CC BY
3DOI: 10.29141/2658-5081-2023-24-2-7 EDN: DHJDCR JEL classification: A31, R13, Y30
Olga N. Buchinskaia Institute of Economics (Ural branch of RAS), Ekaterinburg,
Russia
Book review
Development of paradigmatic ideas in the domestic regional economics by Evgeny Animitsa et al.
Abstract. The paper presents an overview of a monograph prepared by a team of scholars representing the Ural school of regional economics, which was created under the leadership of Evgeny Animitsa and is based in the Ural State University of Economics. Methodologically, the monograph relies on a wide range of approaches in the fields of philosophy of science, regional economics, economic geography, urban studies, finance. The main research method is content analysis of achievements in regional economics and related branches of science. The review examines interrelations between the development directions of the Ural school of thought and general global trends in regional economics and reveals the specificities of the Ural science. The synopsis of the monograph's key chapters allows evaluating the contribution of the authors into the new ideas linked both with the theoretical consideration of the current economic situation and the state-of-the-art applied research into the economy of regions, agglomerations, cities. The paper outlines a number of controversial issues concerning the fallouts of ongoing economic reforms: the possibility of emergence and the focus of synergistic effects; problems of training research personnel and reforming the system of vocational education at regional level; development of impact investment system; formation of urban agglomerations and location of productive forces in regions. Particular emphasis is put on the social orientation and comprehensive development of regional economy by supporting the well-being economy. The review demonstrates that the research of the Ural school of regional economics clusters around the major problems of science, and in some cases is ahead of world academic achievements.
Keywords: regional economics; Ural school of thought; urban development; agglomerations; municipal economy; socioeconomics; Ural region.
For citation: Buchinskaia O. N. (2023). Book review of Development of paradigmatic ideas in the domestic regional economics by Evgeny Animitsa et al. Journal of New Economy, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 126-142. DOI: 10.29141/2658-5081-2023-24-2-7. EDN: DHJDCR.
Article info: received January 31, 2023; received in revised form February 22, 2023; accepted February 28, 2023
Evolution of scientific thought is strongly associated with changes in the perspective from which we look at global events, i.e., with a paradigm shift. For instance, in the late 20th century, perestroika in Russia shifted the leading paradigm, and political economy was replaced by a neoclassical synthesis. This shift predetermined the transformations in the theoretical search of economists and triggered the development of a spectrum of scientific directions addressing practical problems.
The scientific school of regional economics, which emerged on the basis of the Regional and Municipal Economics Department at the Ural State University of Economics (USUE) under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Evgeny Animitsa has become one of such directions. In the 21th century, it has come evident that a neoclassical approach is unable to reflect up-to-date problems of economic science and new paradigms are needed. This understanding also appears in empirical studies, which explain the interrelation between socioeconomic, political, and cultural changes occurring at macro-, meso-, and micro-levels.
When developing Kuhn's ideas [Kuhn, 1963; Kuhn, 1970], an American sociologist Tiryakian [1979] stated that it is not changes that drive science but schools of thought that suggest new methodologies or new conceptual schemes for the social reality and give birth to considerable scientific advancements. Schools of thought do not have clearly defined boundaries and may represent either a small informal subgroup within a department or an association of like-minded scientists from various institutions. What is important, its representatives adhere to close or similar ideas related to preferences in theory and methodology [Harvey, 1987].
Volkova [2022] distinguishes between two major functions of schools of thought: the function of production (production and accumulation of new knowledge) and education. The Ural school of regional economics is an example of efficiently developing community of scientists that not only adapts to the changing situation, but also develops concepts for reforming the surrounding reality. The task of searching for a scientific paradigm meeting the requirements of modern economic realities was
reflected in the monograph Development of paradigmatic ideas in the domestic regional economics prepared by a team of authors [Animitsa et al., 2022].
There are two levels of perceiving a paradigm: in a broad sense, it is a range of values and techniques used by adherents of a certain approach, and in a narrow sense, it stands in as patterns for fulfilling specific tasks that serve as models for interpreting other problems of a scientific discipline [Ogdonova, 2010].
The monograph embodied both levels:
- the first part looks at conceptual and theoretical issues of regional economic development illustrating the mechanisms of a paradigm shift;
- the second and the third parts delve into new approaches to addressing applied research tasks within the paradigm that emerged in Prof. Dr. Evgeny Animitsa's school of thought. Furthermore, themes explored are not limited to just the Ural region, but include the analysis of other Russian territories, for instance, the Crimean Peninsula;
- the third part also outlines the latest trends in the development of urban economics within the Ural economic school.
Further, we will proceed with a more detailed consideration of the monograph's chapters.
