Entrepreneurial activity in Russia and its cross-regional differences

The paper analyses the dynamics of business activity of the Russian population from 2005 to the present time, as well as persistent differences in its level between different groups of Subjects of the Russian Federation basing on the statistics of small and medium-sized enterprises and business statistics. It is shown that in Russia, there were three types of regions with specific sets of factors which contribute to and hinder the development of entrepreneurial activity of the population before the shock macroeconomic changes associated with the coronavirus pandemic, namely, (P) six subjects of the RF favorable conditions, as well as two roughly equal large groups of (b) regions with a low level of investment activity and (c) regions with high levels of socio-economic disadvantages. A set of factors which act as predictors or limitations for entrepreneurial activity in these different groups are analyzed. The authors suggest that due to the shock economic changes under the coronavirus pandemic, the last two groups will almost merge according to the conditions and factors of entrepreneurial activity, while the factors that are important for starting business activities in the first group of regions will significantly weaken. Taking into account the above differences, two approaches to promoting entrepreneurial activity for different groups of regions are proposed - "involving" for six Subjects of the Russian Federation with a relatively developed ecosystem of entrepreneurship and "pushing" for the majority of the rest of them.