AGRO-INDUSTRIAL REGIONS: DYNAMICS OF INCOME, INEQUALITY AND POVERTY
The results of the analysis of long-term dynamics of income, inequality and poverty in Russian agro-industrial regions are presented. The methodological background of the study is described. The specificity of changes in the considered indicators of development of agro-industrial regions against the background of Russia is revealed at different stages of economic development in the 1990s, 2000s and in the current decade. The agro-industrial regions consistently have lower incomes compared to Russia, higher levels of poverty and less significant inequalities. The impact of economic crises on the decline in the purchasing power of incomes and on the increase in poverty of residents in such regions was more noticeable than in Russia as a whole. At the same time, over more than 20 years, poverty has significantly decreased, purchasing power increased, and the regions’ lagging behind in terms of population income and overtaking in terms of poverty has decreased. Conclusions are drawn about the importance of state policy as a driver of positive changes in the dynamics of the population income and poverty in the agro-industrial regions. It is shown how interregional differentiation changed. The “leading” and “outsider” agro-industrial regions are identified at each stage of economic development. There are significant and growing differences between agroindustrial regions in terms of income, inequality and poverty. The influence of the center-periphery factor on the position of regions is revealed. The position of the peripheral region with the least prosperous situation remains stable. The stability of the positions of the peripheral region with the least favorable situation remains. The group of prosperous regions (despite the change in leadership positions) with a more advantageous geographical position is also relatively stable.