Daily commuter labor migration significantly shapes Moscow’s labor market. However, its economic and fiscal implications for intergovernmental fiscal relations remain underexplored. Using microdata from the Russian Labor Force Survey (RLFS) for 2024, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of commuter migrants’ socioeconomic profiles compared to Moscow’s native population. Three hypotheses are empirically confirmed: 1) migrants are younger and predominantly male; 2) they experience a “professional paradox” with 2–4 times higher rates of working outside their specialty; 3) their employment concentrates in sectors with high informal labor relations. The research reveals fundamental tax asymmetry: migrants pay personal income tax to Moscow’s budget, while their human capital reproduction costs are borne by their home regions. This creates systemic inefficiency and necessitates adjustments to intergovernmental transfer mechanisms. The findings justify targeted compensation mechanisms to mitigate these disparities.

Determining the relationship between the innovative development of the Russian economy and the dynamics of scientific and technological progress in the economies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is an important, yet understudied, issue in Russian science and practice. Given the Russian economy’s focus on ensuring technological sovereignty, the importance of assessing each region’s contribution to the country’s scientific and technological development increases exponentially. The purpose of this article is to analyze the dynamics of regional scientific and technological development over several years. This analysis was conducted using statistical data for 2019, 2022, and 2023 published on the websites of the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation. The authors also used statistical data posted on the website of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. The study is based on the aggregate index proposed in previous studies. A fairly stable relationship was found between economic structure and the scientific and technological revolution. Regions with a more diversified economic structure have a higher scientific and technological revolution index. As expected, a strong correlation was found between the share of scientific activity in a region and the scientific and technological revolution, particularly for the subindex responsible for science funding.

Russian statistics provide a quantitative measure of the results of intellectual activity, but not a qualitative one. This lack prevents a full assessment of the true productivity of researchers in the federal districts. The absence of reliable statistical data on the economic efficiency of research and development (R&D) outcomes necessitates the use of indirect evaluation methods. An analysis of R&D expenditures and performance indicators, considered both statically and dynamically at the level of federal districts and in an international context, revealed several notable patterns: no positive correlation between R&D spending and outcomes; a decline in inventive activity between 2015 and 2022; a shift in R&D focus toward production technologies; and a diminishing role of low R&D-intensive regions in technology exports, despite overall growth in technology trade. These findings are interpreted in only a preliminary manner.

The coming into effect on January 1, 2027 of the provisions of a new Federal Law on Local Self-Government governing municipal competences renders it timely to develop a strategic approach towards the allocation of authority between regional and local governments. In light of this, the article undertakes an attempt to analyze the institute of redistributing local self- governance powers through the prism of both legal regulations and practical implementation across different regions. Special attention has been paid to investigating legislation of all constituent entities of the Russian Federation concerning power redistribution. The author arrives at the conclusion that regions predominantly reallocate those powers in their own favor which entail minimal financial expenses yet possess considerable influence over municipal development. Potential risks of such an approach are highlighted, including decreased social efficacy of local governance. The research findings underline the necessity of adopting a strategic framework when defining the jurisdictional scope of municipalities at the regional level in pursuit of balancing operational and social performance of local administration.

The preliminary results of the first half of 2025 indicate a marked decrease in the growth rate of revenues of the consolidated budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation in the context of a slowdown in economic activity and a more complicated economic situation in a number of key sectors of the economy. The growth of own revenues of regional budgets takes place against the background of a continuing reduction in the federal transfer payments. Tax reform measures have so far had a more pronounced impact on federal budget revenues than on sub-federal budget revenues. In the first half of the year, there was a reduction in corporate profit tax receipts to regional budgets (with an increase in federal budget revenues from this tax). The growth in personal income tax revenues was more pronounced for federal than for regional budgets. Maintaining an outstripping growth in regional budget expenditures with a slight increase in revenue receipts leads to an increase in budget deficits in the subjects of the Russian Federation and, consequently, to an increase in government sub-federal debt. The write-off of part of the debt of the subjects of the Russian Federation on budget loans in the first half of this year did not affect the upward trend in the volume of government debt of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

The Russian Federation has started implementing the standards of the system of national accounts by 2025. The coverage of statistics will increase significantly, and for the first time, the SNA will reflect indicators directly related to household well-being. In modern conditions of globalization and rapid socio-economic transformations, the issue of forming a single standard of well-being of the population is of particular relevance. The relevance of the study is due to several factors: the difficulty of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established at the international level; the recent adoption of new national projects in the Russian Federation; the continuing differentiation of the level of development between the regions of the country. The article is devoted to the development and implementation of the standard of well-being as a universal tool for influencing the socio-economic development of the state. In the context of persistent inequality and the need to improve the effectiveness of state social policy, the creation of such a standard becomes critically important for harmonizing regional development and achieving the strategic goals of the state. The paper examines the theoretical foundations of the concept of well-being, as well as the practical significance of the introduction of such a standard in the context of modern challenges. It also provides examples of successful practices and approaches used by States to improve the quality of life of citizens, and ways to assess the success of such practices.

