The subject of the study is the economic space of Russia, operating in difficult macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions. The purpose of the work is to identify the features of the Russian economic space and the factors influencing its state and development dynamics. Based on the consideration of socio-economic indicators in the post-Soviet period and the works of Russian researchers on the problems of strategic management and planning, the analysis of modern problems hindering the coordinated functioning and interaction of the structural components of the Russian economic space is carried out. The definition of the concept of «economic space» is given, and the Spatial Development Strategy for the period up to 2030 is described in detail. Strategic documents on the spatial development of the country are critically analyzed. The key industries, areas of activity, opportunities, trends and promising areas of development of the Russian economic space for the coming period have been identified. The influence of tourism on the national economy is revealed and its role in the formation of the supply economy is established. Conclusions are drawn about the expediency of adifferentiated approach to choosing priorities for the development of business entities at the meso-level and focusing on ensuring the fullest possible innovative use of all components of the material base of the economy: labor, capital and natural resources for a timely assessment of their capabilities in the economic space of Russia.

The subject is urban agglomerations in the Russian Federation in new spatial priorities, taking into account current issues of inter-budgetary relations formation. The relevance of the work is confirmed by the recognition of urban agglomerations as a spatial priority, the approval of their list, which makes it possible to assess the scale and coverage of urban agglomerations, link them with the budgetary aspect of their development, and form recommendations for improving inter-budgetary relations. The purpose of the work is to conduct a comparative analysis of the new spatial development strategy with the previous strategy in terms of the main provisions governing the development of urban agglomerations, as well as to quantify the parameters of urban agglomerations, identify trends and formulate proposals for the development of inter-budgetary relations between municipalities (regions) that form urban agglomerations. The study revealed that the unified list of “strongholds” includes 76 urban agglomerations, accumulating about 50% of the country’s population. It has been established that the new definition of urban agglomerations corresponds to scientific approaches on the need to form a criterion for remoteness from the “core” of the agglomeration. In terms of the budgetary aspect, the authors conclude that, in general, local budgets remain dependent on financial support from higher-level budgets, which hinders the dynamic growth of urban agglomerations. At the same time, the authors believe that the decisions taken on inter-municipal cooperation will have a positive impact on their further development.

The subject of the research is the transformation of the territories of small settlements to improve the quality of life, stimulate economic growth and create a comfortable environment for development. The purpose of the work is to establish tools to create conditions for the sustainable development of small Russian cities. The novelty and significance of the study — the results of this work were reported at the breakout session of the X St. Petersburg International Economic Congress (SPEC‑2025) on April 9, 2025, at which they earned approval. The article notes that against the background of the existing problems of small towns caused by the lack of modern industries, low incomes of the population and the outflow of young people from rural areas, in the last 10–15 years there has been a noticeable trend towards the revival of small territories. Consideration of the successful experience of their renaissance using the example of the city of Kirzhach, the village of Vyatskoye and the city of Totma allowed us to identify a certain algorithm for creating conditions for their sustainable development. It has been established that one of the tools for the revival of small territories can be the use of cultural and historical heritage as an integral part of the creative industries sector, capable of revealing through the multiplier economic effect of tourism, in which the initial economic impulse leads to a greater change in other economic variables due to the spread of intersectoral links through the system, leading to the creation of new jobs in the non-manufacturing sector., development of new projects, attraction of investments, This will ultimately reduce the disparity in the socio-economic development of small territories. It is concluded that the use of cultural and historical heritage tools can generate the development of creative industries, which leads to the formation of favorable conditions for the development of small territories.

