Export Competitiveness and FDI Performance across the Regions of the Russian Federation

Dairabayeva, Karlygash ; Ferrantino, Michael J. ; Portugal-Perez, Alberto ; Schmidt, Gabriela

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: export competitiveness;    FDI;    direct foreign investment;    regional development;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7821
RP-ID  :  WPS7821

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The Russian Federation's regionsnot only have highly uneven degrees of development, theyalso have very uneven degrees of foreign orientation.Regions with the highest foreign orientation--exports ofgoods per capita or inbound foreign direct investment percapita—almost across the board have the highest standard ofliving; and those with the lowest foreign orientationgenerally have the lowest. In this paper, the Russianfederal regions are grouped into three categories--lagging,middle-range, and leading--according to real per capitagross regional product. Leading regions seem to be thosespecialized in mineral exports; lagging regions are not. Inaddition, the richest regions tend to have high per capitaexports, high foreign direct investment, or both;middle-range regions with relatively higher incomes oftenhave high per capita non-mineral exports. Russia'slagging regions have much more tenuous internationalengagements than the rest of Russia in exports and foreigndirect investment. These findings suggest that foreignorientation is an important determinant of socioeconomicdevelopment and could be an important item on Russia'sregional policy agenda. Such policies might have a varietyof objectives: (1) earning income (export goods in whichRussia has traditionally had a comparative advantage); (2)diversification and economic stability (minimize risk fromdrops in oil prices or crises in individual markets and addexports for which demand is likely to be steady over themedium term); (3) technological upgrading (move to moresophisticated goods with greater innovation content); and(4) regional development (promote the uplift of laggingregions). Each of these motives has a different profile ofgoods exported, regions, and most closely associateddestination markets.