The transport complex of the Far East: development trends and economic role

The mutual influence of transport and economic development has been the focus of scientific research for a long time. Despite this, to date there has not yet formed a single point of view; the results of different authors’ assessments are contradictory. Russian Far East is a region whose transport complex importance is difficult to overestimate. The additional relevance of this research area at the present stage is determined by the use of new forms and tools of the region’s state policy, as well as the emergence of new promising areas of foreign economic cooperation in the field of transport. The purpose for the present study is to analyze the performance of the role of transport in the economy of the Russian Far East during 2000-2016, as well as to study the factors affecting the significance of transport in the regional economy at the present stage. The methodological research framework lies in the system approach and methods of system-functional and statistical analysis. Estimates of the contribution of the transport complex to the overall economic performance are obtained by applying the method of structural changes. The paper presents the calculations of decomposition of incremental employment indicators and the average annual value of fixed assets of the transport complex of the Far East (with decomposition broken down by Russia’s constituent entities in the Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD)) during 2000-2016 into three components: national, regional and sectoral. It is noted that while maintaining transport as a specialization sector of the economy of the Far East (localization factors by employment, investment and fixed assets exceed 1), there is a decrease in the number of employees in this region’s sector. The obtained negative estimates of the regional component of employment performance indicate “unrealized” employment in Russia’s constituent entities of the FEFD due to negative regional make-up of the transport complex. Analysis of the average annual value of fixed assets has determined the positive impact of the sectoral and regional components. Further research on assessing the role of transport complex in the economy of the region, as well as study of the impact of new factors on the development of transport in the Far East will become a relevant research area.