The Transportation and Logistics Environment of the Eastern Region of Russia: A Comparative Evaluation with the Western Region Based on Microdata

Abstract

In this paper, the author aims to comprehensively evaluate the transportation and logistics environment of the eastern region of Russia via making comparison with western Russia, based on microdata obtained via a large-scale interview survey of firms. From the simple aggregation of the response results, it can be understood that the firms of eastern Russia strongly demand an improvement in the environment in various aspects, not only for hard infrastructure, but also soft infrastructure. Most of the difference between east and west in the strength of this demand is explained by the external conditions surrounding individual firms and the special characteristics of the firms themselves. As a conclusion it can be said that the transport and logistics environment of eastern Russia is inferior in comparison with western Russia.