Development trends in the economy of old-industrial Russian regions

Old-industrial regions are territories which entered the stage of industrial development earlier than others and were once drivers of economic growth on a national scale. However, during the time since the start of the industrial revolution, their contribution to the country’s economy has declined significantly, the structure of industrial production developed over decades has become outdated and no longer met the relevant objectives of social development; the problem of predominant production of low techno-economic paradigm has become a priority. Many old industrial regions are currently characterized by a number of acute social and economic problems, solving which will give a second wind to the most important industrial centers of Russia. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the economic state of old industrial regions and identify key trends in their development. The research object is old-industrial Russian constituent entities, the subject - the socio-economic processes in them. The methodological framework of the study is based on the principles of economic, statistical, and comparative analysis, as well as methods of generalization. The informational component of the paper is represented by works of domestic and foreign scientists in the field of regional economy, as well as statistics of the Federal State Statistics Service. The article appeals to scientific findings of researchers studying the issues of formation, development, and functioning of old-industrial regions. These include works by G.B. Korovin, E.V. Lukin, I.V. Makarova, K.V. Pavlov, and N.Yu. Sorokin. The research results reflect the state of old-industrial regions from the perspective of economic development in general without reference to the problems of a key industrial sector and various aspects of technological progress.