Quality determinants based justification of the reasons for an inefficient system of the RF spatial development institutions

T he paper attempts to evaluate the basic quality determinants to substantiate the reasons for an inefficient system of spatial development institutions in the Russian Federation. To do this, institutional economic theory tools, hierarchical analysis, the postulates of systems theory are applied to propose and to characterize the following quality parameters of the spatial development institutions system: 1) objectivity which implies that the changes in the spatial development institutions system match the material conditions of the national economy performance; 2) the connections between the system’s elements, which determines the equilibrium in the development of direct and reverse, vertical and horizontal links in the system; 3) the coherence of the goals and functions of the system's elements, which preserves the consistence in the functional content for spatial development institutions at different hierarchical levels; 4) the degree of diversity, taking into account the degree of institutional conditions invariance in the regions under the national policy for spatial development; 5) efficiency as a multidimensional quality criterion for the spatial development institutions system. The spatial development institutions system has been found to be inefficient as regards all quality determinants in question: the system reproduces the Soviet spatial planning principles which restrain the focus on innovations in the national economy; reverse and horizontal connections ensuring the system’s integrity and adaptability, as well as the possibility to benefit from the regional economy specialization are not developed; the goals of formal and informal institutions at different levels of the hierarchy are not coordinated; the institutional differences and degrees of spatial development are ignored in the Russian Federation regional policy; the criteria of cost effectiveness and efficiency are not met. As a result, the current spatial development institutions system in the Russian Federation does not contribute into achieving the main objective for the territorial organization of the economy, which is to narrow the interregional gap between the level and quality of life by promoting and stimulating efficient interregional cooperation. The paper concludes that the identified quality determinants for the spatial development institutions system are likely to be a tool to set more precise strategic imperatives for the necessary changes in the system in Russia.