The relevance of the research is due to the fact that in modern economic conditions in the regional labor markets of Russia, unique problems arise that require solutions aimed at improving the effectiveness of state employment policy measures. The purpose of the work is to diagnose trends in the dynamics of tension in the labor markets of the subjects of the Russian Federation, the identification of which makes it possible to substantiate the directions for improving the state employment policy in the new economic conditions. Since the labor markets of the Russian regions are differentiated, in order to achieve this goal, there is an objective need for regional clusterization based on the following indicators that characterize labor market tension: employment and unemployment levels, tension coefficient, wage growth rates and labor productivity. The paper identifies four clusters and shows trends in the movement of regions between them in the period 2016–2023. The study proved that the cluster 2 model, which is characterized by high growth rates of wages and labor productivity, but at the same time lower indicators reflecting the state of regional labor markets, can be considered the most widespread in the Russian Federation during the period under review. A positive trend has been established to reduce the number of regions in cluster 4, which is characterized by high rates of unemployment and labor market tension, as well as low, though not minimal, wage and labor productivity growth rates. The use of the clustering method made it possible to group regions with the same type of labor market problems and establish the directions of a differentiated state employment policy that takes into account the specifics of each of the identified clusters.

 The subject of the study is climate risk insurance. The aim of the work is to develop mechanisms to minimize the effects of climate risks that can have a significant impact on the economy and the population of the Russian Federation. The article presents the main results of a study on the possibility of using insurance mechanisms to compensate for damage caused by the implementation of climate risks, and concludes that climate risks are heterogeneous. From the analysis of climate risks for compliance with insurance criteria, it follows that the group of emergency physical climate risks meets these criteria to the greatest extent, to which insurance mechanisms should first be applied to compensate for damage caused to agglomerations and territories and harm to public health. It has been established that chronic physical climate risks do not correspond to the signs of insurance risks, which limits the use of insurance protection mechanisms against them. The paper formulates the insurance interests of individuals and legal entities in relation to climate risks, which serve as the basis for developing proposals to improve insurance protection. It has been proven that not all climate risks can be insured by insurance companies due to the inconsistency of some of them with insurance risk criteria, as well as difficulties in assessing the damage caused and the territorial concentration of climate risks.

The subject of the research is the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in public administration and the business environment in Russia in the context of sustainable development of territories. The purpose of the work is to identify the areas of use of AI in the activities of government agencies, commercial and non — profit organizations to identify the areas of the most frequent use of AI in order to establish the degree of implementation of tasks and achieve targets. The analysis of the current state and effectiveness of the implementation of AI tools in public financial management and the business environment in Russia is carried out. In public finance management, an increase in the indicator of intellectual maturity in the regions has been revealed in recent years. It is determined that the relationship between the use of AI and the sustainable development of territories depends on the results of the implementation of national projects and business development. Among the problems of implementing AI, limited financial resources, a lack of personnel with the necessary competencies, and the lack of generally recognized methods for assessing the economic and/or social effects associated with the implementation of AI solutions are highlighted. It is concluded that coordinated actions by government agencies, the scientific community and business are able to ensure the technological independence of the country and achieve the strategic goals set by the National Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence.

The subject of the research is budgetary and debt instruments for ensuring sustainable development of the subjects of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the work is to assess the compliance of the instruments available to the subjects of the Russian Federation in the form of regional budget resources with sustainable development goals. Based on a comparison of the volume of budget resources of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and the regional ranking indicators for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, there is no direct link between budget revenue parameters and the results of activities in the field of sustainable development, meaning that any subject of the Russian Federation can successfully solve their tasks within the available capabilities. The article evaluates the compliance of expenditures of the budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation according to the current budget classification with the goals of sustainable development and proves that based on the grouping of expenditures by sections of the budget classification, it is possible to verify only their indirect compliance. The directions of influence of regional budgets on the sustainable development of municipalities are determined. The assessment of debt instruments available to the subjects of the Russian Federation in modern conditions to ensure the achievement of sustainable development goals is given. It is concluded that the orientation of expenditures of the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation towards financing the Sustainable Development Goals implies an expansion of approaches to the classification of expenditures, as well as the development of accounting methods that will more clearly demonstrate the achievements of the regions in financial support of sustainable development.

