The study presents an analysis of data on value-added trade provided by ICIO OECD and ADB MRIO, investigates a set of value-added indicators to determine the dynamics of internal and external components of exports and to illustrate direct and inverse links of Russia in global value chains. It is noted that in conditions of economic shocks, knowledge of the geographical origin of value added in exports contributes to faster political decision-making and the earliest restoration or replacement of affected links in the global value chains. The article also considers issues of the share of foreign and domestic value added in Russian exports and how certain sectors of the Russian economy are integrated into the global value chains.

The article is devoted to the consideration of the tourist potential of depressed regions and the assessment of possibilities of its development based on clustering. Approaches of the Russian and foreign scientists to the interpretation of the concept of the tourist potential of a region are identified and systematized. The rating of depressed regions of Russia in terms of the tourism potential is analyzed. The analysis was based on data from the Russian rating agency Expert RA on the rating of investment attractiveness of the regions of the Russian Federation for 2011–2020. The potential of clustering of the tourism sector in the depressed regions has been assessed. In the depressed regions with an increased potential for clustering of the tourism sector, the development of tourist clusters is proposed. Conclusions obtained as a result of the conducted research may have practical significance for the authorities of both depressed and non-depressed regions of the Russian Federation.

Within the framework of monitoring the economic indicators of deposits of solid minerals and groundwater (geo-economic monitoring) at the regional level, an urgent task is to preserve both the ecological balance of the territory and, uniform and economically rational subsurface use. It should be noted that at present the issue of rational development of deposits is closely related to the issues of reproduction of mineral resources. This connection requires not only methodological, but also programmatic and analytical justification. The essence of the latter is to develop long-term and medium-term programs of geological exploration of the subsurface, aimed at the preservation and reproduction of mineral raw materials. In order to form programs, it is necessary to support analytically the need for measures to conserve mineral resources. Ultimately, to analyze the need for measures for the reproduction of mineral resources, an information storage system based on the principle of a multidimensional data management system is required. Such systems are currently being developed on the basis of ontology, in turn, the ontological graph reflecting relationships of finite elements will be considered as an ontograph model. The purpose of this work is to design a system for conducting geo-economic monitoring at the regional level through an ontological approach. As a result, it is necessary to build a model reflecting the relationship between geological and economic indicators. 

Regional competitiveness is determined not only by the physical and intangible assets of a territory, but also by the regional ability to convert them into economic growth and development. Border cooperation is an important mechanism for converting territorial capital into competitive advantages for border regions. In this regard, the article is aimed at studying specific cases of the EU border regions, assessing the impact of border cooperation on the increase of regional competitiveness and individual characteristics of territorial capital, connected with innovative development of border regions. The research is carried on the example of 10 NUTS-2 regions, included in the list of 50 most active regions by the number of implemented projects of cross-border cooperation in the programming period 2014–2020. It is shown that the specificity of the use of the potential of the border situation by EU regions is largely determined by the degree of interest of the neighbouring countries in the implementation of cross-border cooperation projects with equal importance of the joint border area for national economy as a whole. The concept of the «bottom-up» policy, on which the idea of cross-border cooperation in the EU is based, allows to intensify cooperation between local communities, create new values at the regional level: hard (new companies, jobs, new goods and services, infrastructure) and soft ones (knowledge, skills and new skills of the local community) capable of ensuring the economic and social development of border regions.

Under the influence of various endogenous and exogenous shocks, a limited amount of funds and the different state of the housing and communal services sector (hereinafter – housing and communal services) in the regions, there is a need to improve the quality of public financial management and optimize expenses in this area. Finding ways to optimize the use of budget funds necessitates assessing the performance of the industry, as well as selecting and justifying a system of indicators for analysis. Based on the selected indicators, the state of the housing and communal services sector was assessed using data from the Republic of Bashkortostan as an example, and the main problems were identified. A methodological toolkit for assessing the effectiveness of budget expenditures is proposed, which allows, based on the ratio of costs and results, to identify a region of «best practice», determine the effectiveness of other territories and reserves for improving their situation. Testing based on statistical data for the regions of the Volga Federal District made it possible to identify effective and ineffective regions. The importance of applying the proposed approach in assessing the effectiveness of budget expenditures in the housing and communal services sector at the regional level is determined. The results obtained as part of the study are the initial basis for assessing additional factors influencing the effectiveness of regional expenditures in the housing and communal services sector and developing recommendations for financing the industry. 

