This paper deals with the socioeconomic and technological development of Arctic regions of the Russian Federation in the context of a modernizing world. The methodological basis of the comparative analysis is the concept of primary and secondary modernization or integrated modernization for developing countries.

Economic efficiency is a function of two types of resources: those that are presented in financial statements and those that are not. Non-balance sheet resources are referred as to intellectual capital (IC). The purpose of the paper is to investigate the relationship between IC, its components and the level of financial profitability. To conduct the analysis, we used the system generalized method of moments for a broad sample of Russian firms that operate in the agribusiness industry. We employed two financial approaches to IC estimation. The first one is the Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC). The second one is own-created approach that is supposed to respond the criticism regarding VAIC. Comparison between VAIC and own-created approach to IC estimation revealed that the latter is more appropriate due to its advantages. Our approach unlike VAIC allows measuring both efficiency ratios and the stocks of IC. The results showed that the efficiency of structural capital usage and the stock of human capital have the biggest impact on the profitability level of the agricultural businesses among employed measures of IC.

Modern Russia faces difficulties in ensuring food quality and safety. The updated federal food security doctrine focuses on export opportunities and monitoring the ratio between domestic production and consumption. This agenda is determined by possible external threats: sanctions and trade wars, various conflicts, and economic and agricultural crises. The aim is to reveal the features of consumer behavior when interacting with food operators and to show the influence of socio-economic characteristics on individual practices. Empirical data are obtained from the authors’ mass survey and in-depth interviews. Results might signify that society came to a consensus on trust in quality and safety of food. Observed differences in outlet and product choices can be explained by income, settlement type, and age. Local producers are struggling to enter retail chains, as there are contradictions between consumer expectations and internal policies of sales operators. Experts argue that people poorly assess the real risks of economizing and favoring low-quality food.

This article analyses the dynamics of trust in institutions, which underpin the legitimacy of social order, on the basis of a study of the developed Arctic region during the period 2006–2018. The authors considered the principal theoretical concepts on which the study of trust, the well-being of citizens, the assessment of security and compliance with the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens is to be based. It is assumed that the legitimacy of the social order consists in a state where people not only trust specific institutions, but also enjoy a sense of security from threats and the ability to exercise basic rights and freedoms in the presence of a competent authority to protect them in case of violations. The dynamics of the security of the inhabitants of the region, associated with an increase in the level of their well-being, are considered. The structure for retaining the legitimacy of the social order is demonstrated on the basis of a number of indices and model calculations. Configuration analysis was carried out to support the construction of multidimensional models. It was concluded that there has been a dramatic collapse in the social activity of the inhabitants of the Arctic region bordering on social apathy. It is shown that, during the period under study, trust in local authorities significantly declined, while the importance attributed to respecting private property rights increased. Trust in social institutions is shown to be significantly lower than trust in government institutions, contradicting the situation in developed countries. It is recommended that more attention be paid to the functioning of local and municipal authorities governing the Arctic region, who are much more aware of the needs of the inhabitants since they are connected by much denser social ties. The authors substantiate the need to introduce social innovation that allows to diversify communication channels between the government and the public, meet unsatisfied social needs that are not solved by existing institutions and contribute to building trust between different participants.

The article dwells upon the concept of innovative and technological potential of the region, the concepts of the social sector and the region demographic sphere related to it. The quantitative assessment of innovative and technological potential, the social sector and the related to it demographic sphere of the Krasnoyarsk territory of the Russian Federation is given. The model describing the influence of the innovative and technological potential of the region upon its social sector is presented. The system of three interdependent econometric equations, each of which is an autoregressive distributed lags model (ADL-model), is chosen as the theoretical model of the impact of the innovative and technological potential for the development of social and demographic aspects of the region. The procedure for calculating coefficients of the model is presented.

The article gives the estimation of the convergence-divergence indicators of development of innovative and technological processes in circumpolar countries. The processes of convergence - divergence of innovative and technological processes were studied in eight countries of the Arctic Council - Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the United States of America on the basis of statistical information from 1985 to 2015. As the indicators, measuring innovative and technological processes, the following one were considered: the number of patents issued, the expenditures on technological innovations, the payments of funds for the import of technology, the cash inflow from the export of technology. To analyze the convergence-divergence of innovative and technological processes the methods of the σ - convergence, the absolute β convergence and the conditional β - convergence were used. Using the method of the conditional β - convergence, we analyzed the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) and government expenditure on the fundamental research and development (average value of FDI for the period; the average value of government expenditure over the period).