Tools for Assessing the Role of Regional Authorities in the Development of Municipalities

The aim of the study is to identify tools to assess the role of regional authorities in the development of municipalities. Methods. The paper analyzes the influence of federal, regional, and municipal levels of the state government hierarchy on the formation of own-made goods shipped, own works and services performed per capita volumes. The assessment of the indicator's variability in the context of hierarchy levels bases on variational analysis. The study was conducted in the context of 344 municipalities (7 regions of two federal district). The analysis showed in most regions a low influence at the level of regional authorities on the variation of municipalities 'values. Results. In all regions, except for the Republic of Bashkortostan, there is a low influence of the regional governance level on the variation of the values of municipalities. In Bashkortostan, the contribution of the region as a whole is negative and it determines almost a third of the entire variation in the values of the development index of municipalities. In the Perm Region and Tatarstan, the effect of the region in absolute figures is significant, but given its low share (about 5% of the total variation), the total variation is determined by the municipalities themselves. Conclusions. In the context of municipal districts, there is a high variation in the value of the indicator in question. At the same time, the role of regional authorities is not always positive, which creates the need for a differentiated approach when assessing and developing regional policies. The analysis showed in most regions a low influence at the level of regional authorities on the variation of values of municipalities. Even less influence is rendered by authorities at the level of federal districts.