East of the Vologda oblast as a socio-economic and cultural anomaly

Amid strengthening central-peripheral contrasts in the socio-economic development of territories many processes on the periphery of regions and macro-districts remain out of the focus of scientific research. The purpose of this work is to identify the distinctive features of the modern socio-economic development of districts in the East of the Vologda Oblast against the background of other districts of the non-Black Earth economic zone of Russia. The applies methods of mathematical analysis of statistical data at the regional and municipal level, combined with analysis of expert and in-depth interviews conducted by the author in Tarnogsky, Totemsky, and Velikoustyugsky districts in 2016. Unlike the majority of works devoted to the rural areas of the Vologda Oblast, this article, along with the intra-regional differentiation of the processes of socio-economic development, presents analysis of modern unique ways of development of the Eastern regions of the Oblast. The reviewed districts are distinguished by non-linear dynamics of the socio-economic space compression, by higher entrepreneurial activity of the population, there are more complex migration sentiment. The main factors in modern development of Eastern regions are the modern regional institutional conditions (primarily higher fiscal capacity and better forest management conditions for agricultural enterprises compared to other regions non-Black Earth regions) and later transport development of the territory. This kept the rural population in the years of major outflow of residents from other areas, which led to preservation of the human and social capital of the territories. As part of further research, it is necessary to identify the districts of other regions of the old-developed non-Black Earth economic zone whose development does not fit into the central-peripheral model of socio-economic development; as well as compare them regarding the processes taking place in the East of the Vologda Oblast.