The subject of the study is “smart territories” as elements of a spatial ecosystem. The purpose of the work is to study “smart territories” as guidelines for the strategic development of municipalities, identify related problems and develop appropriate proposals for improvement. Based on the analysis of the works of Russian and foreign scientists on the definition of a “smart territory”, it is proved that it is an autonomous spatial ecosystem that exists in a single communication space with spatial ecosystems of other levels and can act as a recipient and donor of a “smart good” at the same time. It is concluded that the “smart” territory (“smart municipality”) — this is a public space, which is an administrative-territorial entity, which is managed (at the appropriate level) through information and communication and “end-to-end” technologies, and information systems (public and non-public platforms) operating on their basis, with the participation of entities (external and internal) included in the “smart network”, targeted interaction which are aimed at improving the quality of life of the population, business conditions in order to maintain balance, as well as accumulation, in the future, the useful use and reproduction of human, social, entrepreneurial, infrastructural. In addition, depending on the degree of involvement of smart solutions (technologies) in the system of public and public administration of the “smart territory”, as well as the overall functioning of its institutions and non-institutional entities, it is possible to determine the level of its “intelligence” (its evolution: “Smart Cities 1.0”, “Smart Cities 2.0”). The obtained research results make it possible to adapt new approaches to “smart territories” as possible reference points for the strategic development of municipalities. 

The subject of the research is projects of socio–economic development in the region, providing the most complete consideration of social, geographical, landscape, transport and others. advantages of the territories under consideration. The purpose of the study is to develop a mechanism for coordinating projects for the socio-economic development of the region, taking into account the potentials of its territories, which makes it possible to reduce project costs and preserve historical, architectural and natural sites for future generations. The results of the work were the creation of an expert calculation mechanism that includes a system of indicators characterizing the potential of the territory for the implementation of projects in various areas of socio-economic development; grouping of many objects into subsets for scoring the compliance of the territory of the region with the requirements of new projects; formation of an optimization model that maximizes the total priority of the selected territories for the implementation of projects. The calculations of rural districts’ compliance with three different directions of socio-economic development of the Pereslavl district of the Yaroslavl region have been carried out. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the creation of a clustering mechanism that allows using a specially designed table to identify the priorities of territories assigned to various clusters with any number of indicators characterizing them.

The subject of the study is the institutional and organizational mechanisms of housing management at the regional level, ensuring the integrated development of infrastructure, increasing housing affordability and the implementation of spatial planning strategies. The objectives of the work are to identify the specifics of the formation of institutional and organizational mechanisms for housing management, as well as to analyze their interaction at the federal, regional and municipal levels based on the use of methods of systematic analysis and comparative research of regulatory legal acts regulating the housing sector. The mechanisms of state economic policy in this area, as well as the practice of territorial planning and development of municipal infrastructure at the regional level are analyzed. It is shown that in Russian practice, the institutional mechanism is mainly formed at the federal level as part of the implementation of large-scale goals and objectives. At the same time, organizational mechanisms operate at the regional and municipal levels, ensuring the adaptation of housing policy to the specifics of specific territories. At these levels, key decisions are made on infrastructure development and the alignment of housing policy with the socio-economic priorities of the regions. Conclusions are drawn about the need to strengthen the interaction of the levels of management of the housing sector and the development of mechanisms that take into account regional peculiarities, which will improve the effectiveness of the implementation of public housing policy and balance the interests of various participants in the process.

The subject of the study is C2C wire transfers as a way to counteract revenue concealment. The purpose of the work is to summarize the practice of solving the problem of reducing the level of tax evasion using schemes in which the receipt of funds to the seller for goods, works and services is mimicked as a regular money transfer, not related to such calculations. Tax evasion schemes continue to be developed by unscrupulous entrepreneurs at an enviable rate, often outpacing government counteraction measures. Some tax evasion schemes are complex and long chains of actions, and some are simple and obvious ways of unfair competition. An example of a simple scheme is the acceptance by an organization or individual entrepreneur of payments for goods, works and services they sell, not to the account of the relevant organization or individual entrepreneur, but to the account of a nindividual. Formally, such payments are C2C settlements. This issue is international in nature and has no national borders. The article proposes a method for leveling the risks of tax evasion, in which the receipt of funds to the seller for goods, works and services is mimicked as a regular money transfer, unrelated to such calculations, and forming a tax base.

