Entrepreneurial city in Russian economy: quantitative and qualitative parameters of identification

Abstract

This paper is devoted to research the “entrepreneurial city” in Russian economy. Firstly the authors analyze the development of the concept in foreign studies and compare the results with Russian authors researches. This concept is not so widespread both in scientific sphere and in municipal level in Russia. Then the authors propose two groups of parameters that give the opportunity to identify entrepreneurial city using Russian statistics. From the one hand there are quantitative parameters that include the degree of economic diversity and services; presence of human capital; the degree of the urban environment and living conditions. Each of criteria was evaluated on the several statistic indicators. From the other hand there are qualitative parameters that help to explain differences between similar cities. For example, the authors consider two close Ural cities, Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg, and analyze its differences according quantitative and qualitative criteria of entrepreneurial city.