Research of the regional economic and social development convergence in the conditions of digitalization and modernization of the russian economy

Abstract

There is a problem of differences in the levels of development of regions in Russia. Differences in economic development and social indicators complicate the problem of manageability across the country, heterogeneity in the social indicators of regions causes different living conditions for the population, violates the principle of equal opportunities for Russian citizens. The subject of the study is the dynamics of economic indicators (GRP per capita, investment indicators, living standards, etc.) in various subjects of the federation in terms of their initial homogeneity and convergence or divergence processes in recent years. The research methods used indicators of σ- and β-convergence, as well as an indicator of the variation of the series. In the course of the study, conclusions were drawn about the existence of active convergent regional processes in 2004-2013 (this was especially true of wage and income indicators, to a somewhat lesser extent – GRP and investment per capita). After 2013, the processes of convergence in economic indicators have mostly stopped, there is some divergence in the indicator of investment per capita. At the same time, there is a significant homogeneity across the regions in terms of indicators characterizing the digitalization of the economy. Due to the fairly uniform process of development in this direction in the regions of Russia, there is a chance of convergence of the economic space in the country, convergence of regions in terms of economic development.