The first part opens with a chapter, where Evgeny Animitsa specifies the need for a paradigm shift in the domestic economic science in the field of regional economics. The scholar shows how the Ural school of regional economic research based in USUE (former Sverdlovsk Institute of National Economy) has been developing. Particular attention is devoted to the factors determining regional socio-cultural specifics, which is essential for Russia that is a multinational and multicultural state. These factors include the next ones.
1. Spatial development as the process of forming a single territory, within which the system for human living is created, used, and reproduced [Animitsa, Surnina, 2006, p. 36]. The problems of the heterogeneity of this development and the focus not on interregional interaction, but on interaction with foreign states, were raised by academician Aleksandr Granberg in the mid-2000s [Granberg, 2004a; Granberg, 2006]. However, these problems, despite being reflected in the scientific literature, have been ignored for a long time in real life. This led, according to Fenin, to regional GRP variation going up by 43 % over 1995-2019. The researcher argues that the increased inequality was ineluctable, since the neoclassical mainstream initially focused on enriching the center at the expense of impoverishing the periphery [Fenin, 2021]. In this regard, the Russian economy's objective is not only to gain independence from foreign business, but also to organise prolific interaction between the regions of the Russian Federation, to search for a development model aimed at providing greater
equality in the standards of living and improving them within the country's integral economic and geographical space.
2. An understanding of the socio-cultural, demographic, political characteristics of each region or municipality. This appears to be an extremely important aspect of cognition, which expands the boundaries of economic science, helps overcome the mechanistic analysis of statistical data and create a toolkit adapted to real life. The planting of the neoclassical paradigm, which claims to be universal, has not taken root in the economic reality of not only the Russian state, but also many developing countries. The reason for this was the countries' desire to build their own socioeconomic systems responding to national specifics and national interests, but not an abstract free market that in the era of sanctions, confrontations, and global economic crises exists exclusively on the pages of educational and popular science literature.
3. The spirit of the region as a suite of traditions, views, informal norms that have developed in a certain territory and form its unique characteristics conditioning the value orientations and motivation of economic agents. This factor largely determines the success of the import of institutions and how fast and effective the reforms will be. In addition, regional uniqueness cannot be ignored when developing programmes for the economic transformation of Russian regions.
A component of the spirit of the region, in our opinion, should be the national idea. Its essence lies in building a welfare society focused on the development of a person who is not only a source of a productive resource, but a creative and self-actualising individual. Consonant opinions are reflected on other pages of the monograph where the concepts of socioeconomics and well-being economy are considered. Implementing them requires creating a new model that involves the transition from an "economic man" to a "social man" who aims not solely to gain personal advantages, but also to increase the public good.
The research into these factors and focus on the regional specifics should underlie the design of a long-term programme for the strategic development of the regional and municipal economies, which provides for the transition to neo-industrial rails and a boost in the intensity and innovativeness of the Russian regions' development.
The chapter written by Evgeny Dyatel further unfolds the topic of creating a new economic methodology by examining the contradiction that emerged in Russian economic science in the 1990s. This period saw a methodological clash between the political economic ideas of Soviet economic science based on the Marxist paradigm, and the progressive ideas of pure market based on the neoclassical view. The author concludes that the result of this clash turned out to be a kind of a Pyrrhic victory. On the one hand, the emerged economy has given rise to property relations and market mechanisms based on the feedback effect. On the other hand, the redistribution of
property in the post-Soviet space appeared be not constructive, but destructive: the primacy of production was replaced by the prevalence of trade relations, which led to the intensification of Russia's technological backwardness, a fall in standards of living of the population engaged in productive labour, the closure of productions and the depopulation of small towns.
Dyatel argues that the condition for economic reforms is the restructuring of economic agents' mentality. Adaptation to new elements in the institutional infrastructure takes time, otherwise, as the 1990s showed, its forcible imposition leads to the economic system losing its viability. The author proposes taking on a synergetic approach as a method of transformation, that is, relying on a synthesis of elements of economic science from different paradigms, and in some cases from different sciences.
We believe that in the course of time, the application of a new research framework will produce a substantial effect in the economic thought, just as the application of nonlinear equations and the laws of thermodynamics gave rise to a number of new areas ranging from the study of nonlinear trends in economic development and cyclical fluctuations to the green economy and economic and environmental sustainabil-ity based on entropy analysis. However, the interaction of individual elements in a socioeconomic system by no means always produce a positive effect. Thus, Porezanova [2021] speaks about the deformation of the post-Soviet economy induced by some negative synergetic phenomena, in particular, re-synergism.
Since economic systems are open, actions from the outside or an unforeseen phenomenon may cause bifurcation points the passage of which can either enhance the positive synergetic effect from interaction or push to a negative trajectory of development. One good example is believing in the absolute role of mathematical modeling in economic research and relying on imperfect mathematical models in forecasting, while ignoring the real diversity of economic variables and regional characteristics. As Dyatel rightly notices, interpreting the results of modeling is another relevant problem. In this regard, the Russian economists of the 21st century face a serious task of developing a methodology, which is capable, on the one hand, of rationally interpreting real economic processes, and on the other hand, not falling into the dogmatism of economic schools that have exhausted their potential.
