Economic Development in Light of Regional Differences

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) recently mandated major changes to curricular requirements for the PGY-1 (intern) year for categorical orthopaedic surgery residents. Since July 1, 2013, PGY-1 residents are required to have 6 months of orthopaedic surgery rotations, 6 months of nonorthopaedic surgery rotations, and complete a mandatory surgical skills curriculum [1, 2]. The ACGME and ABOS executed these changes in an effort to improve the quality and breadth of education for interns, preparing them for more advanced orthopaedic education. These changes were prompted by shifts in general surgery procedures (from open to laparoscopic), which have reduced the operating room experience of suturing and knot tying for interns, as well as by duty hour requirements that further reduce the operating room experience for interns. Together, these shifts in first-year resident experience have resulted in less surgical training for the orthopaedic surgery intern. The new ABOS requirements, which commence on July 1, 2014, seek to offset those losses [1, 2]. This column describes the changes mandated by the ABOS and ACGME for the orthopaedic intern year, discusses some limitations associated with these changes, and offers program strategies for effective implementation.

In general, the economic condition of a country has a significant effect on its housing and construction markets. For example, housing construction and sales usually increase in more prosperous economic times because people tend to purchase houses. The reverse also is true: in less prosperous economic periods, housing construction and sales usually decline. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank foresee lacklustre economic performances for both the US and the Euro area (also called the Eurozone) in 2014 and 2015. The IMF (2014a) forecast overall growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in the advanced economies of 2.2% in 2014, increasing to 2.3% in 2015. Estimates for the US were somewhat more than this, at 2.3% in 2014 and 3.0% in 2015, and lower for the Euro area, at 1.2% in 2014 and 1.5% in 2015. The outlook is also disappointing for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries as a whole, with a forecast increase in GDP of 1.5% in 2014 and 1.9% in 2015 (IMF, 2014a). According to the World Bank (2014), “Developing countries are headed for a third consecutive year of disappointing growth below 5% … the Euro area is on target to grow by 1.1% and the US by 1.9% in 2014”. Fragile consumer and business confidence, high unemployment in some member countries, continued banking-sector and fiscal restructuring, and lingering sovereign debt problems restrain economic growth in developed and high-income regions such as Europe. The Euro area is still suffering from the after-effects of the 2008 global financial crisis. The US economy appears to be improving slowly, but several of the uncertainties affecting the Euro area, particularly business uncertainty, also are affecting the US.


 
 Introduction. A relatively new form of transformation of the territory in the current urban development, the renovation of quarters, requires close scientific study and methodological justification. Renovated neighborhoods, as well as projects for the construction of new houses, have individual features and characteristics. The authors hypothesize that, despite the variety of characteristics of renovated neighborhoods and projects for the construction of new houses, traditional in-line construction with the allocation of characteristic stages is possible.
 
 Materials and methods. To study the actual duration of the stages of creating objects under the renovation program (which is necessary to identify objects of similar duration), a special database was formed in the Scientific and Project Center “City Development”. As of 15.05.2021, 313 objects involved in the renovation program are included in this special database. A thorough verification of the specified database was performed. As a result, 122 objects with a spread of construction duration values from 11 months to 43.2 months are stored in the verified database. In addition, the materials of the information system for ensuring urban planning activities (ISOGD) of Moscow were used. The initial materials allowed us to identify a number of characteristic stages in the renovation program for each object.
 
 Results. To analyze the design duration of construction, the set of objects is divided into 2 parts: commissioning in 2021 and commissioning in subsequent years. For each part, histograms of the distribution of the duration of construction of houses during renovation are constructed and it is proved that the law of normal distribution is observed. A schematic model of renovation processes with multiple process durations is presented. The overall duration of the design (project stage) can take 1 year, construction — 2 years, and the combined stages: preparation of documents, relocation and demolition, will approximately take 1 year. This four-year wave cycle is then repeated the required number of times. The calendar plan of renovation for three wave objects with the allocation of the leading stream is presented. The ratio of flow processes during renovation is most clearly reflected in the constructed cyclogram of a multi-rhythmic object flow modified for renovation conditions. Combined schedules of renovation of in-line construction are constructed.
 
