Efficiency assessment of preferential treatment at the municipal level

The relevance of efficiency assessment of preferential treatment at the municipal level is due to the need to find opportunities for accelerated development of territories. The article reveals their role as compensatory mechanisms to promote the growth of production and achieve positive economic effects (on personal income, housing input, replenishment of the revenue base of local budgets). The subject of the study is municipalities in which various preferential treatments have been established (special economic zones and advanced development territories). The source data of the study are the municipal statistics of Rosstat. The research methodology is based on econometric methods. The author’s approach to efficiency assessment consists in the application of methods of correlation and regression analysis for the territories of preferential treatments, for which we selected municipal districts-analogues, where such preferential conditions did not exist. We presented the results of calculations that proved to be comparable for the preferential treatments under study. We also showed that they have not yet become a pilot scheme for successful “zonal policy” at the municipal level. At the same time, one should note that preferential treatment is a long-term project, the effectiveness of which in the short term should be evaluated very carefully. The scientific contribution of the work lies in the use of the approach to analyze the economic effects at the local level, as they are almost indistinguishable at the region-wide level. As part of the analysis of Russian and foreign scientific and methodological approaches to assessing the effectiveness of preferential treatment, we have found that it depends on the inclusion of various factors of territorial and sectoral specificity. Further development of methodological approaches can be used in the activities of federal and regional public authorities to clarify the choice of mechanisms for territorial development. The further development of methodological approaches can be used in the activities of federal and regional state authorities to clarify the choice of territorial development mechanisms. Thus, most likely, preferential treatment can become points of growth for local employment, but the comprehensive effects on other aspects of territorial development will be low.