Assessment of infrastructure sources and limitations to the economic growth of Russian regions

The aim of the research, which constitutes the content of this article, is the development of a methodological approach to the analysis of sources of economic growth in the regions, determined by the infrastructure development, as well as methods and tools for this analysis. Infrastructure as one of the most important elements of the regional socio-economic system is the subject of the research, and the regions, subjects of the Russian Federation, are selected as the object of the research. Since the functioning of different types of infrastructure is an interconnected process, it is necessary to study the analysis of sources and limitations to the economic growth determined by the infrastructure factors comprehensively. The methodological approach to the research is based on the examination of the structural and functional content of the infrastructure. Based on the examination, a system of indicators which characterizes the degree of implementation of the main functions of the infrastructure as a whole and separately, is constructed. Algorithms for obtaining comparative assessments of the provision of regions with various types of infrastructure and building on this basis the ratings of regions from the point of view of their infrastructural arrangement are proposed. In the research, the methods of econometric analysis, as well as cluster analysis by constructing self-organizing Kohonen maps are used. With the help of the methodological recommendations developed by the authors, a comparative analysis of the infrastructural provision of Russian regions is conducted, their typological groups from the point of view of infrastructural arrangement are distinguished, the results of the analysis of the influence of infrastructural factors on economic growth for a number of representative typological groups are presented. The assessment of infrastructure sources and limitations to the economic growth can serve as a basis for the development of directions of infrastructure development for specific groups of Russian regions.