 Conclusions. Despite the considerable variety of renovated neighborhoods and projects for the construction of new houses, the authors of the article prove that traditional in-line construction with the allocation of characteristic stages is possible. For large contracting organizations, it is realistic to form a multi-rhythmic object flow with the allocation of the construction stage as the leading flow and calculate the renovation cyclogram.

Some effects of regional differentiation on integration in the European community

The study focuses on the importance and problems of the development of the housing stock in Ukraine, which was actualized at the stage of the post-war reconstruction of the national economy and the need to preserve the social infrastructure in Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the organizational and economic tools of the state policy of stimulating the development of the housing construction sector. It is shown that from the point of view of state regulation, it is important to ensure the formation of a full-fledged sector of housing construction, formed from construction enterprises and elements of functional and auxiliary infrastructure (subjects of market infrastructure; real estate agencies; development structures; design bureaus; consulting, design, financial -credit institutions; investment and financial funds; manufacturers and suppliers of materials, fixed assets; certification centers and laboratories; companies servicing construction facilities, etc.). It has been proven that in order to properly stimulate the development of the housing construction sector in Ukraine, a complex of organizational and economic tools should be implemented, when the implementation of organizational tools is designed to form a high-quality management system of housing construction development processes – from central and local authorities to direct investment and construction projects. The toolkit of the economic block should focus on the formation of appropriate incentives for business entities, buyers, market and branch infrastructure entities regarding investments in housing construction, development of this industry / sector of the national economy in the direction of improving the country’s social infrastructure. It has been established that the purpose of the state program in this area is to determine the implementation of the principles, mechanisms and means of implementing state policy in the field of development of the housing construction sector in Ukraine. The expected results of the implementation of state regulatory instruments are defined as: creation, development and ensuring the effective operation of the system of entities that make up the housing construction sector.

Food value chain encompasses food quality and safety as prime factors assuring uninterrupted movement of food, making the production and consumption ends meet. The quality and safety aspects are gaining a vast momentum in the developing countries bringing assurance systems to the limelight. Though this is the case, there is formal and informal channels of food flow which imposes a check in quality and safety of foods. There are several food safety standards, certifications and quality assurance systems available in each country. Internal and external quality control systems are prevalent in developed countries. Rethinking of the availability and applicability of similar systems in the food chains of developing countries could turnaround the business model linking the stakeholders of a value chain whereas bringing about economic impacts. In this study, we highlighted the implications of simple existence and application of quality assurance systems along a value chain. This paper forays into the several challenges and opportunities for quality assurance systems and policies existing for a better value chain performance and better economy covering wide area of literature adoption and adaptation.

This paper addresses the important question of whether public investment spending and inward foreign direct investment (FDI) flows enhance economic growth and labor productivity in Argentina. The paper estimates a dynamic labor productivity function for the 1960-2010 period that incorporates the impact of public and private investment spending, the labor force, and export growth. Single break (Zivot-Andrews) unit root and cointegration analysis suggest that (lagged) increases in public investment spending on economic and social infrastructure have a positive and significant effect on the rate of labor productivity growth. In addition, the model is estimated for a shorter period (1970-2010) to capture the impact of inward FDI flows. The estimates suggest that (lagged) inward FDI flows have a positive and significant impact on labor productivity growth, while increases in the labor force have a negative effect. From a policy standpoint, the findings call into question the politically expedient policy in many Latin American countries, including Argentina during the 1990s and early 2000s, of disproportionately reducing public capital expenditures to meet reducetions in the fiscal deficit as a proportion of GDP. The results give further support to progrowth policies designed to promote public investment spending and attract inward FDI flows.

Improving the quality of life is one of the priority tasks of Russia’s social-economic development, which requires solving the housing problem, since housing is one of the basic human needs. Based on the generalization of various approaches to ensuring housing affordability, the article shows that, in addition to the study of social-political and economic aspects, a kind of sociology of housing develops. Based on the results of sociological surveys, the authors identify the preferences of different groups (parents with children and youth) in housing. Thus, 70 % of Russians are ready to use mortgage lending to solve the housing problem. There is a paradox: on the one hand, 66 % of multi-apartment houses cannot be sold; on the other hand, there is a low level of housing supply (lower than in Eastern Europe and some CIS countries) and a high level of dilapidated housing stock and communal infrastructure. Previously, housing conditions were improved mainly at the expense of the state, now the purchase or construction of housing is ensured mainly by the population’s savings and borrowed funds, primarily mortgage lending. However, despite the growth in the volume of mortgages and their improved conditions, the housing affordability coefficient for 2000-2022 indicates a deterioration in housing possibilities. This is explained, first, by the low level of incomes and their significant differentiation - only a small share of Russians can take advantage of mortgage lending; second, housing prices grow much faster than incomes and wages. In addition, the low quality of new housing and social infrastructure, a high share of dilapidated housing and of families in need of relocation, and a number of other factors must be taken into account when implementing housing policy and solving the housing problem. The empirical basis of the article is the data of the Federal State Statistics Service, Bank of Russia, National Bureau of Credit Histories and Accounts Chamber.