The next chapter discusses the issues of developing the 'spirit' of economic science, the role of a human as the one who generates conscious goal-oriented actions, is an element and, simultaneously, a creator of scientific, cultural, moral knowledge. Surnina reveals the unique potential of the creative role of man and emphasises the importance of shaping the worldview of Russian scientists and developing their self-awareness. The significance of a person's self-awareness is also discussed by Syed and
co-authors, who empirically proved the importance of psychological processes such as identity and self-efficacy in enhanced commitment to a career in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) [Syed et al., 2019].
Any institutional changes inevitably run into financing problems. Dvoryadkina examines theoretical aspects of researching regional and municipal budgets. When revealing the history of studying the financial aspects of regional economy, the scholar points to a significant contribution of Evgeny Animitsa's school of thought. Particular attention is confined to the phenomenon of self-governance and its interrelation with local and regional budgets [Dvoryadkina, 2022]. One result of the undertaken research is the concept of financial-budgetary subsystem of a region and the analysis of its place in the financial-budgetary system of the state [Dvoryadkina, Belikova, 2016], based on which the schemes for regional finance management in various spheres are developed, including agriculture [Dvoryadkina, 2019] and education [Dvoryadkina, Efimova, 2020], and the role of state and regional financing in the territories' sustain-ability is examined [Dolganova et al., 2020]. Under dropped foreign investment and the necessity to accumulate funds for territories' development, the importance of local finances cannot be overestimated. Therefore, looking at the connection between regional economy and particularities of its funding, constructing new models of accumulation and distribution of funds is an extremely demanded topic for the future scientific research.
The following chapter deals with the interdisciplinary interaction as well. Balina and Konyshev uncover the interrelationship between the economic geography and regional economics, and demonstrate that the latter, though originating from the former, is an independent scientific discipline with its own range of research tasks. Such approach continues the ideas of Evgeny Animitsa and Aleksandr Tatarkin that except for the analysis of regional economies, regional economics addresses the issues of urban economy, growth of cities, interregional trade, production location, and is also organically linked to economic theory [Tatarkin, Animitsa, 2012]. These ideas are also in accordance with Suwala's statement that in the refiguration of spaces, economic geography is focused on micro-foundations, working with qualitative methods and forward-thinking concepts of space, while the regional economics uses macro-foundations through increased availability of regional or big data and advanced quantitative methods [Suwala, 2021]. Balina and Konyshev specifically examine the 'market economy with a human face' - socioeconomics [Animitsa et al., 2022, p. 65] and its role in the study of territorial entities taking into account the experience of economic geography and regional economics. Thus, we see an evolutionary chain: scientific achievements lead not only to the development of a particular branch of science, but also to the formation of new areas of research.
The chapter prepared by Urasova covers the development of the Perm school of regional economics as an heir of the corresponding Ural school. The author structures the research performed by Perm scientists in cooperation with Evgeny Animitsa. The directions of research include both practical issues of the transformation of the Perm krai's economy, development of the programme- and project-based approach as a tool for regulating regional economy, and theoretical issues of mutual influence between economic geography and regional economics, as well as development of the Perm school of regional socioeconomics.
The paradigm shift is implausible without the exploratory research. The problems of training intellectual capital in the existing conditions are not without reason raised by Bochko. He explores the current state of the intellectual potential of Russian regions and announces unfortunate results: declining number of researchers, a more than two-fold decrease in the average number of scientists in Russia, the outflow of a substantial part of the scientific personnel to the capital regions and the intellectual impoverishment of the rest of the federation. This threatens the scientific potential of not only individual territories, but the country as a whole. The author believes that to rectify this situation it is necessary to promote the domestic inter-territorial market and the society's research forces. However, this is hampered by a number of obstacles: the non-preparedness of both business and the state to perceive national science as a factor of innovative development - at present, not only the industrial sector is oriented towards the import of knowledge and technologies, but also health care and education; the desire to save on the financing of Russian scientific research; the use of outdated ways for developing high-tech production.
