Russian oil and gas regions during the COVID-19 crisis and their digital transformation
Abstract
Relevance. One of the key long-term strategic goals of Russia's economic development is to increase the share of the digital and green economy in the gross product of the country and its regions. The recession caused by the pandemic has brought to the forefront the challenges of digitalization in the country's oil and gas sector, which was among the hardest hit sectors, and thus required significant effort on the part of regional governments.
Research objective. This research aims to demonstrate the key role played by digitalization and environmentalization in the recovery of the Russian oil and gas regions from the pandemic.
Data and methods. The study provides an overview of the Russian and international research literature on the ways to foster economic recovery and growth after the COVID-19 pandemic, including the publications of the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. Methodologically, the study relies on the empirical, general scientific methods and methods of economic statistics. We used in our calculations the data from the open-access statistical yearbook 'Russian Regions' published by Rosstat.
Results The study analyzed the challenges of digitalization faced by Russian oil and gas regions to show the need for institutional transformations on the national level. We also formulated some recommendations for the improvement of the evaluation of regional governments' digitalization efforts in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the more general evaluation of the digital transformation of regional economies.
Conclusions To stimulate economic growth of Russian oil and gas regions recovering from the pandemic, a viable strategy would be to place a greater emphasis on their sustainable and digital development. In the international rankings such as the EDGI Ranking presented annually by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), Russia occupies a high position in terms of e-government services and digitalization in other spheres. Nevertheless, as far as the Russian oil and gas regions are concerned, there are considerable disparities in terms of digitalization. To accelerate digital transformation, we would highly recommend to improve the methods of evaluation of the digital progress in regional government, especially to include a set of indicators characterising regional governments' responses to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Ahmad, N., Ribarsky J., & Reinsdorf M. (2017). Can potential mismeasurement of the digital economy explain the post-crisis slowdown in GDP and productivity growth? OECD Statistics Working Papers, No. 2017/09, А Publishing, Paris. doi: 10.1787/a8e751b7-en
Ahmed, N., Michelin, R., Xue, W., Ruj, S., Malaney, R., Kanhere, S., Seneviratne A., Hu W., Janicke, H., & Jha S. (2020). A Survey of COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps. IEEE Access. doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3010226
Akhunov, R.R., & Nizamutdinov, R.I. (2021). Pandemic crisis in the oil regions of Russia (on the example of the Republic of Bashkortostan). Economics and Management: scientific and practical journal, 3, 159, 4–11. doi: 10.34773/EU.2021.3.1
Akhunov, R.R., Valiev, M.Sh., & Nizamutdinov, R.I. (2020). Companies of the oil sector during the oil crisis – 2020. Bulletin of USPTU. Science, education, economics. Series: Economics, 4(34), 7–14. doi: 10.17122/2541-8904-2020-4-34-7-14
Barefoot, K., Curtis, D., & Jolliff, D. (2018). Defining and Measuring the Digital Economy. Bureau of Economic Analysis: working paper, 25 p.
Brynjolfsson, E., & Collis, A. (2019). GDP-B: Accounting for the Value of New and Free Goods in the Digital Economy. UNSW Business School Research Paper Forthcoming, 54.
Brynjolfsson, E., & McAfee, A. (2011). Race against the Machine – How the Digital Revolution Is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy. Lexington, MA: Digital Frontier Press, 98.
Brynjolfsson, E., Collis, A., & Eggers, F. (2019). Using Massive Online Choice Experiments to Measure Changes in Well-being. Forthcoming, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(15), 7250–7255. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1815663116
Bukht, R., & Heeks, R. (2018). Defining, Conceptualising and Measuring the Digital Economy. International Organisations Research Journal, 13(2), 143–172. doi: 10.17323/1996-7845-2018-02-07
Chisadza, C., Clance, M., & Gupta, R. (2021). Government Effectiveness and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sustainability, 13, 3042. doi: 10.3390/su13063042
Dmitrievskiy, A.N., Eremin, N.A., Filippova, D.S., & Safarova E.A. (2020). Digital oil and gas complex of Russia. Georesursy = Georesources, 32–35. doi: 10.18599/grs.2020.SI.32–35
Fang, Z. (2002). E-Government in Digital Era: Concept, Practice, and Development. The International Journal of the Computer, the Internet and Management, 10, 1–22.
