Institutional environment as a factor of uneven development of Russian regions

The article studies the trends of inter-regional socioeconomic inequality in Russia during the period of 2005-2015. Gross regional product per capita, investments, average income and salary were used as aggregated indicators of regional development. The first Theil index was applied to estimate the level of inequality. Against the background of the investment downturn, the institutional environment quality in Russia has been consistently improving, as evidenced by the international ratings that estimate the quality and development of the economic institutions. Significant influence of the regional economic institutions on the level of investments in the regional economies was discovered. It is concluded that the consistent improvement of the regional institutional environment quality can contribute to the mitigation of the interregional disparities.