We cannot but mention other reasons behind a rather poor condition of the regional research science. First and foremost, this is the outflow of the majority of gifted applicants to the capital's educational institutions as a result of using the Unified State Exam (USE) system. After graduation, many of them have no incentive to return to regions and therefore, stay where there are more opportunities for employment, better economic well-being, and professional self-actualization [Vinokurova, Yakovlev, 2022]. The tendency to choose capital universities1 over regional ones is also thriving in connection with the spread of distance learning. Accordingly, the student population of the regions is formed according to the residual principle, which reduces the possibility of training qualified researchers. The second negative trend is the crowding out of employees of Russian regional universities by invited foreign specialists and professors from leading educational institutions. Along with an increase in the teaching load [Ershteyn, 2021], this hinders the development of university science
1 Quality of admission 2021. (2022). Rector of a Higher Education Institution, no. 3, pp. 32-47. https://panor.ru/ articles/kachestvo-priema-2021/80336.html#. (In Russ.)
in the regions and reduces the quality of local researchers' work. Enlarged funding for young scientists also seems ambiguous: it fulfills its task [Zuev, Vnutskikh, 2019], but is carried out to the detriment of middle-aged and older specialists and makes them "escape" from science in search of a decent income and eventually increases the generation gap. This problem concerns not only universities, but also enterprises. For instance, Dolgikh and Pershina [2019] show the difference between the categories of researchers aged under 40 and over 60, and demonstrate that the departure of employees engaged in research and development most often occurs at their own request. Accordingly, in order to actually switch to high-tech path in regional development, it is strictly necessary to abandon the center - periphery model and equalize the research potential of the regions, as well as to raise population awareness, as Bochko rightly notes, in favour of scientist thinking rather consumer thinking and to form an understanding of the prospects of a researcher career.
The issues of regional regulatory policy are explored by Rakhmeeva in the chapter devoted to the reconsideration of the specificities of the state regulation. The author emphasises that importing foreign institutions and aiming at the set targets without allowing for the regions' peculiarities did not end up as enormous success. Echoing Bochko, Rakhmeeva exposes the weakness of regional science, which should form the basis for managerial decisions in the state and regional regulation. In the scholar's opinion, it is essential to study the formation and development of the institutional environment of territorial communities. A similar problem is also raised by Rodriguez-Pose, who recognises the lack of research in the field of territories' institutions and the mechanisms of their influence on the performance of these territories [Rodriguez-Pose, 2020]. From Rakhmeeva's viewpoint, it is important to use an evidence-based approach that involves the real data analysis when discovering and addressing regions' problems, finding adequate indicators of their development.
Impact investing within regional economics is a subject of research presented in the chapter by Kvon. The author considers society's request for investment that help attain not only economic, but also environmental and social outcomes. The demand for such investment is growing in Russian regions as well, especially at the present stage of searching for new mechanisms of funding. However, we must not forget that impact investing serves the often antagonistic interests of various stakeholders. Searching for a common denominator in these interests and ensuring a significant social effect in combination with financial stability remain unresolved problems, which results in that the share of impact investments in the totality of global investments does not reach even 0.01 % [Alijani, Karyotis, 2019].
By questioning the possibility of economic growth of municipalities in the conditions of the center - periphery model and the need for improving economic life in
agglomerations, Belousova brings us back to the paradigm of the 'economy with a human face'. The author details the concept "municipal economy" and outlines approaches to its study, as well as examines the term "well-being". Since well-being is considered from the standpoint of municipalities, the attention is confined to its material aspect, while the subjective and relational dimensions of this phenomenon identified by McGregor and Pouw [McGregor, Pouw, 2017] are temporarily passed over. The scholar argues that the well-being of a territory should be determined from the perspective of economic dynamics, which should be considered in the context of interaction with other municipalities and regions. This allows us to deduce the necessity of exploring the issues of competitive cooperation between the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in order to optimise municipalities' well-being.
The first part ends with the scientometric analysis of the scholarly literature in the field of regional economics performed by Blaginin, Goncharova and Sokolova. The findings of this analysis include the dynamics and level of citation, major research topics in the subject area during 2006-2022. The chapter also provides lists of the most cited authors, higher education institutions specialising in spatial development and journals publishing studies on regional economics.
The second part of the monograph, which is of an applied nature, starts with the research by Chernyshev, who identifies the attributes of the unique development of Russian regions according to a region-as-society paradigm. This paradigm is not new since a region as society was considered by academician Aleksandr Granberg who defined it as a set of cultural, educational, medical, social-psychological, political, and other aspects of people's life in concrete territories [Granberg, 2004b, p. 84]. Yet Chernyshev expands this view: firstly, he focuses the attention on a worker as the principal producer and consumer of regionally produced goods, who possesses certain moral qualities, and secondly, points to social connections of regions' inhabitants. The implementation of the moral paradigm formulated by the researcher is analysed using the case of Crimea's development. The role of charity is specifically considered in this development. When planning the reforms, it is indeed vitally essential to account for not only industrial and human potential, but also for social potential of a region, its cultural and social relationships with neighboring territories, as well as a propensity for and speed of adaptation to reforms, which largely determine their success.
Silin, Novikova and Kharitonenko continue the research of the Crimean region's development, but focus on the applied analysis of its specialisation in health resort activities for 1935-2020. The authors show how the regional economy has transformed from industrial and agricultural to tourist and recreational; provide a rationale for the rational use of the unique natural wealth for creating regional prosperity; highlight
the importance of studying the 'genetic code' of the territory and the peculiarities that emerge in regions having a distinct and strong specialisation.