The subject of the research is the system of taxation of corporate income in the form of dividends and profits received from capital gains on shares in Russia and abroad. The purpose of the work is to systematize the foreign experience of taxation of dividends and critically assess the feasibility of implementing elements of foreign methodological tools of preferential taxation in Russia. The relevance of the research is due to the fact that the growth of the Russian economy requires the formation of a stable capital market that provides the corporate sector with the necessary financial resources. In the context of sanctions restrictions, the outflow of foreign investors and limited opportunities to use external sources of financing, the development of the domestic capital market depends on many factors, in particular, on the availability of a well-developed methodology for taxation of dividends and profits from capital gains on shares.The article analyzes the global practice of using instruments of preferential taxation of dividends and profits received from capital gains from the sale (disposal) of shares. The risks and disadvantages of a conceptual change in approaches to taxation of intercorporate dividends are identified. The instruments for implementing tax policy through conditionally targeted tax incentives for these types of income are systematized. Proposals have been made to improve Russian tax policy by eliminating low-effective tax preferences for capital gains on shares (stakes) owned by the organization for more than five years, and exempting cross-border dividends from taxation within the framework of the BRICS or the EAEU Customs Union as an element of the transition of these integration associations to the next stage of economic integration.

The population has always been the most important potential for the development of the state — it is the labor force, the scientific potential, and the bearer of cultural traditions and spiritual values. Mitigating the trends of natural decline and ensuring the growth of the population’s birth rate are among Russia’s strategic priorities, not only to ensure the internal socio-economic development of society, but also to preserve national security in the international arena. This article examines the socio-economic effectiveness of individual tax preferences for families with children for personal income tax (personal income tax). The adoption of indirect financial support measures for citizens with children by extending the exemption of part of their labor income from taxation, as well as the implementation of the refund of part of the personal income tax paid from the budget are promising for the budget, since, on the one hand, they can only be implemented by taxpayers who are in stable employment relationships, and on the other hand, they are aimed at to stimulate socio-demographic processes within the country. It was found that the changes in the calculation of standard tax deductions, which came into force in 2025, correspond to the state policy of supporting families with two or more children, in which the average per capita income per month is no more than 25,000 rubles. A promising direction for further improvement of the system of standard tax deductions for children is to establish a direct dependence of their amount on the amount of the subsistence minimum for the taxpayer and his dependent children. It has been revealed that the limits of social deductions in 2025 do not correspond to the level of real expenses of families with children for educational and medical purposes and require further improvement, since they are designed not only to compensate for part of the costs incurred for social purposes, but also to ensure an increase in the quality of life of citizens in the long term.

The subject of the study is the Russian income tax system. The purpose of the work is to evaluate the effects of changes in the degree of progressivity of the income tax scale on key macroeconomic variables. A stochastic model of general economic equilibrium with overlapping generations is constructed, where households consisting of two spouses make decisions about the volume of consumption and the number of hours worked by each spouse. The calibration of the model is based on econometric estimates of life cycle parameters built for Russia. Two scenarios were considered: transfers are fixed at the level of the baseline scenario, the entire budget surplus goes to government spending; government spending is fixed at the level of the baseline scenario, the entire budget surplus goes to transfers. Within the framework of each scenario, the overall economic equilibrium was estimated for different values of the parameter of the degree of progressiveness of the taxation scale. The results of the simulation analysis indicate the classic problem of compromise between fairness and efficiency of the tax system. It was found that as the degree of progressivity increases, inequality and output decrease in the first scenario, while in the case of the second scenario, the result turned out to be the opposite. In general, the change in macroeconomic parameters in response to the increasing degree of progressivity of the tax scale in Russia turned out to be significantly less than in other countries, due to, on the one hand, a weak labor supply response, and, on the other hand, a high degree of risk aversion, which is why the potential of tax and transfer policies as a tool in the fight against inequality in Russia appears to be moderate.

