Regional Economic Policy Research Articles

Topic Classification of Central Bank Monetary Policy Statements: Evidence from Latent Dirichlet Allocation in Lesotho

Abstract This article develops a baseline on how to analyse the statements of monetary policy from Lesotho’s Central Bank using a method of topic classification that utilizes a machine learning algorithm known as Latent Dirichlet Allocation. To evaluate the changes in the policy distribution, the classification of topics is performed on a sample of policy statements spanning from February 2017 to January 2021. The three-topic Latent Dirichlet Allocation model extracted topics that remained prominent throughout the sample period and were most closely reflective of the functions of the Central Bank of Lesotho Monetary Policy Committee. The topics identified are: (i) International Monetary and Financial Market Conditions; (ii) Monetary Policy Committee and International Reserves; (iii) Regional and International Economic Policy Conditions. The three-topic Latent Dirichlet Allocation model was determined as the most appropriate model through which a consistent analysis of topic evolution in Central Bank of Lesotho Monetary Policy Statements can be performed.

Corporate social responsibility practices of forest companies in the Northern regions of Russia

Subject. The article addresses issues of corporate social responsibility. Objectives. The aim is to assess the development of corporate social responsibility principles at forestry enterprises. Methods. The study draws on methods of comparative analysis. Results. The activities of large Russian forest companies meet the world social standards of sustainable development. Meanwhile, medium-sized businesses, due to limited resources, comply with only part of requirements for sustainable development. Conclusions. The findings can be used to design tools and directions of regional economic policy.

Analysing the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19: a new regional geography or pandemic enhanced inequalities?

ABSTRACT In the UK the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 mitigations over the course of the pandemic (March 2020 to the time of writing in January 2022) have been experienced unevenly and with differential intensities at both the regional and local scales. Using individual-level geocoded data (from the Understanding Society: UK Household Longitudinal Survey COVID-19 study) linking people to the places in which they live, we consider the regional and local disparities in the risks and outcomes of financial hardship as a result of early stage mitigations. This paper provides direct evidence from the UK of a concentration of vulnerabilities in areas of high deprivation, undermining the capacity of individuals within those areas to shelter from economic shocks. Furthermore, the geography of financial hardship appears largely compositional – attributable to the pre-existing characteristics of individuals within regions and neighbourhoods, rather than being explicitly driven by the spatial contextual effect of their social or physical environments. This has implications for UK regional economic policy, and the Levelling Up agenda in particular. It is not the regions and neighbourhoods that give rise to COVID-19 hardship per se, but the concentration of individual disadvantages of the people living within them. The persistence of compositional dis/advantages means that there is a need not only to direct ameliorative packages to the individual but also to use local areas as places where the (regional) Levelling Up agenda can break long-term place trajectories that lock in existing disparities which in turn yield unequal financial opportunities and outcomes in periods of crisis.

Spaces of the forest-based bioeconomy in Finnish Lapland and Catalonia: practitioners, narratives and forgotten spatialities

Over the last decade, the bioeconomy has been increasingly promoted as a strategy able to shift our economies away from fossil fuels and boost local economic growth, especially of rural areas in Europe. The bioeconomy is an important part of the European Union agenda, it is promoted through European wide strategies that are translated into local and regional policies. However, the bioeconomy does not unfold equally across regions; it has different implications influenced by the spaces and the narratives with which the policies are created and implemented. Amongst all the actors participating in the bioeconomy strategies, local practitioners play a crucial role in interpreting the narratives and implementing the policies in a way that makes sense for their local contexts. Hence, there is a need to understand how local and regional practitioners apply bioeconomy strategies to grasp how those are expressed in different regional contexts. Through the case studies of the forest-based bioeconomy in Catalonia and Finnish Lapland, this paper explains why economic narratives prevail in the local bioeconomy and how regional spatialities are affected by it. The cases show that the bioeconomy remains close to economic growth and is applied through regional economic development policies, thus focusing on specific economic sectors and hindering the role of the bioeconomy in a wider regional transformation. Understanding the narratives and how these reflect the spatialities help us to advance a spatially sensitive approach to the bioeconomy, this is, a bioeconomy practised according to the socio-spatial conditions, closer to ideas of inclusivity, plurality and justice, and with a greater role in a wider regional transformation, rather than the greening of specific economic sectors.