One of the main competitive advantages of Russia’s agriculture is its high availability of land resources, which does not exclude the need for careful land management and the implementation of rational land use policies. The article shows the negative dynamics of agricultural land in Russia from 1990 to 2023 and in most regions of the Russian Federation from 2007 to 2023. It highlights the widespread occurrence of soil deflation and the withdrawal of agricultural land from economic circulation. A number of measures are proposed to overcome these negative processes, including addressing the adverse consequences of the 1990s land reform, optimizing the size of land use by economic entities, regulating the use of agricultural land, and promoting the use of mineral fertilizers and soil-protective technologies.

Current challenges in the economic development of coal-mining regions necessitate a transition from reactive management to active strategic planning based on adaptation to technological changes and global market conditions. This involves the creation of long-term development scenarios that not only account for the region’s historical specialization but also transform it into a system of drivers for sustainable growth in line with new technological paradigms and external changes. A key task is to synchronize sectoral priorities with global trends. Within the context of the changing world market conditions, a crucial aspect is the adaptation of strategic planning to new realities, both from the perspective of investing in innovation, infrastructure, and human capital, and from the standpoint of supporting the competitive advantages of specialized industries. The article examines the structural problems of the economies of Russia’s coal-mining regions, which are caused by high dependence on raw material exports, income volatility, and other risks associated with mono-industrial specialization. Based on an analysis of data on production, financial stability, challenges, and opportunities in these regions, key systemic challenges have been identified. Strategic directions for the development of the regional economy are proposed, with an emphasis on diversification, infrastructure modernization, innovation stimulation, and the development of non-resource sectors. Particular attention is paid to the methodology of strategic planning for managing diversification, specifically the application of adaptive strategic methods to implement structural changes.

In the context of sanctions pressure, overcoming imbalances in the concentration of finance at the regional and municipal levels of the budget system is one of the tasks of financial security. At the same time, there is still no categorical and terminological unity regarding the concept of «financial security» in Russian scientific research and legislation due to its interdisciplinary nature, the complexity of the category and relative novelty, dependence on the specifics of security entities, uncertainty of related terms, and the interest of authorities and business entities primarily in the practical aspect of security. The variety of interpretations of the concept leads to a further expansion of the conceptual and categorical apparatus, the subjectivity of assessment methods, and the lack of validity of ways to ensure financial security. The article presents the author’s understanding of the evolution of the concept of financial security using the example of domestic research. The main interpretations of the concept of financial security are highlighted and an assessment of the existing classification of approaches is given. A proprietary systematization of approaches to the concept of financial security is proposed. The transformation of the conceptual foundations of financial security is shown.

The problem of inequality and unstable working conditions remains one of the key issues in Russia’s socio-economic development. Significant differences in wages, working hours, and social security of employees not only create a gap in living standards, but also increase territorial polarization. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic shocks have shown that traditional employment indicators are insufficient for a comprehensive assessment of the real situation in the labor market. The article discusses the development and testing of an integral index of working conditions, which allows a comprehensive assessment of employment and socio-economic differences in the regions of Russia. Special attention is paid to the issues of index verification: assessment of internal consistency through the Kronbach coefficient, as well as comparison of equilibrium and alternative aggregation schemes, including the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method. The calculations showed the presence of three stable clusters of regions: the “core” with favorable working conditions (Moscow, St. Petersburg, the raw-material regions of the North and the Far East), the “middle belt” of industrially developed subjects of the Central and Volga districts, as well as the “peripheral zone” of the North Caucasus and Southern Siberia, where low wages remain high income differentiation and a significant proportion of informal employment. Regions with oscillatory trajectories demonstrating migration between groups are of particular interest. Their dynamics reflect the sensitivity of the index to changes in the economic environment and institutional conditions. A comparison of the basic and PCA-weighted versions of the working conditions index showed a high degree of consistency (r≈0.80-0.83) but also revealed areas of instability. The results obtained confirm that the index of working conditions can be used as an analytical tool for monitoring working conditions, assessing risks and developing targeted public policy measures in the field of employment and social protection.