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Evaluating of Impact of Provision of Infrastructure on the Economic Development of Russian Regions
The article examines the impact of provision of infrastructure on the economic growth dynamics of Russian regions, taking into account spatial externalities. The main hypothesis of the study is that the characteristics of provision of transport, energy, and telecommunications infrastructure affect the growth rates of the real GRP of Russian regions, but the nature of this impact depends on their specialization and level of development. The results of panel regression estimation have shown that development of the road network and mobile communications has a significant impact on the economic growth dynamics in Russian regions, and the external effects from development of the corresponding infrastructure in neighboring regions are positive. Infrastructural restrictions affect the economic growth dynamics in the less developed eastern part of the country to a greater extent than in the western part. Regions with specialization in the manufacturing benefit the most from the development of transport infrastructure in neighboring regions, as well as from the increase in the volume of generating capacity in their territory. Although in 2001–2017 the development of mobile communications had a positive impact on the economic growth dynamics in many Russian regions, due to the completion of the process of expanding mobile communications throughout the country, the possibilities of using this growth factor in the future have been all but exhausted.