Classification of Russian Regions by the degree of their orientation on external and internal markets

The country's regions differ in the specialization of their economies; some regions are more dependent on foreign demand and some on domestic demand. For the purpose of government management, it is important to know what factors influence the socioeconomic performance of regions and, in particular, what demand their production is focused on. An important indicator in this case is the ratio of exports to a region's GRP. However, at the level of federal subjects, official data on exports distort the real picture, because exports are not necessarily recorded at the place of manufacture of exported goods. The paper proposes a methodology for determining the degree of export orientation of Russian regions given inaccurate statistics on their exports. The study identifies four classes of Russian regions, depending on their role in the produc- tion of goods and the prevalence of domestic and external demand. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2013. Original Russian Text © A.M. Stepanov, 2013.