THE IMPACT OF THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY ON THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF RUSSIAN REGIONS: MEASUREMENT AND HIGHLIGHTS FOR PRACTICE

The knowledge economy, initially developed in the corporate sector towards the end of the 20th century, has found its application at the macro level, both in theoretical research and in the formation of regional and national economic policy. Knowledge has become the key resource of economic growth, on the one hand, and the basic value shaping social evolution, on the other. This research is aimed at estimating the impact of the knowledge economy on the level of development of regional economic systems, measured by the indicator of Gross Regional Product (GRP). The authors analyzed the international experience of the global knowledge economy index construction (by the World Bank and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) and then adapted these techniques to the regional level. The study also took into consideration a very limited set of statistical data in the area of the knowledge economy provided by the national statistical base. The indexes of knowledge and GRP of Russian regions have been compared; the leading regions in building the knowledge economy and lagging regions have been identified. Finally, the authors have revealed a correlation dependence between quantity of the institutions of higher education and the number of the faculty in the region, on the one hand, and GRP, on the other. These findings have practical applications in the field of regional economic policy and indicative planning. At the same time, the research results will be used for further study of Russian practice of building the knowledge economy at the regional level by the methods of institutional analysis and modeling.