialist and political economy approaches to explaining health inequalities.

The study is devoted to the development of humanitarian cooperation between the regions of the two states – the Amur Region (Russian Federation) and Heilongjiang province (People’s Republic of China). We analyze the development of humanitarian relations between these neighbouring territories from the late 1980s to the present. The main normative and legal acts of the interstate and interregional levels that have influenced humanitarian cooperation are considered. The factors influencing the development of Sino-Russian relations in the border area, related to the difficult social and economic situation of reforms in Russia in the 1990s are noted. We consider the position of the leaders of the Amur Region in relation to the development of humanitarian relations with the neighbouring region of People’s Republic of China. The main directions of hu-manitarian cooperation between the Amur Region and the border territories of China (first of all, with the province of Heilongjiang) in the field of tourism, culture, sports, as well as in the educa-tional space are highlighted. It is proved that the development of Sino-Russian interstate relations since the late 1980s can be described as progressive and stable. The conclusion is made about the features of cooperation with the regions of the People’s Republic of China, the significant role of the geographical position of the region in the development of international interaction, as well as the stability of the rate of convergence in the field of humanitarian cooperation between the two countries.

The purpose of the work is to analyze the transformation, differentiation of spatial socio–economic development of the regions bordering Ukraine as part of the Central Chernozem region and their regional metropolises. The results of the study confirmed two types of structures of regional settlement systems of the CCR border regions: Belgorod dual-core and monocentric Voronezh and Kursk with established features of non-metropolitan reduction trends and different vectors of development of border settlement. Dynamics of economic development of the regions since 2010 it indicates a significant transformation and differentiation, a change of leader, a stable nature of the processes of divergence of regions in the levels of development. It is revealed that in 2020 the highest indicators of economic development were achieved by the Voronezh region, the first signs of stagnation of the economic development of the Belgorod region were established, in which a reduction in investment, a change in the geopolitical situation in 2022, the border situation can lead to a decrease in the investment attractiveness of large businesses, a further drop in the pace of economic development, the emergence of instability. The reduction of the share of metropolises in the socio-economic development of the regions, the formation of a new trend – "de-monocentricity" has been established. A retrospective analysis of the population growth/loss ratio revealed a persistent trend of population concentration in suburban metropolitan areas against the background of a continuing decline in the population of the deep regions of the regions. The territories bordering Ukraine are characterized by different vectors of economic and demographic development. The conducted research allowed us to establish the trends of uneven spatial development; the polarization of the development of regional metropolises, non-metropolitan and border areas; the tightening of the population in the regional capitals-metropolises and suburban areas. The methodology of studying the spatial development of regions, regional metropolises provides an opportunity to monitor their levels of development, identify priority problems, and make effective management decisions.

The growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China has been very impressive during the past 16 years. Since 1993 China has become the second largest FDI recipient in the world and the single largest host country among the developing countries. However, in terms of the regional, sectoral, industrial and source country distribution of FDI inflows into China, several issues are worth studying. This paper finds that, first, the regional distribution of FDI inflows into China has been very uneven and mainly concentrated in the East region, which may reinforce the regional disparity between the East and West regions in terms of economic development. Second, among the economic sectors, industry and real estate sectors are the major FDI recipients. Agriculture and infrastructure sectors have received very little FDI inflows though the Chinese government has made a lot of effort to attract FDI inflows into these sectors. Third, FDI inflows into China are mainly concentrated in labour intensive manufacturing industries, which reveals that taking advantage of China’s cheap labour is the main motive for foreign investors in China. Fourth, FDI inflows into China have been dominated by NIEs, especially by Hong Kong. This paper discusses several factors for the domination of NIEs’ investments in China. Finally, this paper discusses the recent policy and regulation changes towards FDI and the corresponding implications.