Digital economy and demand structure of skilled talents — analysis based on the perspective of vertical technological innovation

Digital economy is the general trend of future development, and the demand of digital technology for skilled talent structure will also change. This paper regards digital technology as a kind of technological innovation, and discusses the impact of digital economic development on labor structure on the basis of modeling analysis and empirical analysis. Firstly, based on the vertical technological innovation theory, this paper constructs a macro equilibrium model including the structure of talents with different skills for analysis. Secondly, it makes an empirical analysis by using provincial panel data and regression methods such as synthetic control method; Through the analysis, some basic conclusions are obtained, including digital economy can promote the advancement of skilled talents, and the proportion of highly skilled talents is gradually increased; Secondly, regional economic coordination policies can promote the diffusion of digital technology and the upgrading of skilled talents. Finally, the paper puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions according to the analysis conclusion.

The Tax Burden as One of the Conditions Contributing to the Shadow Economy in the Russian Regions

The article is devoted to the study of conditions conducive to the growth of the shadow economy in Russian regions. Special attention is paid to assessing the impact of the tax burden on the scale of the shadow economy. The article is devoted to the study of the shadow economy in the Russian regions. The purpose of the study is to identify the characteristics by Russian regions with a high level of the shadow economy. In the study the methods of correlation analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis were used. The research revealed an inverse correlation between the amount of shadow employment and the level of the tax burden. In the regions with a low level of tax burden, a significant level of shadow employment is usually observed. There is also an inverse correlation between the value of shadow employment and labor productivity, measured by the value of Gross Regional Product (GRP) per capita. An inverse correlation was found between the scale of the shadow economy and the level of development of innovation processes in the region, which is measured by the number of advanced production technologies used per capita and the level of innovation activity of organizations. The study revealed an inverse correlation between the level of shadow employment and the share of industries in GRP, the correlation coefficient in 2019 was –0.5198. A direct correlation was found between the level of shadow employment and the share of social sectors in GRP, in 2019 the correlation coefficient was 0,5890. The obtained results allowed us to identify the factors that favor the growth of the shadow economy. Among them, the backlog of the regions in economic and innovative development comes to the fore. The research findings can be used by the state authorities for developing regional economic policies aimed to reduce the scale of the shadow economy.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF USING REASONABLE SPECIALIZATION IN THE ECONOMY OF UKRAINE

. The article analyzes the uneven economic growth in the regions of Ukraine and proposes the development of regional policy based on the use of the smart specialization idea. As a tool for analyzing the uneven economic development of regions, we used a method based on the comparison of regions by gross regional product per capita, which formed the basis for determining the funnel of backwardness of the region among others in terms of economic growth. The analysis was conducted for 2010 and 2020. The calculations made it possible to identify areas that differ significantly in development potential. It is proposed to use the ideas of the smart specialization concept as a new model of the Ukraine’s regions economic development in order to equalize interregional disparities. Revealed the essence of this concept implementation on the example of the Carpathian region economy in 2020 is revealed. It is determined that the formation of educational, tourist and construction clusters in the region are the foundations that will form a long-term strategy for its development. The main measures for the introduction of construction and educational clusters are proposed. The components that determine the innovative development of Ukraine on the basis of the Global Indices of Competitiveness and Innovation are analyzed. Proposed the formation of economic policy, which is aimed at solving strategic tasks of the regions socio-economic development - ensuring economic growth and quality of life in Ukraine. It is justified that the application of the smart specialization approach in long-term regional strategies will contribute to a synergistic effect for both human and innovative development, which is the goal of the new regional economic policy.
 To solvethe tasks used general and special research methods, namely: theoretical generalization to clarify the essence of smart specialization), statistical, comparative, comparative and strategic analysis (to calculate and build the dynamics of GRP per capita by region of Ukraine), graphical (for a visual representation of the results of the analysis). In addition, the visualization method was used to build the algorithm for forming the regional policy of Ukraine.

CLUSTER FORMATION POTENTIAL ANALYSIS

This article high lights the concept of the cluster and the advantages of the cluster approach, as well as in order to increase the competitiveness of the regional economy, it is necessary to determine an effective model of the regional economy that allows the maximum use of the existing potential. Cluster policy is one of the most common mechanisms for the implementation of state and regional economic policy. The main goal of implementing the cluster policy is to ensure high rates of economic growth and diversification of the economy by increasing the competitiveness of enterprises, suppliers of equipment, components, specialized production and services, research and educational organizations that form economic clusters in the regions. This article also highlights the main directions of regional cluster policy.

