Valdai — A Change of Gestalt for the Russian Economy: How to See Trees Behind the Forest, and Regions Behind the Centre

“Russia is not a country. It is a federation that consists of more than 80 regions. We cannot consider it kind of unity, since these regions are very different ” – this provocative point marked the Valdai Club discussion on January 28, dedicated to regional imbalances in the Russian economy. Apurva Sanghi, the leading economist of the World Bank in Russia, who put forward this idea, spoke about the uneven development of various Russian regions. These include rich and poor ones, poorly and densely populated. At the same time, he said that conclusions about the potential of a particular region are often incorrect. Why?

The same is true for most federations and provincial states, including the US. We tend to think of these economies as relatively homogenous, as suggested by the name, but this is seldom the case in countries of any size and with any historical complexity.

Valdai
A Change of Gestalt for the Russian Economy: How to See Trees Behind the Forest, and Regions Behind the Centre