Background China has experienced rapid economic development since the 1990s, which has led to regional development inequality and could have an impact on the physical growth in Chinese children. Study about changes in growth trajectories across generations by region and socioeconomic (SES) factors is needed for informing policy to reduce inequality. Methods We used the longitudinal data of 5118 children from China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), who were born during 1981–2000 and whose height and weight were measured between 7–18y during 1991–2015. Four birth cohorts were derived (1981–85, 86–90, 91–95 and 96–2000) and mixed-effects fractional polynomial functions were applied to estimate child-to-adolescent growth trajectories by gender and cohort. Growth trajectories were further stratified by region (west, central, east and northeast) and urban/rural separately. Finally, both geographic and parental SES determinants (log-household income, paternal occupation and maternal education) were adjusted to estimate their association with childhood physical growth across cohorts. Results Mean growth trajectories for height and BMI both shifted upwards across cohorts. The increase in BMI between the oldest (1981–85) and youngest (1996–2000) cohorts was ~0.8 kg/m2 at 9 y (both genders) and remained in boys while narrowed in girls since late adolescence (0.4 kg/m2 at 17 y). The increase in height widened pre-puberty (5.7 cm in boys and 4.4 cm in girls at 13 y) and decreased thereafter. There were evident regional disparities in growth: gender-/cohort-specific BMI trajectories for children from the east region lay above those from the northeast region, followed by those for children from central/west areas. Height trajectory from northeast was the highest, followed by east, central and west regions. Growth increment across cohorts showed a similar regional pattern (e.g. children in west experienced the smallest growth increment across cohorts). Urban children had higher BMI, were taller and had greater BMI increment while smaller height increment across cohorts than their rural counterparts, thus the urban-rural difference widened in BMI while narrowed in height across generations. Higher parental SES was associated with higher BMI and taller stature. The strength of relationship between maternal education with children’s height was stronger in younger than in older cohorts. Conclusion While children from urban and east region had higher BMI and greater BMI increment across cohorts, children from underdeveloped western China remain to be the shortest and should be maximized their potential of linear growth. The positive relationship between parental SES and children’s BMI, which was opposite to the evidence in Western countries, may reflect a different mechanism in developing countries.

Introduction. At present, the issues of the Far East accelerated economic development remain in the focus of the state attention. Among the key mechanisms of state policy is the formation of advanced development territories (ADT). The article sets the task of studying the impact of the institutional measures taken on the welfare and the population’s life quality in the Far Eastern territories. Particular attention is paid to studying migration processes and analyzing the economic activity of the Far East population. The purpose of the article is to study the effects of implementing mechanisms for accelerated economic growth, as well as assess their impact on the life quality in the Far East regions. Methods. The authors use the following methods: economic and mathematical modeling, computational and analytical methods, comparative and spatial analysis. Scientific novelty of the research. For a comprehensive assessment of the regional well-being, the authors propose to supplement the multiplicative model based on the A. Sen’s extended welfare function with a composite ecological index. It takes into account the ecological conditions of human life, which are an important aspect of well-being. The authors obtain ecologically adjusted indicators of well-being for the eastern regions of the Russian Federation and study their dynamics, as well as the relations with the data on the population’s migration activity during the formation of new institutions of advanced development in the East of the country. Results. The authors find out that most of the Far Eastern territories are still lagging behind the average Russian level in socio-economic development. The results of assessing the level of well-being of regions on the basis of a multiplicative model without taking into account the environmental factor show that the most prosperous areas are raw materials-based territories. It is shown that the role of environmental factors in the life quality in the Far Eastern territories of Russia is very significant - the ecologically adjusted level of well-being is noticeably lower than the indicator that does not take into account this aspect of well-being. The authors reveal that socio-economically disadvantaged regions with difficult natural and climatic living conditions have very high rates of migration outflow. Their coefficients of migration loss reflect the presence of a crisis in economic development, which has been increasing in recent years. An analysis of trends in economic activity shows a relationship between the dynamics of the number of employed and the implementation of ADT projects in the Far Eastern territories. Conclusions. The conclusion is that the measures taken by the state for the advanced economic development of the eastern territories of the country have not yet had a noticeable positive impact on the welfare and life quality in the Far East regions.

This paper measured the coordinated degree of transportation and economic development, and made a comparative analysis with the data of 31 provinces in China by the DEA method. The results showed: the coordinated degree of transportation and economic development in China was low, the average support degree of traffic system for economic development was 0.632, and the average degree of economic development for transportation was 0.753. From the three regions of east, center and west, the coordinated degree of transportation and economic development in eastern region was higher than that in the midwest.