Butko brings the reader back to the Urals by analysing the efficiency of the region's development and questioning the methods for assessing and maintaining the investment attractiveness of the old industrial regions. The author proposes paying attention to the economic value of businesses, and modifying the calculations in the field of innovative activity through cost indicators taking into account discounting. In addition, she indicates the need to protect the national resources of Russia considering the case of forest management. The forest industry is also an object of study devoted to the analysis of the industrial clusters' effectiveness in the Ural region.
Methodological issues of strategic planning in municipal development are explored in the chapter written by Antonyuk, Sigatova and Erlich. The authors detail the essence and stages of this planning and particularly centre their analysis on municipal cash flows, which they consider through the circulation system of municipal revenues and expenditures, and interaction of households and firms. This seems to be an extremely important matter, for today only 10 % on municipalities in the country have the strategies for socioeconomic development [Bukhvald, 2022]. To examine the specificities of the strategic planning in the development of mono-functional cities and territories with limited access the authors suggest applying a model of the single-industry town' capital assessment, which allows identifying the avenues for development of the territories considering all the existing risks.
Due to the geopolitical tensions, border regions demand increasing attention, since, on the one hand, they have certain restrictions on economic activities because of their special legal regime [Vasilyeva, Moroshkina, 2022], and, on the other hand, might additionally suffer from the deterioration of trade relations with a number of neighboring countries. However, both in Russia and abroad this issue is still insufficiently explored. The review of international studies on the problems of border regions in regional economics is provided by Epifanova. The first part of the review looks at the phenomenon of perceiving the borders and emphasises the contradiction between increasing their 'transparency' and globalisation, on the one hand, and imposition of trade barriers by the state, on the other. The second part reveals the dynamics of studying the concept "border region" and distinguishes four evolutionary stages in this process.
Lukashenok addresses the concept "asset complex of an organisation", the stable definition of which is so far lacking in the scientific literature. The researcher grounds the necessity for applying an extended concept "land and asset complex", where land occupies the primary place. Based on the study of peculiarities of state and municipal institutions' property rights to land and asset complex, the scholar concludes that
this concept does not allow ignoring the issue of property on land, but it contradicts existing legal regulations. For instance, Matushevskaya [2022] demonstrates that the legislator does not substantiate this concept, while the term "asset complex" can be found in the legal regulations of the Russian Federation. Lukashenok examines the tasks faced by a proprietor and the risks that impact on territories and organisations' economic security. In line with this, the author suggests using the concept of property security to assess the asset component of the land and asset complex. As far as it is known, no previous research has investigated this possibility, therefore, it can become a subject of studies in the field of regional and municipal economic security.
The topic of regions' economic security is further explored by Efimova, who shows the place of vocational education in maintaining the state's economic security. The author complements the existing notions according to which education is a factor in the economic security of an individual at the micro level and a system for training a high-quality and competitive workforce at the macro level [Veshapidze et al., 2021]. Efimova names the external and internal factors that have shaped today's vocational education in the Russian Federation, and directs special attention to the analysis of the positive and negative aspects of the Bologna system with regard to economic security. The analysis revealed the most pressing problems in this sphere as far ranging as a decrease in the number of applicants (and in the quality of their training in most non-capital universities), a reduction in the faculty, difficulties in maintaining the land and asset complex of universities, and the threat of accreditation cancellation.
It is noteworthy that along with the identified problems, the problem of the lower competitiveness of regional universities in comparison with the capital ones is extremely acute. It is caused both by lack of 'quality' applicants and professors due to the 'brain drain' to capital universities, and by attempts to reform regional education by organising remote lectures by specialists from the capital on a regular basis and replacing real laboratory work with computer simulations. Let us be somewhat skeptical about the idea of expanding online learning, even if it offers to improve the quality of the material and design effective forms of control. Obviously, this type of training will significantly reduce the quality of vocational training in the field of physics, chemistry, medicine, etc.; increase the likelihood of opportunistic behaviour of students when fulfilling control tasks, etc.; limit the ability to perceive information in cases of insufficient technical support. In addition, distance learning does not promote social interaction skills due to lack of contact with both peers and instructors, and creates difficulties in mastering the content of lessons [Dumford, Miller, 2018; Dung, 2020]. Foreign studies show that students prefer offline learning compared to hybrid learning, and "full online" remains the least suitable option for them [Nikolo-poulou, 2022]. Thus, in terms of policy we should avoid the imprudent spread of
distance learning technologies and improve the quality of vocational education in the regions in order to prevent a failure in their economic security. The development of vocational education should be guided by this attitude as well as by the orientations identified by Efimova: tracking and satisfying the demand for specialists, respecting Russian values and introducing an environmental component into the educational process.
