Transport Complex in the Economic Development of the Region: Far East of Russia

摘要

The influence of level of the transport infrastructure development on the economic growth of the territory is proved both in the theoretical and practical applied works.The New Economic Geography postulates which fixed the nonlinear connection between the change in transport parameters(transportation costs)and the change in the scale of the economy(dynamics of economy structure,location of production facilities)were one of the latest.The impact of transport on economic development in terms of assessing the permeability of borders is studied in this article.A hypothesis that the presence of a branched transport network that ensures high permeability of borders and openness of the economy for interactions positively influences the economic development of the region is being tested.Internal and external indexes for the Far East of Russia are estimated.Internal index is estimate the permeability of borders between the administrative subjects of the Russian Far East.External index is estimate the permeability of Russian-China border.The permeability of the boundaries is estimated according to: 1)the generally accepted method and 2)the adjusted index proposed by the author.The proposed indicator takes into account a wider range of transport interactions and is calculated using modified weighting factors for individual modes of transport.The classical and adjusted permeability indexes for the Far East are calculated.As a result,one can draw a conclusion about the weak permeability of borders for most administrative subjects of the Far Eastern Federal District.The relatively low transport penetration of the region's external borders is revealed when interacting with China.The results show a high potential for growth in foreign economic interactions for the Russian Far East(for example,cooperation in the frame of the”One Belt and One Road”Initiative)and the importance of upgrading the system of checkpoints across the state border with China.