Recent studies have shown differences in brain structure between adolescents with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and their nondiabetic peers. Compared to obese controls (OCs), global white matter (WM) and regional gray matter (GM) differences have been found. Our aim was to evaluate further for global and regional differences in GM, WM, and parenchymal (GM and WM combined) brain volume between youth with T2D and nondiabetic OCs. We compared 11 youth with T2D (mean age 17.1 ±2.0 years, mean HbA1c 8.6 ±2.5%) and 11 age, race and sex similar OCs (mean HbA1c 5.3 ±0.2%). Participants underwent high-resolution T1-weighted MRI scans, analyzed using voxel-based morphometry. Tissue volumes were normalized across participants by dividing by each individual’s intracranial volume (ICV). The normalized global volumes were compared between the two groups, and statistical significance was determined at p<0.05. For regional analyses, statistical significance for each voxel was established at p <0.05 using a family-wise error rate procedure, reporting only clusters with ≥200 contiguous voxels. Compared to OCs, adolescents with T2D had significantly lower parenchymal brain volume (parenchymal/ICV ratio 0.843 in T2D vs. 0.856 in OC, p=0.04). There were no significant differences in global GM (GM/ICV ratio 0.514 in T2D vs. 0.517 in OC, p=0.76) or global WM (WM/ICV ratio 0.329 in T2D vs. 0.340 in OC, p=0.10), although global WM did trend toward significance. In addition, there were 3 brain regions in the T2D group that had lower GM volume than OCs, and 2 regions in which the T2D group had greater GM volume. Adolescents with T2D show significantly lower parenchymal brain volume compared to age, race, and sex similar OCs. This difference may be attributable to lower WM volume, but a larger sample size is needed. No global GM differences were found between groups, but regional differences in GM were identified. These data support the hypothesis that, independent of obesity, structural brain differences may exist in adolescents with T2D. Disclosure J.M. Redel: None. M.W. DiFrancesco: None. G.R. Lee: None. L.M. Dolan: None. A.S. Shah: None. Funding Endocrine Fellows Foundation; Cincinnati Diabetes and Obesity Center; Cincinnati Children's

Transport is an important element of the regional production and social infrastructure. The regional transportation system is a multi-element system which consists of all modes of transport, a transport infrastructure and other elements. Modern quality characteristics of the transportation system, particularly transport infrastructure, prevent the growing economy from solving production and social tasks. The transportation system influences the living standards of the population in the region. The term “living standards” has been used by international organizations since the 1970s. The United Nations Organization (UN) uses this term for describing a national development level. However, for Russia with its large territory and population size, it is unreasonable to assess living standards using one index for the whole country. Regional differences are crucial. Living standards of the population in Russian regions are different. It is necessary to monitor and assess the current situation in the regions and determine key factors causing regional differences in living standards in order to make timely decisions at federal and regional levels, and improve living standards in Russian regions. The parameter “living standards” allows regional government authorities to develop target programs and strategic development plans.

13 February 2019, Dmitry Medvedev, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, approved the “Spatial Development Strategy of the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2025”. This document is undoubtedly a significant milestone in the formation of the state regional policy. However, its practical significance caused reasonable doubts among experts. First of all, attention was drawn to the basic term of “spatial development”. How does it differ from the “regional development policy”, the principles main goals and mechanisms of which have not yet defined? May the substitution of the concepts be a way of avoiding this fundamentally important task? They caused questions and uncertainty of the role of regions in the Russian Federation in ensuring the spatial development of the economy. Their place in this process is not specified. The Strategy actually did not take into account the differences of the Russian regions in terms of their socio-economic development and innovative potential. The overall conclusion of a significant part of the expert community was reduced to the need for: substantial refinement of the Strategy; concretization of its basic provisions; developing mechanisms to enhance the role the Russian regions in this process, taking into account differences in their levels of development and socio-economic potential. An attempt to demonstrate the significance of these differences was undertaken in this study, the results of which are summarized in this article.