DEVELOPMENT OF ENTERPRISES IN THE DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX ON THE BASIS OF THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH

The study is devoted to topical issues of development of enterprises of the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation, which at the present stage have a high innovative potential, their interaction with small businesses to improve production efficiency. The ecosystem approach makes it possible to form new principles of integration that replace the classical forms of cooperation: contracting, institutionalization and clustering. The objects of the study were enterprises of the military-industrial complex, development institutions, business entities of the Udmurt Republic. The aim of the work is to develop a mechanism for "drawing" SMEs into the production ecosystem of a technological large defense complex business to ensure maximum efficiency of all participants in the production process. To substantiate the possibility of using the ecosystem approach as a mechanism for integrating defense industry enterprises and small businesses, the system method was used in the work (when deriving the composition of ecosystems, characterizing the components of the ecosystem, describing the presence and dynamics of links between the components), as well as the modeling method (when developing the involvement mechanism). To solve this problem, the authors have developed models of a regional accelerator of business ideas, technology transfer, a regional entrepreneurial production ecosystem as tools for innovative growth and development of enterprises in the military-industrial complex. The results obtained are consistent with domestic and foreign experience in the development of high-tech large industrial business, and therefore can be applied in the implementation of the regional economic growth policy, as well as defense industry enterprises on the way to further diversification.

Research on the Impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Enterprises’ Green Innovation—Based on the Perspective of Corporate Investment and Financing Decisions

Improving enterprises’ green innovation ability is beneficial to realize the “win–win” of economic development and environmental protection. As the global economic situation is complex and volatile, economic policies changed frequently. Will the rising uncertainty of economic policies affect enterprises’ green innovation? Taking China’s A-share-listed companies from 2008 to 2019 as the research sample, the Baker index based on news media and network information is used to measure the uncertainty of national economic policy, and the official exchange index based on the complex network is used to measure the uncertainty of economic policy in prefecture-level cities. It is found that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic policy uncertainty and firms’ green innovation capability. Moreover, the uncertainty index of national macroeconomic policy is mostly on the left side of the inverted U shape, which can promote the improvement of enterprises’ green innovation ability. However, too frequent changes in regional economic policies will inhibit enterprises’ green innovation ability. This paper further analyzes the moderating effect of financialization of investment behavior and financing constraint on the impact of economic policy uncertainty on green innovation of enterprises from the perspective of investment and financing behavior choice. It is found that the impact of economic policy uncertainty on green innovation is more obvious for firms with low financing constraints and low financialization.

INTERREGIONAL DIFFERENTIATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM IN RUSSIA

International tourism, with its positive effect on socio-economic development of entire regions and individual countries, plays a crucial role for Russia’s economic growth. The paper analyses the interregional differentiation in the development of international tourism in the Russian Federation. The study is based on the official data from the Federal State Statistics Service. Median indicators are calculated. Drawing on the methods of economic analysis, induction, deduction, comparison and generalization, the study reveals a significant disproportion of inbound and outbound tourist international flows in Russia in 2016–2019, with greater part of Russian regions being the donors of tourists for foreign destinations. The analysis of inbound and outbound international tourist flows allowed us to identify six typological groups of Russian regions. The results obtained make it possible to form a comprehensive outlook of the development of international tourism in Russia. Practical application of the proposed approach gives an opportunity to expand possible options for management decisions, acting as a tool of regional economic policy in the sphere of tourism.

Problem regions and State policy in the field of regional economy

Now, there are no generally accepted ideas about the types of regions, there is no modern classification of regions according to the regional economic policy being implemented. This is the most important task in the regional policy of the state at the moment. There is a need to identify depressive regions with the help of such classification, to determine the economic levers with which it is possible to solve the most acute and important problems of such regions, as well as to determine the ways of development of these regions. As a result of such an analysis of the situation, federal aid should go to those regions that are most in crisis and that really need it. Various methodological approaches to the classification of regions for solving such problems are considered. Due to the complexity of analyzing the effectiveness of regional policy for individual regions, modern tools cannot provide an accurate answer to the question about the state of the region’s economy. There are no clear criteria for whether a given region is located in backward or depressed areas. All this affects the state of things and develops due to the inability to objectively assess and compare all the conditions for the development of the region and take into account all the data in a complex. As a result of the above and taking into account the limited resources of the federal center, territorial classification in the field of federal assistance is required. In many countries, there is a widespread practice combining quantitative and expert assessments when making decisions in the field of federal assistance to the region. The proposed typologization will make it possible to provide federal assistance to those regions that are most in crisis and that really need it.

