“Justice Vs Efficiency” dilemma in the context of russia’s regional economic policy

Deriving the necessity of regional economic policy from the market failure concept, the author, using D. Friedman’s center-periphery theory, justifies the fact of excessive socio-economic differentiation among the regions of the Russian Federation, which has a hindering rather than accelerating effect on long-term economic growth. The clear division of Russian regions as parts of the “center-periphery-semi-periphery” classification based on the classification of spatial policy theorists by G. Cameron as non-interventionists, adapters, and radical transformers raises the question of the optimal degree of intervention by the Russian government in regulating territorial structure. The centerpiece of the article is the comparative analysis of two alternative approaches within the models of “territorial justice” and “economic efficiency” outlining the tools used in each of them. By uncovering the objective regularities of cyclical development that bring to the forefront one or another model of regional regulation and linking their use to the achieved level of economic development of the country, the author proves the inevitability of relying on a leveling model in Russia’s regional policy. However, to avoid the reproduction of social dependency of subsidized territories, there is an urgent need for close coordination of regional policy with structural policy, aiming both at achieving economic development rooted in innovations as opposed to, for instance, exploitation of natural resources.