ABSTRACT The text is based on the presentation of E.A. Kosogova during the round table “Reforming the Russian Heat and Power Industry: Results, Current Problems and Challenges,” which was held on May 30, 2019 at the Institute of Economics and Organization of Industrial Production of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2016–2017, the Siberian Generating Company LLC comprehensively reconstructed the heat supply system of the city of Rubtsovsk (Altai Krai), including the modernization of the main heat networks and the generating equipment of the South Thermal Power Plant. E.A. Kosogova spoke about the specific organization and financing of the project, as well as its problems and solutions.

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the current dynamics of regional inequality in Russia. Despite several positive changes, regional imbalances remain high in terms of the socioeconomic development of the federal subjects of Russia and require changes in government policy to ensure greater equality and comprehensive regional development. Having studied the success of European countries in reducing territorial inequality, the author proposes several ways of adapting these successes to Russian conditions and offers recommendations for improving the policy of Russia’s spatial development. To achieve these changes, the government should focus its influence on the economically weak regions, which would allow them to solve existing problems and to ensure sustainable development. The results of the present study can be used by government administrators to implement measures and improve regional development policy.

ABSTRACT Revitalizing capital investment via the monetary resources of Russian citizens is a major factor of the socioeconomic and innovative development of the country and would reduce Russia’s dependence on foreign capital. To achieve this, it is necessary to compensate, revalue, and restructure the savings of citizen, which have been devalued after being deposited in the government-owned Sberbank. The article describes how the reimbursement of citizen savings has been addressed by the government thus far and considers how lost savings can be restored (e.g., through the issuance of government debt securities). We conclude that the first priority of restoring the devalued savings should be to establish the specific and legal amount owned to each depositor (e.g., in the form of targeted debt obligations).

ABSTRACT This article reviews the evolution the rural self-government system in Russia over the last 15 years. Following the adoption of a federal law in 2003, the active institutionalization of local self-government was replaced by a tendency to restrict the power and autonomy of municipalities—especially at the level of the rural administrations that are closest to the people. The lack of financing for local budgets became a major factor in restricting rural development. Local self-government was introduced into the system of government at the lowest, most dependent and resource-limited level of the power vertical. As part of the present field study, the author conducted interviews with rural administrators representing settlements in Siberian regions. These interviews constitute a “bottom up” view of the ongoing transformations and illuminate the reactions of rural communities to the changes in the external institutional environment. It is shown that an answer to the challenges of reform is the development of informal practices, which facilitate the self-organization of the population and serve as a compensatory mechanism. In such a system, the role of rural administrative leaders considerably increases as they initiate and organize complex projects that demand the cooperation and solidarity of local residents in order to solve common problems.

ABSTRACT The article analyzes foreign investment in Buryatia based on the activity of foreign and joint economic ventures. Compared with other industrial regions in Eastern Siberia, Buryatia has less foreign investment, a prevalence of natural persons among business organizers, a lower concentration of production, and an outdated economic structure that is dominated by trade and construction. Direct foreign investment in the region is predominantly focused on the lumber industry and several mining enterprises. Such a sectoral structure hinders the inflow of new technology and the growth of human capital. To increase foreign investment, the republic must expand exports and integrate with the economic corridor of China–Mongolia–Russia. At the same time, investment policy should attract resources to the technological areas of communication and transport with more joint ventures to retain profits in the territory.

ABSTRACT The article considers non-tax revenues, as a component of the revenue potential of Russia’s territories. The 11-year dynamics of non-tax revenues of the budgets of the federal subjects of Russia are analyzed on the basis of the official statistics of the Russian Federal Government Statistics Service. The role of non-tax revenues is shown to be insignificant in relation to both the regional treasury and increasing budget revenues. The weight of non-tax revenues in Russia is compared with their role in other countries. The article also considers the problems surrounding the privatization of property in Russia’s regions, and presents a systemic analysis of the key factors that negatively influenced plans for privatization in several subjects of Russia. The rise of property income in Russian regions is considered. Measures are proposed for improving the collection of property and land taxes.

ABSTRACT The article examines the practical issues of spatial planning in a case where socioeconomic development is implemented at the level of a municipal raion. As a natural resource hub of the “new development” of Russia, Lensky Raion in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is illustrative of this process. It is argued that the historically established socioeconomic space of Lensky Raion should be reconsidered as part of its changing economic specialization. The authors propose several alternative specializations for existing populated areas and describe how the inclusivity of local communities relates to the socioeconomic development of the resource rich region.

ABSTRACT The article analyzes several contemporary trends in the higher education system of the Republic of Buryatia. The author focuses on the crisis of the republic’s higher education system and its inability to create a knowledge economy due to the declining quality of education and the qualitative and quantitative disparity between the skills of graduates and the real demands of the regional economy. The case is made for an independent approach to the development of higher education in the region by providing unique opportunities for students. The main conclusions are based on the author’s sociological research on the quality of education and the labor market of the Republic of Buryatia.

ABSTRACT The Kuzbass economy should be developed according to the principles of a raw materials region, while taking into account its local particularities. The authors analyze the potential for the innovative transformation of the coal industry, which they believe is a driver of the innovative development of the entire regional economy. The main influences of the coal industry on the general economic development of the territory are identified and the prospects for creating a coal chemical cluster are considered. An analysis is provided of other industries that can have a significant impact on general economic growth (oil refining, methane production, tourism, agriculture, the knowledge economy, etc.). The article shows that in order to meet all the goals and objectives of the long-term “Kuzbass-2035 Strategy,” the region requires a model for the consistent and systematic creation of a high-tech economy based on maximizing the utility of the region’s potential and competitive advantages.

ABSTRACT This article analyzes opportunities to use own funds, bank credits, and infrastructure and concession bonds to finance PPP projects in Russia. Its results indicate that private funding of PPP projects is currently hindered by Russia’s systemic crisis, which is manifested in the absence of long-term money, the financial instability of private partners, and the insufficiency of the legislative framework. In addition, the government’s ineffective regulation of the investment activity of institutional investors is obvious, and there are also insufficient mechanisms for attracting private investments suitable for implementation of PPP projects. In this connection, further development of Russian PPP requires systemic measures related to the following: first, developing legislation with respect to defining the means of raising private financing for various-sized PPP projects; and second, making economic decisions that increase the supply of long-term money in the economy.