Regional specialization and agglomeration effects in the Russian economy

The main goal of economic science which is the search for ways to meet the existing needs by means of limited resources is of particular relevance today in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the rapid recession of the world economy, reduced export volumes and energy prices decline. Agglomeration effects represent savings of the region’s assets from their more efficient distribution based on specialization. The purpose of the research is to develop theoretical and methodological aspects of specialization and agglomeration effects, which determined the need to solve the following tasks: (1) to provide an overview of approaches related to the study issues, (2) to assess the regional specialization of Russia and calculate agglomeration effects in agriculture, mining and processing sectors of industry, and the service sector, (3) to build a model of agglomeration effects impact on the regions’ economic development. The article presents the systematization of research on agglomeration processes through the allocation of groups of works that are based on the classification of Duranton and Puga, territorial and geographical approaches, the study of related diversity, the use of the cross-sectional analysis results, sorting processes, and agglomeration economy analysis. The economic point of evaluating a region’s specialization is to identify the industries in which it has competitive advantages in order to attract targeted resources. The assessment of agglomeration effects in Russia has shown that not all regions fully realize the advantages of specialization. The constructed models allowed to determine that (1) labor remains the key factor of development in agricultural and industrial regions; (2) roads are not a significant infrastructure indicator of development; (3) agglomeration effects in agriculture and services do not provide the desired result of the per capita GRP increment; (4) the manufacturing sector development is still an important condition. The article proposes a model allowing the assessment of the impact of agglomeration factors and regional specialization, the results of which can become an information basis for the development of regulatory actions in regional management. The research can be valuable for both the researchers and decision-makers in the field of spatial development.