Evidence-Based Approach in Environmental Policy-Making in Russia

Abstract

The article discusses the socio-economic effects of Russia’s state programs in the sphere of natural resources management, in particular those effects that, in our view, are not given enough attention within the framework of the national project ‘Ecology’. This shortcoming of the state programs can be overcome if policy-makers adopt an evidence-based approach. To this end, we propose an adjustable and flexible set of indicators of state programs. The analysis relies on the model of panel data that uses Rosstat data for Russian regions between 2017 and 2018. According to the modeling results, environmental factors have a significant influence on morbidity. An increase in emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere from stationary sources per unit (ton per capita) causes an increase in morbidity per 1,000 people (registered diseases in patients with a diagnosis established for the first time in life). Similarly, a 1 % increase in the share of industrial production in GRP causes an increase in morbidity by 3 units. Significant differences between regions of Russia were also detected. For example, in the Central Federal District, other things being equal, the incidence rate is lower by 52 units than other regions of Russia; in the North Caucasian Federal District, by 135 units, and in the Southern Federal District, by 109 units. In the North-Western Federal District, on the contrary, the incidence rate is higher by 113 units.