The article investigates specific characteristics of the formation of the higher education system in the subjects of the Volga Federal District. In order to analyze a system of scientific and educational institutions of the district, statistical data from Rosstat, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the results of the population census for the period 2017-2022 were studied, on the basis of which such methods as descriptive, comparative, cartographic, geoinformation, and mathematical statistics were applied. The dynamics of the main indicators of higher education (a number of universities, a number of students, specialization of students, a number of people with higher education, etc.) is analyzed with the identification of key trends, including a reduction in the number of universities, in particular public and private institutions of higher education, the concentration of scientific and educational space in certain top economic regions (the Republic of Tatarstan, Nizhny Novgorod the region, Perm Region, etc.). Based on the trend model, a forecast of the number of university students until 2027 was built, which allowed us to conclude about a trend of reduction in the number of students, which will negatively affect the economy of the regions in the future. To assess the accessibility of higher education in the regions of the district, the coefficient of higher education provision was calculated, the features of spatial differentiation of the indicator were revealed – lagging regions (the Chuvash Republic, the Republic of Bashkortostan, etc.) and leading ones (the Republic of Tatarstan, the Samara Region, etc.) were identified. To assess the regional demand for higher education, an integral index of the need for universities was calculated, on the basis of which the regions with the maximum need for universities (Kirov Region, Perm Region, Ulyanovsk and Orenburg regions) were determined.

The inefficiency of functioning of the utility and energy sector of Russia, accompanied by limited funds of the state (municipal) budget, actualizes issues of the use of public-private partnership (PPP), based on the involvement of financial, material, labor and other resources of a private partner, the division between public and private partners of risks and responsibilities. The purpose of the article is to study the Russian practice of using PPP in the utility and energy sector in the context of analyzing the results achieved, identifying current problems and challenges. The methodological basis of the study was made up of general scientific research methods (observation, description, synthesis, analysis, historical and logical methods). The author defines and analyzes the achieved results of the use of PPP in the utility and energy sector of Russia, from 2016 to the present. This made it possible to identify relevant legal, organizational, economic and financial problems related to this process and to propose ways to solve them based on joint actions and efforts of the partnership participants. The author also highlights production, technological, managerial and economic challenges in the development of the utility and energy sector of Russia on the basis of PPP. The materials of the conducted research can be used in the development and implementation of management decisions to ensure the effective development of the utility and energy sector of Russia with the use of PPP.

One of the key limitations of improving the effectiveness of innovative activities of universities is the imperfection of management tools and mechanisms applied. This is due to many reasons, including a small number of specialized and adapted management technologies for higher education. The article substantiates the expediency of applying a portfolio approach to the management of scientific and technical developments of the university, formulates its main parameters taking into account peculiarities of the organization of higher education, and also suggests possible criteria for classifying innovative developments that make up the portfolio.

In the article, the author examines the dependence of the influence of suppliers and their position in the value chain. From the point of view of the institutional framework the model of five competitive forces is taken. In this model, one of the competitive forces is a dependence degree on suppliers. In the course of the import substitution policy, which is being actively implemented at present, the issue of suppliers' influence is of particular relevance. The author hypothesizes that depending on the stage of the value chain where the supplier is located, the degree of its influence on the manufacturer may change. The research used such methods as analysis of domestic and foreign literature, deduction, generalization and graphical representation of the research results. The conclusions are made that when analyzing the degree of supplier influence on production, it is impossible to rely solely on the position it occupies in the value chain.