The Physical-Geographic Regionalization of the Ukrainian SSR for Agricultural Purposes

A program of research is proposed to determine the optimal regionalization of production and consumption of industrial output. The author proposes a regionalization of the most common industries by major zones (covering two or three regions), and a basic division of the USSR into two major economic zones (West and East) designed to reduce irrational long hauls between them.     

Economic Regionalization in the People's Democracies

The author traces the development of administrative-economic regionalization in Eastern Europe from the initial phase of centralized economic planning and management to the present stage in which central control in combined with greater local autonomy and coordination of economic development. Economic regions are considered effective only if they embody actual agencies for economic coordination within their territory.     

Problems in the Economic Regionalization of India

The authors propose a framework of a system of economic regions based on economic production principles. This principle is designed, on the one hand, to promote a regional economic specialization, and, on the other hand, to ensure integrated development of the regional economy. The Soviet geographers find that some major economic regions are already evident, for example, Western India (including West Bengal, Bihar and possibly Orissa), but that large parts of the country, especially in the north, lack sufficiently clear characteristics to make possible an economic regionalization without further detailed study.     

The Natural Resources of the Ukrainian SSR and Ways of using them Rationally

A review of Cuba's physical environment from the point of view of agriculture, the results of the land reform and the government's policy of seeking a diversification of agriculture through further expansion of sugarcane production.     

An Economic Regionalization of North Vietnam

A North Vietnamese graduate student at Moscow University offers a division of North Vietnam into four economic regions and assesses their future development in terms of energy-and-production cycles (groups of technologically interrelated activities proposed by N. N. Kolosovskiy). In a second paper, the author conceptualizes economic regions as consisting of a core or center, accounting for most of the production; an inner shell dependent on the core, and an outer shell that may gravitate to any of a number of adjoining core areas depending on the purpose of the study. The original boundaries of the four-region system of North Vietnam are reviewed in light of the “outer shell” concept. The four-region system is essentially confirmed, but the allocation of some provinces in the “outer shell” is found to be disputable, and regional boundaries have been adjusted.     

Problems of General Economic Regionalization at the Present Stage

Professor Ryabchikov, Dean of the Geography Faculty of Moscow University, finds that Soviet teachers colleges are adequate to supply geography teachers to the middle schools, especially in view of a gradual reduction of the number of class hours devoted to geography in those schools. He sees the primary function of university geography as the training of specialized geographers for industry, agriculture and other segments of the national economy. Universities are therefore urged to reorganize their curricula from the present somewhat academic approach to a greater practical and applied content that would benefit graduates in their new jobs. The author calls on universities to strengthen their ties with industry by taking advantage of the Soviet system of contractual research for production organizations.     

A Preliminary Scheme for the Economic Regionalization of Cuba

The authors propose a scheme of economic regionalization for Cuba, based on Soviet Marxist principles. These include the idea of objective existence of a region, independently of man's will; the need for considering future developmental prospects; energy supply; the prerequisites for integrated development of the regional economy; the presence of a regional specialization; maximum promotion of a geographical division of labor, and the factor of the country's defense capability. The resulting system of six regions in described.     

On the Objective and the Subjective Character of Economic Regionalization

The author takes issue with the preceding article on the question of the objective basis for regionalization. Saushkin maintains that the unity of economic regions is not derived from their internal economic relations, as Alampiyev puts it, but from the existence of what Saushkin terms “territorial complexes of productive forces.” Saushkin asserts that a single objective system of regions exists in reality and that it is the task of science to uncover that system. Saushkin says Alampiyev's suggestion that there may be several variants of regionalization smacks of the Western subjective approach to regionalization.     

The Problem of Economic Regionalization of Developing Countries

In contrast to developed capitalist countries, where economic regions generally evolve on the basis of manufacturing complexes, the predominant region-forming factors in developing countries are usually mining and agriculture. Also, while internal economic relations play an important function in the economic regionalization of advanced countries, in developing countries it is foreign trade that is more significant since much of the output of mining and commercial agriculture is generally destined for export.     

Economic Regionalization of the USSR and New Methods of Economic-Geographic Research

A review of the application of mathematical methods and computer techniques to economic geography, particularly as regards economic regionalization and the location of production in the USSR.     

Peculiarities of Economic Regionalization in the Ethnic Areas of the Soviet North

A historical account of the formation of national okrugs in the indigenous tribal areas of the Soviet North stresses the need the combining of the undeveloped northern portions of Siberia with the developed southern areas in complementary economic regions in which the economic potential of the south may be used to develop the north. After a certain level of development has been reached, the northern areas may be set up as separate economic regions. This happened in the case of Magadan Oblast (formerly part of Khabarovsk Kray), and it is suggested that the creation of a Noril'sk Oblast in the northern portion of Krasnoyarsk Kray be considered. The new northern industrial centers of Noril'sk and Magadan developed initially in isolation from the traditional reindeer, hunting and fishing economy of the surrounding region; but the traditional and new economic activities have gradually become integrated into a single whole.     

Problems of Improving the Territorial Organization of the National Economy and Economic Regionalization

The authors briefly review the role of regional planning in Soviet economic planning and describe the role of the newly formed regional coordinating and planning councils of the major economic regions. The new network of 17 economic regions is also discussed. Tokarev is a department head of the State Economic Council USSR and Alampiyev is a department chief in the Council for the Study of Productive Forces, an agency under the jurisdiction of the State Economic Council.     

The Present Status of Economic-Geographic Studies on the Economic Regionalization of the USSR

The author discusses the subject of transport geography, develops formulas to measure the intensity of the geographical division of labor, describes several population-mobility indices and their use as research tools and outlines principles and criteria to be used in mapping the transportation of capitalist and underdeveloped countries.     

The Objective Basis of Economic Regionalization and its Long-Range Prospects

The author defends the objective existence of regions as opposed to the subjective concept prevalent in the West. He sees the unity of an economic region in its economic specialization and its internal economic relations. In his view, analysis of these relations is required to work out a system of regions, and in view of the complexity of economic relations, several variants of regionalization are possible.     

On Physical-Geographic Regionalization and the Regionalization of Natural Resources

The author finds conventional physical-geographic regionalization inadequate for economic-geographic purposes, and proposes instead a “natural regionalization” or regionalization of natural resources. Such a regionalization would reflect the economic assessment of the natural environment of a given area and would be more appropriate in economic-geographic research. The principles underlying natural-resource regionalization are illustrated with a regional scheme for the Sudan, an area to which the author has devoted special study.     

Intra-Oblast Regionalization

The author develops a system of indices to measure the level and economic effectiveness of regional specialization of major economic regions of the USSR. These indices express the degree of intensity of the specialization of a given region in a certain type of product and the relative cost advantage of such a region over other regions or the country as a whole.