Infrastructure of the nenets autonomous district and its influence on the regional external economic activity

Steady development of Russian regions largely depends on the level of regional foreign economic activity, which is primarily determined by the state of the infrastructure of the region itself. This study answers the question of the impact that the infrastructure of the Nenets Autonomous District exerts on the regional foreign economic activity and assesses the role of infrastructure in the economic development of the region as a whole. At the beginning of the study, we have analyzed the main problematic aspects of the development of the region, which include, in particular, weak and underdeveloped infrastructure, a poor network of regional roads, a low supply of population and businesses with electricity and communication services. The same problems may determine low production efficiency in the region, which ultimately, together with the foreign economic activities, will determine the standard of living in the Nenets Autonomous District. The study presents a number of infrastructure factors, such as the length of roads, inland waterways, investment in fixed assets, domestic expenditure on research and development, per capita income of the population, the volume of heat energy provided, the freight turnover of the region, the volume of telecommunications services provided, as well as the gross regional product of the Nenets Autonomous District; these factors are considered as exogenous in the model. The three main indicators of the region's foreign economic activity that are exports, imports and foreign investment act as endogenous factors in the model. Based on statistical data for 2005–2015, the regression equations are constructed and the obtained dependences are analyzed. The method of constructing ADL models is applied in the study, which implies the influence of the above factors not only for the corresponding period, but also for previous periods. The resulting model equations can be used to create a strategy for the development of the region, as well as for forecasting macroeconomic processes. The main impact of infrastructure factors is on investment flows, while the impact of these factors on the flow of exports and imports is very insignificant.