The object of research is public relations in the field of protection of the World Natural Heritage sites of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the work is to develop theoretical ideas about improving the legal mechanisms of regional policy aimed at ensuring the preservation of national natural sites that are recognized as world heritage. Due to the analysis of theoretical approaches to the definition of the concepts of «natural object», «natural monument», «natural heritage site» from a legal point of view, it has been established that at present there is an urgent need to clarify the substantive content of the term «world Natural Heritage site», taking into account the national interests of Russia. Through a comparative legal analysis of Russian regional legislation on four sites designated by the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage Committee as «the greatest natural phenomena or places of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic value,» gaps and conflicts in legal mechanisms were identified, which led to the conclusion that changes should be made to the legal regulation of the status of such sites in Russia. to preserve them and use them as a driver of economic integration in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

Tax disputes are an essential and important part of business activities and often shape law enforcement. The traditional methods of resolving a tax dispute in the Russian Federation are pre-trial (administrative) settlementat the level of a higher official or tax authority, or judicial (a tax dispute resolved in a court of established jurisdiction). At the same time, it is impossible to deny the importance of alternative dispute resolution methods, given that the main function of mediation is, in addition to protecting the rights and interests of the taxpayer, to find a compromise solution aimed at respecting both public and private interests in the current situation. The object of the research is modern models of alternative tax dispute resolution mechanisms that exist in the CIS, BRICS and other countries. The purpose of the work is to identify the most common and effective practices of alternative tax dispute resolution, as well as the possibility of using legal instruments of private (contractual) law in relations related to the collection of taxes and fees, including at the stage of out–of-court (pre-trial) appeal, that is, outside the framework of judicial procedure. The sources of information are the laws of the BRICS countries on mediation, government regulations, official information publicly available, and research by Russian experts in the field. The author analyzes the internal structure of the considered models, their organization and the legal status of the participating entities, as well as the possibility of applying the experience of foreign countries in the out-of-court settlement of tax disputes in the Russian Federation. The scientific novelty and relevance of the research lies in the author’s vision of a set of measures proposed in the article aimed at solving the task set by the President of the Russian Federation to reduce the burden on judicial authorities in the field of tax disputes. Based on the results of the study, it was concluded that reducing the burden on the courts can also be carried out through effective mutually consensual mediation procedures at the stage of administrative dispute resolution.

The subject of the research is a system of regulatory legal acts that constitute the legal mechanism for regulating public relations in the savings market. The purpose of the work is to establish mechanisms for the influence of legal mechanisms and tools of behavioral economics on the improvement of public relations in the savings market. The paper presents a classification of behavioral risks according to the degree of their impact on financial stability, an analysis of the practice of economic and legal regulation, as well as a set of proposals to improve existing mechanisms for correcting deviations in the behavior of taxpayers. The theoretical aspects of behavioral economics in the context of savings and the impact of behavioral economics on the savings market are considered. The legal mechanisms ensuring regulation of the savings market are analyzed. As a result of the study, it was found that the effective operation of small and medium-sized businesses in modern conditions is impossible without the use of information and telecommunications infrastructure and digital marketing rules. Proposals have been made to develop the savings market in the Russian Federation through the use of behavioral economics tools and the optimization of legal regulation of public relations in saving household finances.

Fundamentally new trends in Russia’s economic development and the digitalization of the economy are actualizing the formation of new types of financial assets, the traditional valuation technologies of which (while maintaining a common methodology) they require significant modernization. The subject and object of this study are the legal and cost aspects of assessing sustainable financial assets, their investment characteristics and the impact on the value of ESG bonds and shares of issuers adhering to ESG strategies. The purpose of the work is to identify the main directions for the modification of valuation methods in the modern Russian economy, with an emphasis on the analysis of the regulatory database necessary to calculate the market value of sustainable financial assets in various ways. The authors have attempted to prove the stability and adequacy of the classical valuation methodology to the changed economic conditions and the volatility of the business environment. As a result of the research, the specific investment characteristics of ESG financial assets and their main cost factors have been identified. It is established that there is a need to modify the methods of valuation of new types of financial assets, based on the methodology of classical valuation of objects. It is concluded that the emergence of new types of financial assets is associated not only with the development of financial and value engineering, but also with the use of modern digital technologies, as well as ESG transformation. The analysis of the modern financial market indicates the formation in Russia of a new segment of debt financial instruments on the Moscow Stock Exchange — “green” and social bonds, which continues to develop and diversify, which makes it possible to form an information block of data necessary for valuation. The conducted research confirms the fact of the formation of new valuation objects in the form of ESG-financial assets that can be valued at market value using modified methods based on traditional methodology.