Launch of the process of decarbonization of the economy and ratification of the Paris Climate Agreements in 2015-2016 puts the world’s coal industry in a difficult position. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the development of the global coal industry, including regional ones, in anticipation of the active decarbonization of the world economy. For this, a quantitative analysis of the dynamics and structure of world coal production in 2010-2020 was carried out. As a result, it was revealed that the impact of the 2020 crisis did not become decisive for production. It can be compared to a price shock or the start of implementation of the Paris Climate Agreements. Some of the dynamics of the global coal production indicator is characterized by a weak declining trend (about minus 0.05% per year), although this indicator is generally unstable. The dynamics of coal production is characterized by the absence of an internal trend of self-development; autocorrelation is observed. The dynamics of coal production reacts to external shocks, while the regional differentiation of this indicator is growing. For 2010-2020 the share of North America and Europe fell to 13%, and the Asia-Pacific region – increased to 75%. Most developed countries are striving to reduce the production and consumption of coal (in the USA, Germany, Poland – by 25-50%), but many developing countries (India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Mongolia) are rapidly increasing production (by 30-70%). This is due to the possibility of exporting and using relatively cheap local fuel for economic development. Therefore, in the medium term, global coal production will remain stable with growing regional differentiation.

There is a large and increasing global burden of cardiovascular disease. Approximately 14 million individuals died of cardiovascular disease in 1990, and this is projected to rise to about 25 million by 2020. In large part, this increase can be explained on the basis of major ongoing sociodemographic changes in developing countries, and associated effects on the numbers of individuals at risk and the levels of cardiovascular risk factors. Developing countries now experience a much greater burden of cardiovascular disease than do developed countries. In addition, developing countries are expected to experience the greatest rise in cardiovascular disease burden over the next few years. Cardiovascular disease prevention programmes designed and implemented primarily in developed countries have most likely averted much premature cardiovascular disease in those countries over the past few decades. However, cardiovascular disease prevention programmes designed for developed countries are unlikely to be directly transferable to developing countries. Reliable information to inform the design and implementation of cardiovascular disease prevention programmes, tailored to the socioeconomic circumstances of developing countries, is now required. Such programmes have great potential to impact on the current and projected global epidemic of cardiovascular disease.

The article is devoted to the study of the problem of regional differences in wages, the development of a cluster typology of the regions of Kazakhstan in terms of wages and the justification of the possibilities of reducing its regional differentiation. The article provides an overview of scientists' points of view on the problem of labor income inequality, assesses the level of regional wage differences in Kazakhstan, conducts a cluster analysis and develops a typology of the country's regions according to the level of average nominal wages, gross regional product per capita and the share of gross value added of the quasi-public sector in the gross regional product. A group of regions has been identified that are most in need of regulatory measures to increase wages. The possibilities of reducing large regional wage differences are substantiated, primarily by attracting investments to boost the economy, increase employment and labor incomes, as well as by introducing increasing regional coefficients when setting minimum wage standards in remote areas, regions with difficult natural and climatic conditions. The methods of systematic literary review, logical analysis? analogies and generalizations, economic and statistical, cluster analysis, and typology are used.

In many developing countries, the deficiency in public and private investment has resulted in lower growth rates and stagnation in productivity. The need for a new paradigm of foreign investment and aid in agricultural production is becoming exigent in developing countries. Given the decline in per capita arable land, the rise in production costs, and the increase in population and urbanization, major changes in agriculture have been proposed to boost agricultural production. This present study endeavours to contribute to the existing literature by proving whether foreign capital and economic freedom could catapult food production into the much-anticipated growth. In that regard, we performed GLS with correlated disturbances, system GMM dynamic panel data estimators and D-H causality test. The study found that foreign capital as a whole plays a positive role in food production in developing and least developed countries, but FDI is insignificant in least-developed countries. Moreover, economic freedom plays a positive role in food production in least-developed countries but negative in developing countries. Policymakers and governments should create an enabling environment for sustainable food production.