Geography of Special Economic Zones and their analogues in Russia

Abstract

The article suggests using the UNCTAD approach to the allocation of special economic zones, according to which SEZs can be considered as entities that meet three criteria: clearly defined boundaries of the zone territory, economic activity regime different from the national one, developed infrastructure. The article analyzes the geography of SEZs in Russia in such a broad sense. It is concluded that the Russian SEZ system and its analogues are unreasonably complex, and it is proposed to create a full-fledged state information system for territories with preferential regimes for investors, and to increase the uniformity of existing regulations. It is shown that at present preferential regimes contribute to the socio-economic development of priority geostrategic territories (with the exception of the North Caucasus), but beyond their borders they rather contribute to the growth of interregional differences in the level of socio-economic development, rather than their reduction. it is proposed not to abandon the creation of SEZs and their analogues in problem regions, but to provide investors with sufficient favorable conditions and to differentiate approach to assessing the effectiveness of SEZs and their analogues in regions with objectively different levels of investment attractiveness.