Territory Development

Abstract

Scientific research of economic regions has been going on for more than one century, but there is still no complete clarity about the essence of this phenomenon. The purpose of the article is to identify the key features of an economic region and formulate its definition on this basis. When writing the article, a retrospective method was used. A model of the structure of an economic region is proposed, which reflects its cardinal transformation as it evolves. It is argued that at the highest level of development, the region becomes a mono-product and is part of a multi-product macroregion. Four phases of the development of the region are identified, each of which corresponds to its own list of features. For this reason, it is stated that an economic region cannot have a fixed set of characteristics: the region is continuously changing under the influence of both external and internal factors. At the same time, the nature of its changes can be both evolutionary and regression. It is assumed that the specialization industry of the region as part of the macroregion should have the maximum return on assets compared to other national industries. In this regard, the analysis of the profitability of the assets of industries from a random sample of countries was carried out, the leading industries were identified and, based on this, the structure of a conditional macroregion is shown. Definitions of an economic region and a macroregion are proposed. According to the author, the reasons for the emergence of an economic region are of an intrasocial nature. The article substantiates the role of social pressure in expanding the borders of the region.