Financial wellbeing of households in instability

In instability and economic turbulence, the wellbeing of households as market economy entities constitutes the financial-investment capacity of a region, the level of which is determined by the conditions of the competitive socio-economic environment. The paper aims to estimate the financial wellbeing of households on the example of the oblasts of the Carpathian region of Ukraine in instability. The study is based on a system-integral estimation method, which includes the implementation of three stages: (1) development of a system of indicators, (2) determination and substantiation of weight significance, and (3) construction of time series of empirical parameters of households’ wellbeing based on temporal and spatial approaches. The analysis reveals that the financial wellbeing of households differentiates in a competitive economic environment and with the spread of behavioral factors (COVID-19, consumer reflections). Among the oblasts of the Carpathian region of Ukraine, the highest values of empirical parameters of financial wellbeing were in Zakarpatska (0.537) and Chernivetska (0.459) oblasts (2019). Meanwhile, the level of the financial wellbeing of households is higher in Lvivska oblast by several indicators. The divergence of the Carpathian region from Ukraine by the level of the financial wellbeing of households was mostly observed in 2018–2019. Zakarpatska oblast was the leader by the level of the financial wellbeing of households in 2010–2019. The study is of the practical nature for framing the regional economic policy in terms of detecting the critical “pressure” of financial wellbeing on the economic growth of the region and economic ability to increase investment capacity. AcknowledgmentsThe study has been conducted within the framework of the Applied Research “Financial determinants of the provision of economic growth in the regions and territorial communities based on behavioural economy” with the support of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (M. Dolishniy Institute of Regional Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the grant Reg. No. 2020.02/0215, 2020–2022).

Mechanisms of State Regional Socio-Economic Policy in Ukraine

Socio-economic problems of regional development in Ukraine necessitate attention to the mechanisms of state regional socio-economic policy. Modern scholars in the field of public administration pay special attention to the study of the mechanisms of state regional socio-economic policy. However, the issues of improving the mechanisms of the state regional socio-economic policy remain insufficiently researched. Theoretical principles of the state regional social and economic policy, its mechanisms and directions of their improvement are investigated. It is noted that in modern conditions the state is engaged in socio-economic sphere at the regional level to stimulate effective development of productive forces of regions, rational use of resources, ensuring a high standard of living, environmental security and improving the territorial organization of society. Socio-economic transformations that have taken place in recent years in Ukraine indicate the need to improve the mechanisms of state regional socio-economic policy. Lack of interconnected regulatory framework through which the state would consistently influence regional socio-economic development, imperfection of organizational, economic and information support of state regional socio-economic policy in Ukraine leads to the construction of a comprehensive mechanism of state regional socio-economic policy, which should be aimed at ensuring the achievement of the objectives of such a policy, to increase its effectiveness. In the context of modern global challenges, special attention should be paid to the strategic approach to the state regional socio-economic policy in Ukraine.

КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПОДХОДЫ К ТРАКТОВКЕ ЭФФЕКТИВНОСТИ РЕГИОНАЛЬНОЙ ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОЙ ПОЛИТИКИ

The persisting interregional imbalances in the level of socio-economic development of the country’s regions and the absence of a unified state regulatory framework (specifying the goals, objectives, mechanisms and instruments of regional development) «revives» the question of interpreting the term «regional policy» itself. In such conditions, the assessment of the effectiveness of regional economic policy (REP) becomes not only dependent on the subjective interests of researchers, but also multivariate according to the applied methodological approaches. However, outside the context of a clear positioning of the content of basic terms in a given object-subject area, it becomes unlikely that a reasonable adjustment of the applied measures to optimize the socio-economic development of the region becomes. The article examines the factors that significantly affect the spatial development of the economy of the country’s regions. An overview analysis of conceptual approaches to the interpretation of the sources of economic growth is carried out. The specific features of macro- and micro-approaches to assessing the effectiveness of measures to support regions are characterized and a subjective model of the «pyramid» of regional development factors is presented. On the basis of the author’s interpretation of the term «efficiency of regional economic policy», general conclusions are presented on the dynamics of the emerging research mainstream in domestic publications and in the context of the effectiveness of tools for implementing the selected REU model. The alternative points of view on the feasibility of using specific indicators for assessing regional economic policy, proposed by domestic and foreign researchers, are presented. Taking into account the key problems in the changing geo-economic dynamics, a primary review of two basic approaches to the study of the specifics of the problems of the country’s regions is carried out