Objective: To describe the spatial distribution characteristics of the HIV prevalence among pregnant women in mainland China in 2016, providing scientific evidence for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Methods: Data on pregnant women and those living with HIV in 2016 for all counties in mainland China is from the National Maternal & Child Health Statistics dataset. To obtain robust estimates, 2 964 counties were merged into 344 cities. Spatial autocorrelation analysis and trend analysis were performed based on the city-level dataset to detailedly describe the characteristics of the spatial distribution. Results: A total of 14 879 082 pregnant women were included in the analysis, among whom 5 051 were diagnosed to be infected with HIV, giving an overall prevalence of 34.0 per 100 000 pregnant women. The prevalence was higher in the south than in the north, and decreased from the west (93.5/100 000) to the east(8.6/100 000 ), more specifically, the prevalence in the West region was 11 times as high as that in the East region(χ(trend)(2)=68.61, P<0.01). Stratified analysis by provinces showed that there were 6 provinces whose prevalence was >50.0 per 100 000, and they (Yunnan, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Guangxi, Guizhou and Chongqing) were all located in the West Region; pregnant women in these provinces accounted for 21% of all pregnant women, but the HIV cases accounted for 76% of all cases diagnosed in mainland China. Stratified analysis by cities showed that there were 30 cities whose prevalence was >100.0 per 100 000, and 28 of these cities were also located in the western provinces above. Furthermore, the global Moran's I (0.5, P<0.01) indeed indicated a strong clustered distribution across mainland China; 2 hot spots were observed in the Midwest of Xinjiang, and Yunnan and its bordering areas (Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Chongqing), while 1 cold spot in the central and east China. The HIV prevalence in the hot spots (183.6/100 000) was 23 times as much as that in the cold spot (8.1/100 000). Conclusion: The overall HIV prevalence for pregnant women who lived in mainland China in 2016 (34.0/100 000) ranked at low-level worldwide, but varied markedly across the whole country with 2 high-prevalence-clustered areas: the Midwest of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Yunnan province along with its bordering areas, indicating comprehensive intervention strategies especially targeted to the areas with high HIV prevalence should be developed.

Because of their proximity to the border and their peripheral character compared to the rest of a country’s territory, border areas are often poorly developed (title: 'Promoting the development of disadvantaged border areas in Slovenia'). Therefore, regional policy pays special attention to them. In Slovenia, this has been the case since 1975, with ninety municipalities currently designated as disadvantaged border areas. To facilitate their comprehensive development, the Slovenian government set up a program to promote their development that will connect and harmonize the efforts of all ministries in developing these areas. Designing this program relied on past experience in promoting poorly developed areas and, to make the program as comprehensive as possible, the following aspects were addressed: quality of living, economic development, access to services of general and economic interest, demographic changes, sustainable development and mobility, cross-border cooperation, and an overall developmental or systemic framework to promote the development of individual areas. The basic aim was to establish how to comprehensively promote border area development. To adapt the system for promoting border area development to the needs of individual municipalities as much as possible, a typology of these areas was first produced, which made it possible to compare them against one another and, most importantly, against other Slovenian municipalities. Second, questionnaires were produced for representatives of the municipalities and representatives of the border areas’ residents. Based on the respondents’ feedback, thematic categories were defined in detail and examined through an indicator analysis. Finally, a selection was made, along with detailed descriptions, of measures that either together or individually could help improve the situation in disadvantaged border areas.

