Regional differentiation in the Russian federation: A cluster-based typification

and put forward some points of discussion redarding the priority of rendering
federal assistance to the cited areas.

In our opinion, the main disadvantage of the survey prepared by the Analytical
Center lies in somewhat artificial approach to the notion of «depression-stricken»
regions, which has come to include the backward, depression-stricken crisis-
prone, and other types of regions. As a result, the specifically-oriented, target
«treatment procedures» of the above areas have become an impossibility in itself.
Detailed analysis of the computations outcome has revealed the need for
improvement in the procedure outlining the technique of selection of depression-
stricken and backward regions, including regional typification. The fact is that the
region selection following three criteria (setback in production, growing
unemployment and low living standard), which is fairly good for the developed
countries of relatively little interregional inequalities, proved not so good in Russia
of today, where certain regions either demonstrate extremely pungent inequalities
or are strongly affected by the crisis situation in economy and society at large.

These disadvantages not with standing, the authors have undoubtedly done a job
of vital importance. The survey has become the basis to further streamline the
positing of the problem in question and the procedures employed in a series of
studies, which are dedicated to the problem regions issue treated within the
bounds of the research INTAS-94-1149 Project.

3. Indicators and procedures used for typification of regions

3.1. Initial indicators system

Provisions havebeen made to secure a comprehensive coverage, which included
100 factors categorized into primary (statistical) factors and secondary (estimated
targets) factors. Primary initial indicators willbe clustered according to the
integrated factors as follows:

Unemployment. There are several types of unemployment, including concealed,
structural, seasonal, sex and age-related, etc. It would be approprivate to consider

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