Digital Space of Regions: Assessment of Development Factors and Influence on Socio-Economic Growth

Abstract

The heterogeneity in the development of the digital space of Russian regions is due to the action of many factors related to the overall level of socio-economic well-being. The formation and expansion of digital space, too, has an impact on the socio-economic development of regions. The hypothesis of the study is an assumption that there is a two-way relationship between the digital space formed in the regions and the socio-economic indicators of their development. The purpose of the study is to identify the specifics of the formation of digital space in the regions, to assess the factors of its development and the cause-and-effect relationship with the indicators of socio-economic development of the territories. The article presents a methodological approach, the feature of which is the systematic use of methods of spatial autocorrelation analysis, methods of regression analysis on panel data and Granger causal relationship testing. As a result of this study, three groups of regions were identified according to the level of the development of digital space and the key factors of its development were identified. In the first group of regions, the high level of digital space development is due to the active use of advanced production technologies and a significant volume of GRP. In the regions of the second group, which included the leading production centers of the country, the development of the digital space is influenced not only by the economic condition of the territories, but also by their fiscal security. The development of the digital space in the regions of the third group, which are characterized by a weak level of the development of digital infrastructure and its use, is significantly influenced not only by the volume of the GRP produced and the budgetary provision, but also by the turnover of retail trade and the active use of advanced technologies. The study of cause-effect relationships using the Granger test allowed us to establish an inverse impact of the digital space on the socio-economic development indicators of the three groups of regions, thus confirming the hypothesis put forward. The used methodological approach and modeling results can be used to find optimal mechanisms for the development of the regions' digital space in order to ensure balanced socio-economic development.