Socio-economic differentiation of border regions by the example of Russia and Finland: Factor analysis

Abstract

Border regions in modern conditions have a special status which is determined by the geopolitical position. The Russian-Finnish borderland was characterized by a high level of activity, which provided the border regions with opportunities for economic growth. The development of the border regions of Russia and Finland diff signifi by socio-economic indicators. A comparative analysis will make it possible to assess the existing gap between the territories and identify possible areas for cooperation between the territories. The object of the study is the border regions of Russia and Finland. The aim of the study is to assess the economic development and diff processes of the border regions of Russia and Finland. The study collected a system of indicators to analyze the development of border regions, which made it possible to assess the level of socio-economic development of border regions of Russia and Finland. The analytical work used the data of Rosstat, Finstat, on the basis of which the database on socio-economic indicators of development of border regions was collected. The comparative assessment was carried out by applying the method of factor analysis (L. Thurstone’s centroid method). Analytical work was carried out with the help of the package of applied programs Statistica. Based on a certain set of indicators refl the socio-economic development of the border regions of Russia and Finland, the characteristics were built based on the values of the regions in the space of latent factors and their heterogeneity was assessed. The construction was formed on the basis of the use of factor analysis of integral characteristics that include the socio-economic indicators under study. The conducted study of the assessment of the development of border regions of Russia and Finland has identifi a high level of lagging behind the Russian border regions from the Finnish border regions according to the majority of indicators. An important result is also a signifi diff between Finnish border regions by the cumulative factor “provision of territory with resources”, Finnish border regions showed a signifi gap in relation to each other.