The influence of information technologies on the socio-economic development of territorial communities

Information and communication technology development (hereinafter – ICT), which has a global trend of development, is being actively transformed into the world's global economy. The leading countries of the world began to actively use ICT in the managerial, financial and socio-economic spheres of life of the population at the macroeconomic and microeconomic levels. And in Ukraine, with the beginning of major reforms, one of the priority directions is digitization (digital transformation of society and economy). The decentralization reform, which is actively developing, requires new approaches to the formation of regional economic policy. Already at the first stages of this reform in Ukraine, they began to actively use digital technologies to work with the population. However, the place and role of Ukraine in the world rankings in ICT development is currently below average. That is why the topic is quite relevant for the scientific community because it is worth identifying the weak and strong sides of the state in the digital socio-economic sphere and identifying the most favorable ways to improve the development of Ukraine in the field of IT economy. The scientific article examines the influence of information and communication technologies on the socio-economic development of the state. Defining the role of united territorial communities in the digital economy. The directions of the digital transformation of the management system of the development of territorial communities are considered. The place and role of Ukraine in the world rankings in the rating of ICT development in the field of regional management is determined, and the first steps of the state towards the digital transformation of society and the economy.

Cross-border tourist mobility as seen by residents of the Karelian borderlands: COVID-19 restrictions

This article offers a new approach to evaluating the significance of cross-border tourism for residents of the border region of Karelia amid COVID-19 restrictions. The work draws on data of a municipal-level survey of the region’s population (575 people), conducted by the author in collaboration with Dr Ekaterina Shlapeko in 2021. Analysis of the survey results has confirmed the customariness of cross-border tourist mobility for the Karelians and the essential role it plays in their lives. These are manifested in regular trips to the neighbouring state, frequent contacts with Finnish travellers, marked preferences and a network of contacts with Finnish residents and organisations. The COVID-19 restrictions affected the routines of the residents of the Karelian borderlands more severely than those of people living in the inner municipalities or the regional capital. The findings of the study provide a comprehensive picture of the significance of cross-border tourist mobility (border tourism) and point to spatial differences in the perception of the study phenomenon by the residents of border, interior and urban municipalities. When applied in practice, the proposed approach gives an opportunity to widen the range of possible administrative decisions and can serve as a tool of regional economic policy on tourism.

Системні засади розроблення та реалізації державної політики забезпечення конкурентоспроможності регіонів України в умовах євроінтеграції

The importance of ensuring the competitiveness of the regions in solving the problems of strengthening foreign integration development on the part of the State is substantiated. The necessity of deepening Ukraine’s European integration in the context of countering external hybrid aggression and internal instability is emphasized. The threats that have long hindered both the socioeconomic development of the regions of Ukraine and their competitiveness and the country as a whole have been identified. We have to deal with structural disproportions and deformations of the regional economy, lack of stable and effective interregional economic ties, low efficiency of the institutional regional economic management system, regional asymmetry of interbudgetary relations, significant regional differentiation of the economy, import and export dependence of the regional economy, low quality of strategic programming of the regional economy. It is proved that the success of overcoming obstacles and threats is due to the formation of an internal institutional system, which should contain program documents. According to this, an urgent need to develop a National Strategy for ensuring the competitiveness of the State and its regions is specified. It is determined that at the regional level, the development and implementation by public administration and local self-government bodies of instruments to ensure increasing the level of competitiveness of regions should be recognized as key principles of the State policy. It is concluded that integral instruments for the implementation of the State policy to ensure the competitiveness of Ukrainian regions in the context of strengthening national European integration development should be considered the following: structural reforms and institutional changes in the socioeconomic development of region; creating a favorable regional investment climate; implementation of innovation policy (increasing the role of the regional component in the National Innovation System); ensuring budget and financial self-sufficiency of regions and decentralization of their financial competencies; improvement of regional economic policy; development of the export-import potential of territories.