Gadzhiev, N.G., Murzak, N.A., Mitenkova, A.E., Skripkina, O.V., Konovalenko, S.A., Hajiyeva, U.A., & Ismailova, O.S. (2021). Assessment of the prospects for sustainable development in a pandemic. South of Russia: ecology, development, 16(1), 98–109. doi: 10.18470/1992-1098-2021-1-198-109
Kryukov, V.A., Sevastyanova, A.E., Tokarev, A.N. & Shmat, V.V. (2017). Modern approach to the development and choice of strategic alternatives for the development of resource regions. Economy of the region, 13(1), 93–105. doi: 10.17059/2017-1-9
Lanshina, T.A., Barinova, V.A., Kondratyev, A.D., & Romantsov, M.V. (2020). Sustainable development and digitalization: the unusual COVID-19 crisis requires original solutions. Bulletin of International Organizations, 15(4), 91–114. doi: 10.17323/1996-7845-2020-04-05
Levin, S.N., Sablin, K.S., & Kagan, E.S. (2015). Regions of the ‘Resource type’ in the modern Russian economy. Journal of Institutional Studies, 9(3), 119–132. doi: 10.17835/2076-6297.2017.9.3.119-132
Nakamura, L., Samuels, J., & Soloveichik, R. (2017). Measuring the “Free” Digital Economy within the GDP and Productivity Accounts, Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) Discussion Papers. Working Papers, 17–37, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
Ndou, V.E. (2004). Government for Developing Countries: Opportunities and Challenges. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 18.
Seifert, J. (2003). A Primer on E-government: Sectors, Stages, Opportunities, and Challenges of Online Governance, Report for Congress, Retrieved from: http://www. fas.org/sgp/crs/
Shahroz, M., Ahmad, F., Younis, Sh., Ahmed, N., Kamel, Boulos M., Vinuesa, R., & Qadir, J. (2021). COVID-19 Digital Contact Tracing Applications and Techniques: A Review Post Initial Deployments. Transportation Engineering, 5, 100072. doi: 10.1016/j.treng.2021.100072
Shmal, G.I. (2020). On the new paradigm for the development of oil and gas geology. Georesursy = Georesources, Special issue, 2–4. doi: 10.18599/grs.2020.SI.2-4
Tatarinov, A.A. (2019). Measuring the Digital Economy in National Accounts. Statistics Issues, 26(2), 5–17. doi: 10.34023/2313-6383-2019-26-2-5-17
Zemtsov, S.P., Barinova, V.A., Kidyaeva, V.M., & Lanshina, T.A. (2020). Ecological Efficiency and Sustainable Regional Development in Russia During the 20 Years of Resource-Based Growth. Ekonomicheskaya Politika = Economic Policy, 15(2), 18–47.(In Russ.) doi: 10.18288/1994-5124-2020-2-18-47
Zhao, F., Wallis, J., & Singh, M. (2015). E-government development and the digital economy: a reciprocal relationship. Internet Research, 25(5), 734–766.
Zhiznin, S.Z., Cherechukin, A.V., & Belodedov, M.I. (2021). A new stage in the competition of minerals in the energy sector in the period after the pandemic, Coal = Ugol, 1, 46–49. (In Russ.) doi: 10.18796/0041-5790-2021-1-46-49
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15826/recon.2021.7.3.016
Copyright (c) 2021 Rustem R. Akhunov, Liaisan. R. Akhunova, Sergey G. Marichev, Rishat I. Nizamutdinov
Сertificate of registration media Эл № ФС77-80764 от 23.04.2021
Online ISSN 2412-0731