Gross regional product as an indicator of territorial economy efficiency and development level

• Savaley V.V.

  Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service
  Vladivostok. Russia
  Professor, Dr. of Economics

This paper investigates into the issue related to the evaluation of efficiency and development level of the regional economic systems. The purpose of research is to identify whether gross regional product (GRP) is a reasonable choice for serving an integrating indicator for the level of Russian Federation subjects’ socio-economic development; to suggest a method that will eliminate the impact of the significant territorial differentiation industrial factors on the GRP value.

It was found out upon processing the great volume of statistical data on Federal Districts and subjects of the Russian Federation, as well as Global statistics that the highest GRP value per capita among the RF subjects falls on northeastern territories.  The conclusion is that high per capita GRP value does not reflect real character of regional economy efficiency, nor does it evidence a higher level of socioeconomic development of the territory.

The author suggests method that allows adjusting nominal GRP values with respect of subsistence minimum index of the region,   in order to improve the objectivity of territorial comparison of socioeconomic development and standard of living. After the suggested method was tested, the subjects of the RF were sorted out into three groups by the level of adjusted GRP income per capita. The paper revealed a number of factors conditioning regional differences in the sources of GRP formation.

Keywords: Regional efficiency, gross regional product, region, Federal District, RF subject.