Attempts to study the economy within a particular region have been known since the time of the Ancient Greek Kingdom. In our country, the peak of interest in the economy of the regions came at the time of the formation of the Soviet Union as a single space. Globalization and limited resources have served as the basis for the further development of science.
Definition
Spatial economy is a model of economic development, in which the process of management of different objects takes place in the form of interaction and distribution of responsibilities between them. It answers 3 key questions: “What? Where? Why?”.
"What?" implies a certain economic entity that produces a product or service: an enterprise, a farm, etc.
"Where?" means the location of this economic entity in space. This is a matter of proximity to other objects, the presence of similar objects, the proximity of resourcesfor production. For example, where is the wood for the logging company?
"Why?" is a matter of motivating the subject to action. For example, why would company A need to interact with company B? Answer: because B offers the best prices for components and is located close. This will allow Enterprise A to generate more profits and reduce transportation costs.
Goal and objectives
The main goal of the spatial economy is to create mutually beneficial conditions for all its subjects.
The main task is to timely detect and use the potential of business entities to create mutually beneficial economic cooperation.
Several conditions must be met for this:
- Favorable location of business entities. It should be equally convenient for both consumers and manufacturers. Resources for production should be as close as possible.
- The territory (area) for the location of enterprises should be used as efficiently as possible to create business projects, development sites, etc.
- Reduction of market zones and a clear distribution of work between them.
Structure
The spatial structure of the economy is usually divided into 2 parts:
- Homogeneous structure. It is characterized by the homogeneity of the economic region without much difference in all its parts.
- Polarized structure. In the region areseveral centers that unite the rest of the space.
Shapes
The forms of spatial organization of the economy are as follows:
- Local - the simplest element of space or a territory where a single object is located. Monotown is a good example of a local form.
- The nodal form is divided into industrial and transport. The industrial hub concentrates several enterprises, settlements with a common infrastructure. A transport hub is a concentration of transport routes in one place, around which industrial enterprises and people are concentrated.
- Production-territorial complex - the subject of the economy, consisting of several industries, united technologically and socially. The complexes have a common developed infrastructure.
Economists have long been studying the problem of the distribution of economic resources in space. To date, there are several basic theories of the spatial organization of the economy. Let's look at them in more detail below.
Creating growth poles
The essence of the theory is that enterprises that create innovative goods and services demonstrate high efficiency. Infrastructure begins to grow around highly efficient organizations, firms, companies, auxiliary production facilities are opened, housing for workers is being built. As a result, such an enterprise becomes a kind of pole of attraction for other economic entities and a new economic zone. ATIn this theory, the place of an enterprise can be occupied by separate territories of priority development or even entire countries that are leaders in any area of the international economy.
Theory of the Economics of Spatial Equilibrium
According to this theory, producers and consumers (subjects) are tied to a certain place in space. The distribution of subjects in space is influenced by costs and demand. And the ideal balance in the distribution of enterprises in space can be achieved by observing the following rules:
- location of enterprises in space should be as convenient as possible for consumers and for the producers themselves;
- density of enterprises allows full use of the territory on which they are located;
- the market is divided into zones, and each zone must be small enough;
- The boundaries of market zones should be limited by indifference curves (a zone in which buyers are provided with the same benefit from the goods received).
Perrox Theory
This theory is based on the assumption that the economic space is like a kind of force field, fueled by corporations and their interconnections. The more resources and sales opportunities an enterprise has, the greater its “force field”. The theory perfectly reflects the difference in the amount of working capital, the number of partners and the types of activities of corporations. This inequalitygives rise to dominant enterprises and subordinates. Deformation interferes with the harmonious spatial development of the economy.
Industrial Complex Theory
Widely used in practice in the USSR. According to it, a certain group of enterprises with close proximity, access to resources and employed in the same industry demonstrate high efficiency compared to disparate industries. The theory focuses only on inputs and outputs. The disadvantages of the approach is the lack of adjustment for regions and their borders. It is practically impossible to organize a production complex within one region.
Porter's Theory
It is based on the theory of industrial complexes, but Porter's theory has significant improvements. In order for a region to develop harmoniously, it must have at least two industries, and each complex must have a number of supporting industries in the same territory. In Porter's theory, competition between complexes is the key to the harmonious development of space and economic growth in the regions.
Spatial and regional economics
The reality is that in the face of economic wars, trade embargoes and unequal access to natural resources, our country is forced to once again remember the regional economy along with the spatial one.
The spatial economy is characterized by blurring of boundaries between development centers, their transparency. The freedom of movement of capital, labor resources, services and goods, the efficient division of labor - all this is characteristic of the model under consideration. best examplespatial economy is the European Union.
The regional economic model is characterized by protectionism (protection of national interests) and closed borders. At the same time, there is no free movement of resources, labor and capital. In the context of globalization, such a model cannot withstand competition. No region of the world is currently able to fully provide itself with everything necessary for production and at the same time be a sales market.
Space of the national economy
The Russian economy has always been a complex and multifaceted subject for study. Factors affecting the spatial organization of the national economy:
- Uneven distribution of population, capital and resources. More than ¾ of Russia's population live in its European part. The main part of minerals and other resources is located beyond the Ural Mountains.
- Large extent of territories. The country is strongly stretched in the direction east - west.
- Big gap in regional development. There are regions, the level of gross regional product between which differs by 40 times.
All this suggests that the spatial organization of the country has a pronounced model of the regional nodal economy. There is no even distribution of labor, capital and resources between regions.
On the other hand, Russia is showing signs of spatial development of its economy. Our country is a member of the integration union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, which implies free movement between countries of labor, capital, services and goods. Later, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan joined the Customs Union.
Thus, a feature of the spatial development of the Russian economy is the deformation of the country's regional development and unevenness, combined with the high efficiency of spatial development and interaction with other countries.
