SPATIAL FEATURES OF THE INVESTMENT ACTIVITY IN THE MOSCOW METROPOLITAN AREA

Abstract

Based on statistics from Rosstat, the Central Bank and other open source data, the article studies the spatial featuresof the economic and investment activity of the regions of the Moscow metropolitan area, which includes 10 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The analysis revealed a significant dichotomy between the metropolitan territories – the capital region (includingMoscow and the Moscow region) and the other 8 constituent entities – in terms of investment indicators and their dynamics. Weidentified a steady trend toward the centralization of economic and investment activity during the post-Soviet period, as a result ofwhich by now Moscow and the Moscow region (Moscow Oblast) have concentrated 70% of the population, 86% of the grossregional product and investments in fixed assets as well as over 95% of foreign direct investment of the metropolitan area. From2013 to 2021, the centralization of investment activity in Moscow and the Moscow region intensified, although the number ofinvestment infrastructure facilities increased in all metropolitan regions over 8 years. Naturally, huge domestic and foreigninvestment flows are directed toward Moscow; however, the hierarchical-wave diffusion of investment distribution from largercenters to less significant ones, which is peculiar to metropolitan development, is unstable, primarily due to a series of economicshocks (starting from the crisis of 2008-2009 and ending with the COVID-19 pandemic) and is giving way to the ‘neighborhoodeffect’. Nevertheless, in view of the Moscow region’s saturation with investment infrastructure, as well as its expansion into othermetropolitan regions, it can be concluded that as the investment climate in the country stabilizes, investment expansion toward theperipheral regions of the metropolitan area will increase, taking the form of classical hierarchical-wave diffusion.