The third part of the monograph, which is devoted to the urban studies, opens with the research by Zaborova dedicated to urbanisation trends in the modern global space. Urbanisation is one of the major processes that changes the planet's face and continues during the whole period of the humanity's conscious living. This statement raises no doubts despite the conflicting opinions on the start of the urbanisation (for instance, should we count this start from the emergence of human settlements around 40,000 years ago named proto-urbanisation, or from one of the four urban revolutions identified by Soja [2000]?), as well as a still debated approach to assigning the status of a city mentioned by the author. The researcher stresses the differences in urbanisation processes between developed and developing countries, but also spots a common trend - emergence of agglomerations. This trend, as Sassen points out, is due to the exponentially transnationalised economy, when cities are becoming increasingly more significant strategic objects for the global capital [Sassen, 2018]. However, in Russian realities, a rather negative trend to a reduction in the number of small towns is observed. Zaborova founds that the impact of digital technologies and organisation of urban living favour the growth of large cities: they attract the inflow of people, while their suburbs concentrate production facilities. Against this background the problems of emptying small towns combined with the problems of overcrowded large cities lead to new disproportions in Russia's economic space and adversely affect the quality of life.
Creating efficient urban agglomerations in the Perm krai based on a fusion of administrative and scientific approaches is studied by Mirolyubova and Nikolaev. The authors particularly focus on the development of infrastructure without which agglomeration processes are hardly likely to be successful. An advantage of their approach is the application not a mono-, by a poly-centric agglomeration model, which implies the development of the cores' own specialisation, what will allow to equalize the potential of territories more productively. Chinese scholars argue that the said model should be built in a way that allows avoiding an excessive concentration of resources and a decrease in the efficiency of their use because of the domination of one large city [Huang, Liao, 2021]. At the same time, the widely used relocation of industrial enterprises from the center to the peripheral areas, which is proposed by the authors of the work, is not always rational, since it complicates the transport interaction
between functional zones [Gryaznova, 2020] and leads to the emergence of transport collapses and anthropodeserts1 [Pavlov, 2019]. It seems more efficient to locate these enterprises in the territories of emptying small towns, since this can provide the latter with additional industrial and human resources. Yet such measures are possible only with the improvement of the quality of life and the development of the services sector in these towns. Mirolyubova and Nikolaev share similar views, and show the possibilities for the development of the Berezniki - Solikamsk agglomeration.
Vlasova analyses the place of urban economics within the paradigm of the Ural school of regional economics and explains the interrelation between the concepts of the urban and municipal economies. The author pays particular attention to the distinctive feature of the cities in the Middle Urals, including the Ekaterinburg urban agglomeration, and highlights the important role of the policy on the management of urban economy [Vlasova, 2022].
The monograph ends with the chapter by Sanzhanov and Sanzhanova, who assess the performance of Ekaterinburg for the last decade. The scholars highlight the importance of the housing and utilities market and reveal new features of its functioning due to the private housing sector developing in the city. They investigate the behavioural strategies of housing management companies, identify problems in their activities, and point to a weakening influence of the local government on the sphere of housing management.
Advances in the Ural science promote the region's image and significantly impact on the regional policy in the country. The monograph Development of paradigmatic ideas in the domestic regional economics does not only tell the history of the Ural school of regional economics and its elements, but outlines the contours of the current and future economic transformations aimed at creating the social economy meeting the needs of the population. The ideas presented in the monograph underlie the economic paradigm of the nationally oriented regional economic development, which undoubtedly represents a huge contribution of the founder of the Ural scientific school of regional economics Prof. Dr. Evgeny Animitsa.
1 TN: anthropodesert is a term for describing previously developed territories abandoned by human communities. These territories are usually characterised by a simplified biogeogenosis and environmental imbalances resulting from human economic activity.
References
Animitsa E. G., Antonyuk V. S., Balina T. A., Belousova E. A., Blaginin V. A., Bochko V. S., ... Erlikh G. A. (2022). Development of paradigmatic ideas in the domestic regional economics. Ekaterinburg: Ural State University of Economics. 346 p. (In Russ.)
Animitsa E. G., Surnina N. M. (2006). The economic space of Russia: problems and trends. Ekonomika regiona = Economy of the Region, no. 3, pp. 34-46. (In Russ.)
Bukhvald E. M. (2022). Municipal spatial strategic planning: Features and key challenges. Prob-lemy razvitiya territorii = Problems of Territory's Development, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 8-23. https://doi. org/10.15838/ptd.2022.3.119.2. (In Russ.)
Vasilyeva A. V., Moroshkina M. V. (2022). Influence of the border factor on the economic systems of the Russian regions. Sever i rynok: formirovanie ekonomicheskogo poryadka = The North and the Market: Forming the Economic Order, no. 3, pp. 56-69. DOI: 10.37614/2220-802X.3.2022.77.004. (In Russ.)
