Location in Russia's economic space plays a major role in the development paths taken by its diverse regions. For example, certain regions on the former Union's periphery may eventually prosper as a result of evolving transborder economic ties. Other peripheries of Russia may well languish. This paper examines what economic transition could mean for one of these latter regions, Kraynyy Sever, the Far North. Kraynyy Sever was an administrative construct during the Soviet period used to delineate an area in which wage increments and costs of living bonuses were applied as part of a program to recruit workers for tours of northern service. These incentives were paid to attract workers to this extremely cold area. The region stretches from the Kola Peninsula in the northwest, across the Nenets okrug and Komi republic, then broadens in Siberia and the Far East to encompass everything north of the 60th parallel. There is a subregion along its southern margin, known as Regions Equivalent to the Far North, in which slightly lower increments and bonuses were paid. There is now an unjustifiably large population in the region and net out-migration appears likely, definitely from areas failing to boast mineral development of world significance.

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Russia residential mobility Europe, Eastern economics population demography Europe Population Dynamics Political Factors Migration, Internal Developed Countries USSR Eastern Europe economic conditions health care manpower labor migration Health Manpower Article migration developed country Demographic Factors politics Emigration and Immigration Economic Factors Transients and Migrants Human Resources Macroeconomic Factors employment Labor Force Russian Federation