Regional Convergence in Russia: Estimating A Neoclassical Growth Model

43 Pages Posted: 17 Jun 2020

See all articles by Hartmut Lehmann

Hartmut Lehmann

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Aleksey Y. Oshchepkov

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Maria Silvagni

University of Bologna - School of Economics, Management, and Statistics

Date Written: June 14, 2020

Abstract

This paper studies the convergence in per capita gross regional products (GRPs) across Russian regions in the period from 1996 to 2017. We estimate growth equations, which are directly derived from a neoclassical growth model, augmented with human capital and migration. To our knowledge, this is the first paper that explicitly applies a neoclassical model to analyze regional convergence in Russia. We also take into account possible spatial effects and do a series of other robustness checks. Our main estimates establish a convergence rate of around 2% per year. While we fail to find any role of human capital for regional economic growth, we find that interregional migration and the interdependencies of the growth of Russian regions contribute to the economic convergence between them.

Keywords: convergence, economic growth, regional economics, migration, Russia.

JEL Classification: O47, R11, P2.

Suggested Citation

Lehmann, Hartmut and Oshchepkov, Aleksey Y. and Silvagni, Maria, Regional Convergence in Russia: Estimating A Neoclassical Growth Model (June 14, 2020). Higher School of Economics Research Paper No. WP BRP 232/EC/2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3627173 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3627173

Hartmut Lehmann

National Research University Higher School of Economics ( email )

Myasnitskaya street, 20
Moscow, Moscow 119017
Russia

Aleksey Y. Oshchepkov (Contact Author)

National Research University Higher School of Economics ( email )

Myasnitskaya, 20
Moscow, 101000
Russia

Maria Silvagni

University of Bologna - School of Economics, Management, and Statistics ( email )

Piazza Scaravilli 1
40126 Bologna, 47100
Italy

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