Interregional differentiation of investment attractiveness in Russia: new evaluation tool

The insufficient validity of the positioning of regions in different Russian investment ratings, in particular, the observed convergence of regional assessments, is due to a number of methodological problems. The purpose of the study is to develop a tool to determine the impact of various components of investment attractiveness on the growth of investment activity in the regions and to ensure a balance of interests of the actors of the investment process (regional government bodies, private investors, the population). We developed an original system of indicators for comprehensive assessment of the investment attractiveness of regions including productional, financial, socio-economic, natural, innovative, infrastructure, and personnel components and proposed the balanced assessment method. Based on the matrix of integral indicators we show significant interregional differentiation of investment attractiveness for the North-Western Federal District and determine the key factors of investment attractiveness formation for those regions, including natural resources - for 5 regions, innovations, infrastructure and personnel for 3, production-financial factors for 2, and socio – economic factors for 1 region. The developed methodology allows to justify the priority directions of increasing investment attractiveness aimed at activating investment processes in Russia’s regions.