Inter-Regional Contrasts in Economic Potential and Per Capita Budget Expenditures

Growing significant imbalances in the territorial development of the Russian Federation is causing increasing concern, posing a serious threat to the social stability and security of the state. Being on the current agenda, the topic of regional polarization is reflected both in the power rhetoric and in the strategic planning documents of the state. However, the «modesty» of the results of the implemented measures to balance spatial development, as well as the theses that periodically pop up in the public space about the need to abandon the support of the Russian province, do not allow the author to ignore the identified problem. The aim of the work is to investigate the gaps in the economic potential of Russian regions and the fiscal effects smoothing them, which are given a definite idea by analyzing the gross regional product and budget expenditures per capita. The validity of using these indicators for research purposes is determined, in the author's opinion, by the inequality of budgetary opportunities of sub-federal authorities and gaps in the relative size of the gross regional product. The use of special methods of processing and analyzing an array of statistical data made it possible not only to identify rather strong territorial contrasts in terms of gross regional product per capita in the Russian Federation, but also to clearly record the process of regional development levels diverging according to this indicator. At the same time, the study of regional differences in budget expenditures per capita showed the presence of spatial redistribution of economic resources on a national scale. Recognizing that through fiscal policy the government is trying to smooth out the sharp imbalances in the economic development of the regions, the author notes the insufficiency of damping measures. As a result, not only the problems of lagging behind are being preserved, but also the levels of socio-economic development of the leading and stagnating regions are diverging.