Vinokurova A. V., Yakovlev A. I. (2022). Far Eastern capitals: To leave "for where" or "from"? Regionalnye problemy = Regional Problems, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 46-53. https://doi.org/10.31433/2618-9593-2022-25-4-46-53. (In Russ.)
Vlasova N. Yu. (2022). The concept of city's economy within the framework of the conceptual attitudes of the regional economics. In: Animitsa E. G., Antonyuk V. S., Balina T. A., Belousova E. A., Blaginin V. A., Bochko V. S., ... Erlikh G. A. Development of paradigmatic ideas in the domestic regional economics (pp. 257-268). Ekaterinburg: Ural State University of Economics. (In Russ.)
Volkova T. I. (2022). Scientific schools as a driver for the formation of demanded professional specialists. Proc. Int. Sci.-Prac. Conf. "Problems and Prospects of Development of Economy and Education in Mongolia and Russia (Ulan-Bator, April 8, 2022) (pp. 46-52). Cheboksary: Sreda Publ. (In Russ.)
Granberg A. G. (2004a). Russian economic space: Eternal problems, transformation processes, search for a strategy. Ekonomicheskoe vozrozhdenie Rossii = Economic Revival ofRussia, no. 1, pp. 16-22. (In Russ.)
Granberg A. G. (2004b). Foundations of regional economics. Moscow: HSE University. 465 p. (In Russ.)
Granberg A. G. (2006). Economic space of Russia. Ekonomika i upravlenie = Economics and Management, no. 2, pp. 11-15. (In Russ.)
Gryaznova G. G. (2020). Multi-storey industrial buildings as a means of humanising the urban environment. Proc. Int. Sci-Prac. Conf. "Problems of Modern Integration Processes and a Search for Innovative Solutions" (August 13, 2020) (pp. 101-104). Sterlitamak: Ami Publ. (In Russ.)
Dvoryadkina E. B., Belikova O. A. (2016). Financial and budgetary system of a region: Approaches to definition and structuring. In: Innovative development of the monetary and financial systems in the conditions of spatial and economic transformations (pp. 87-109). Ekaterinburg: Ural State University of Economics. (In Russ.)
Dvoryadkina E. B. (2019). Local finance of the rural territories: Whether the rate on economic growth is possible? Proc. 8th Int. Sci.-Prac. Conf. "Architecture of finance: Illusions of global stabilization and prospects for economic growth" (April 4-6, 2017) (pp. 140-143). Saint Petersburg: Saint Petersburg State University of Economics. (In Russ.)
Dvoryadkina E. B., Efimova E. G. (2020). Financial and budgetary context of the functioning of the regional system of vocational education. In: Dvoryadkina E. B., Vlasova N. Yu., Necheukhina N. S. (eds.) Economics of the services sector in the context of digitalization (pp. 69-92). Ekaterinburg: Ural State University of Economics. (In Russ.)
Dvoryadkina E. B. (2022). The subject field of regional economics and finance: Expanding, developing, enriching. In: Animitsa E. G., Antonyuk V. S., Balina T. A., Belousova E. A., Blaginin V. A., Bochko V. S., ... Erlikh G. A. Development of paradigmatic ideas in the domestic regional economics (pp. 44-50). Ekaterinburg: Ural State University of Economics. (In Russ.)
Dolgikh E. A., Pershina T. A. (2019). Statistical study of the personnel potential of science. Ten-dentsii razvitiya nauki i obrazovaniya = Trends in the Development of Science and Education, no. 47-3, pp. 40-47. https://doi.org/10.18411/lj-02-2019-56. (In Russ.)
Zuev A. A., Vnutskikh A. Yu. (2019). Young scientists of the Perm region about measures support of their activities. Sotsial'nye i gumanitarnye nauki: teoriya i praktika = Social Sciences and Humanities Theory and Practice, no. 1 (3), pp. 217-229. (In Russ.)
Matushevskaya E. A. (2022). Land and property complex: Its essence and approaches to management. Vestnik Rossiyskogo ekonomicheskogo universiteta im. G. V. Plekhanova = Vestnik of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, no. 3, pp. 182-196. http://dx.doi.org/10.21686/2413-2829-2022-3-182-196. (In Russ.)
Ogdonova Ts. Ts. (2010). Scientific paradigm as basic notion of modern linguistics. Vestnik Buryatskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Filosofiya = BSU bulletin. Philosophy, no. 10, pp. 43-49. (In Russ.)
Pavlov Yu. V. (2019). Development of urban agglomerations: Problems and solutions. Sred-nerusskiy vestnik obshchestvennykh nauk = Central Russian Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 112-140. DOI: 10.22394/2071-2367-2019-14-5-112-140. (In Russ.)