Under the background which Chinas economy enjoys fast and sound development, it also face the uneven regional economy development, the gap between all the region is also getting larger and larger. While in order to control this trend, we must be talent-oriented, the most important resource is the talent, human resource is the driven force behind the regional economy development, only by bringing human resource into full play, can we better play the role as the transfer station in the eastern coastal areas, and further develop the middle regional economy, and better realize the goal of develop the West region development, promote the economy development of different regions. For that, it is of significant meaning to explore the regional economy development and human resource ecological system. The analysis of the current situation of the regional economy development Currently, Chinas economy universal problem in the transition period is the uneven development of the regional economy. Due to the fact that China remains a developing country. So the nature of the nation require a healthy, orderly, coordinated development of different region, especially the stark divide and unlimited gap between different regions are absolutely prohibited, let alone the polarization, once this is occurred, it will undoubtedly effect the economy development, political stable and nation unity of our country, this actually a betray to the inner requirement and attribute of socialism, this is counterproductive to the development of socialism country. Although the economy in China has enjoyed continuos and fast development, but due to the difference in the subjective and objective conditions and historic and realistic reason, the uneven development in different region is very prominent, mainly manifested as: First, although there has formed Peral River Delta, Yellow River Delta and economic belt surrounding the bohai sea and many other economy zone in China, but this growing polars remain powerless in regard of radiation effect and range. Second is the uneven economy development in the three major economy zone. Ever since the implementation of reform and opening up policy, the economy development level in the western and middle part of China has exceeded some of the provinces in the east coastal line, but judging from the overall economy strength, the proportion of the east coastal regions GDP continuously climbing high remain a fact, the economy development quality and speed remain the descending situation from the east to the west, besides the gap between three major region is still on the rise. The third is that the difference in the different places within each region has lead to the different industry elements and structure survival rate, the economy difference inside these regions and the difference between the three major regions are particularly significant, it is an important part of the integrated regional economy development difference. The forth is the gap between the north part and south part in east and middle region constantly increases, according to the research of the relevant scholars and experts, the economy development in the south part in both east and middle region is very rapid, while the north part is relatively slow due to the geography condition, this situation brought some new uneven factors to the regional development in China. The reasons for this huge gap are various, but the uneven development of the capital market is an important reason. By comparing the capital market in the four major economy zones, we can find that there are obvious uneven situation in the capital market development in east, middle, north-east, west regions capital market.

PurposeThis research aims to examine the macro determinants that significantly affect financial development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which could be used furtherly to play a major role in economic sustainability since one of the major driving forces for economic development is the financial development.Design/methodology/approachThe significant determinants of financial development should be efficiently used by the MENA region countries for creating huge financial sector development and innovation, stimulating economic development in turn and leading to the completion of the cycle of development and sustainability. To achieve this study's objective, the researcher employed a quantitative method to develop an econometric model.FindingsThis model consisted of two Panel EGLS Cross-Section Random Effects Models (REMs) in which Domestic credit to the private sector as a percentage of GDP (?PCGDP?_it) and stock market capitalization ratio (?SMC?_it) were taken as the dependent variables. In addition, the independent variables included the corruption perception index, financial freedom (FF), political stability (PS) and trade openness (TO). The researcher extracted the data for the analysis from different databases including the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Monetary Fund. Throughout the first – Panel EGLS Cross-Section Random Effects Model, it turned out that, while FF, TO and corruption index had a positive relationship with ?PCGDP?_it, PS had an adverse effect on ?PCGDP?_it. The second – Panel EGLS Cross-Section Random Effects Model showed that, while PS and TO had a positive effect on stock market performance, the corruption index and FF had an adverse effect on stock market performance.Originality/valueThroughout the first – Panel EGLS Cross-Section Random Effects Model, it turned out that, while FF, TO and corruption index had a positive relationship with ?PCGDP?_it, PS had an adverse effect on ?PCGDP?_it. The second – Panel EGLS Cross-Section Random Effects Model showed that, while PS and TO had a positive effect on stock market performance, the corruption index and FF had an adverse effect on stock market performance.

Subject. This article considers human capital as a factor of labor productivity rise. Objectives. The article aims to systematize the main structural components of human capital, determine their impact on the regional economy, and typify the Far East regions by public health level. Methods. For the study, I used a cluster analysis. Results. The article substantiates the relationship between demographic characteristics, expenditures on education and healthcare, and indicators of economic development of the region. It presents the clustering of the Far East regions in terms of public health indicators for the period from 2000 to 2019. Conclusions. The regions of the Russian Federation need to adopt targeted programmes to develop human capital and improve its quantitative and qualitative characteristics.