Features of intraregional trade turnover of Southern Federal District

The economic interaction of the constituent entities of Russian Federation is manifested in the strengthening of mutual trade contacts between them. An indicator of mutual trade between regions is intraregional trade turnover. The purpose of this article was to identify and substantiate the features of the intraregional trade turnover of Southern Federal District based on data on its levels, dynamics and structure. At the same time, the trade turnover was considered as a result of the development of mutual trade flows and an indicator of the effectiveness of trade and economic relations between regions. In the course of the study, the economic and statistical method prevailed, associated with the calculation, analysis and interpretation of relative statistical indicators, their visualization through graphic-analytical images. Based on the system of statistical indicators, the article examines the specific features of intraregional trade turnover of Southern Federal District in comparison with data from other federal districts of Russia and national levels. Southern Federal District occupies insignificant positions in the ranking of the federal districts of Russia in terms of retail and wholesale turnover, which does not correspond to its resource, production and demographic potential. The authors identified the following features of intraregional trade in Southern Federal District: the predominance of the segment of private trade enterprises in retail trade; a high share of the market and fair trade format in the sale of consumer goods; dominance of stationary outlets in retail turnover; expansion of network retail. The materials of this article have analytical significance and can be used as an information basis for making managerial decisions in the field of regional economic policy to activate mutual trade flows of the regions of Southern Federal District and expand mutual trade contacts between them.

Implementation of the Cluster Policy within the Framework of the Spatial Development Strategy of the Territories of Ukraine

The article is devoted to the solution of an actual scientific problem – ensuring the effective implementation of the cluster policy within the framework of the strategy of spatial development of the territories of Ukraine. The purpose of the study is the theoretical generalization and systematization of existing scientific approaches to the interpretation of the concept of “cluster policy” in the system of the national economy; justification of the author’s approach to determining the essence and content of this category. On the basis of a critical analysis of the literature, differences in interpretations of cluster policy (concepts, forms, methods), as well as the choice of applied means of implementing cluster policy (mechanisms, incentives, tools of influence) were revealed. It should be emphasized that, for the most part, scientists interpret cluster policy as a system of relations; activities of state authorities; cluster support activities; a number of political measures; a set of measures that contribute to increasing the competitiveness of the national economy; part of the industrial policy; component of regional policy; an element of science, technology and innovation policy; priority of regional economic policy; a separate policy with a clear strategy and budget; an element of economic development strategies. The author’s interpretation of cluster policy is proposed as a system of state and public measures and mechanisms for supporting cluster structures and cluster initiatives, which ensure an increase in the level of competitiveness of regions, enterprises included in the cluster, the development of institutions that stimulate the creation of clusters and contribute to the activation of innovative activities. It was established that the key goal of cluster policy implementation is the creation of conditions for the formation and development of clusters as a basis for realizing the competitive advantages of the territories of economic districts, increasing the level of competitiveness of national and regional economies and the investment attractiveness of Ukraine. The main principles of cluster policy formation in Ukraine are multi-level policy formation; economic stimulation of network cooperation in clusters; organizational stimulation of network cooperation in clusters on the basis of public-private partnership; support of competitive clusters. For the effective implementation of cluster policy in Ukraine, it is necessary to: 1) include this type of policy in the list of national and regional priorities of socio-economic development and create an appropriate high-quality legislative and regulatory framework; 2) apply the concept of frugal innovations for successful organizational development of cluster formations; 3) strengthen international cooperation in order to stimulate the cluster’s active participation in changing its institutional environment, promoting the spread of progressive ideas and technologies; 4) to form an appropriate information environment of the cluster with the aim of stimulating joint research projects, including with the participation of leading institutions of higher education and research institutions, promoting the improvement of the efficiency of communications and interaction in the cluster. Keywords national economy, regional economy, spatial development, cluster approach, clustering of the economy, cluster policy, cluster structure, types of policy, principles, mechanisms, system, strategy, programming, management functions, institutional support, legal regulation, financial support, competitive advantages of territories, competitiveness, effectiveness, efficiency.