Porezanova E. V. (2021). Types of synergetic effects in Russian economy. Izvestiya Saratovsko-go universiteta. Seriya "Ekonomika. Upravlenie. Pravo" = Izvestiya of Saratov University. Economics. Management. Law, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 120-124. http://doi.org/10.18500/1994-2540-2021-21-2-120-124. (In Russ.)
Tatarkin A. I., Animitsa E. G. (2012). Formation of paradigmatic theory of regional economics. Ekonomika regiona = Economy of Region, no. 3, pp. 11-21. (In Russ.)
Fenin K. V. (2021). Economic polarization ofRussia at the subnational level. Nauchnye trudy Vol'nogo ekonomicheskogo obshchestva Rossii = Scientific Works of the Free Economic Society of Russia, vol. 230, no. 4, pp. 461-466. http://doi.org/10.38197/2072-2060-2021-230-4-461-466. (In Russ.)
Ershteyn L. B. (2021). Excessive workload of university teachers as a factor of destruction of higher education in Russia. Vestnik Permskogo natsional'nogo issledovatel'skogo politekhnicheskogo universiteta. Sotsial'no-ekonomicheskie nauki = PNRPU Sociology and Economics Bulletin, no. 2, pp. 75-87. https://doi.org/10.15593/2224-9354/2021.2.6. (In Russ.)
Alijani S., Karyotis C. (2019). Coping with impact investing antagonistic objectives: A multi-stakeholder approach. Research in International Business and Finance, vol. 47, pp. 10-17. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2018.04.002.
Dolganova Y., Zaborovskaya A., Istomina N., Terziev V. (2020). State financial resources as a tool for managing sustainable development of territories. E3S Web of Conferences, vol. 208, 08015. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202020808015.
Dumford A. D., Miller A. L. (2018). Online learning in higher education: Exploring advantages and disadvantages for engagement. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, vol. 30, pp. 452-465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-018-9179-z.
Dung D. T. H. (2020). The advantages and disadvantages of virtual learning. IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 45-48. https://doi.org/10.9790/7388-1003054548.
Harvey L. (1987). The nature of 'schools' in the sociology of knowledge: The case of the 'Chicago School'. The Sociological Review, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 245-278. https://doi.org/10.1111Zj.1467-954X.1987.tb00010.x.
Huang Y., Liao R. (2021). Polycentric or monocentric, which kind of spatial structure is better for promoting the green economy? Evidence from Chinese urban agglomerations. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 28, pp. 57706-57722. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-314418/v1.
Kuhn T. (1963). The function of dogma in scientific research. In: Crombie A. C. (ed.) Scientific change: Historical studies in the intellectual, social and technical conditions for scientific discovery and technical invention, from antiquity to the present (pp. 347-369). London: Heinemann Educational Books.
Kuhn T. (1970). The Structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 222 p.
McGregor J. A., Pouw N. (2017). Towards an economics of well-being Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 1123-1142. https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/bew044.
Nikolopoulou K. (2022). Face-to-face, online and hybrid education: University students' opinions and preferences. Journal of Digital Educational Technology, vol. 2, ep2206. https://doi.org/10.30935/ jdet/12384.
Rodriguez-Pose A. (2020). Institutions and the fortunes of territories. Regional Science Policy & Practice, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 371-386. https://doi.org/10.1111/rsp3.12277.
Sassen S. (2018). The global city: Strategic site, new frontier. In: Ferro L., Smagacz-Poziemska M., Gomez V. M., Kurtenbach S., Pereira P., Villalon J. J. (eds.) Moving cities-contested views on urban life (pp. 11-28). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-18462-9_2.
Soja E. W. (2000). Postmetropolis: Critical studies of cities and regions. Wiley-Blackwell. 464 p.
Suwala L. (2021). Concepts of space, refiguration of spaces, and comparative research: Perspectives from economic geography and regional economics. Forum: Qualitative Social Research (Sozialforschung), vol. 22, no. 3. https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-22.3.3789.
Syed M., Zurbriggen E. L., Chemers M. M., Goza B. K., Bearman S., Crosby F. J., Morgan E. M. (2019). The role of self-efficacy and identity in mediating the effects of STEM support experiences. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 7-49. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12170.
Tiryakian E. A. (1979). The significance of schools in the development of sociology. In Sniezk W. E., Fuhrman R., Miller M. K. (eds.) Contemporary issues in theory and research: A metasociological perspective (pp. 211-233). Westport, CN: Greenwood Press.
Veshapidze S., Chiabrishvili K., Zubiashvili T., Zoidze G. (2021). On the relationship between education and economic security. Ecoforum Journal, vol. 10, no. 3. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.5806515.
Information about the author
Olga N. Buchinskaia, Cand. Sc. (Econ.), Sr. Researcher of Territorial Competition Sector of the Center for Economic Theory. Institute of Economics (Ural branch of RAS), Ekaterinburg, Russia. E-mail: buchinskaia.on@uiec.ru
© Buchinskaia O. N., 2023
