The Influence of International Trade on Human Well-being in Russian Regions

The present paper is the first study devoted to the link between trade and the well-being of Russian citizens. This work is inspired by the lack of research examining the influence of trade on the quality of life. With the use of panel data, I investigate the effect of trade on the change of well-being, which is measured by the Human Development Index across Russian regions. I reconsider and apply the methodology of Kosack and Tobin (2015), who showed the dependency of trade effect on the level of human capital. I find that the levels of trade, internal and international, do not influence the change of human well-being, but the growth rate of trade is negatively associated with the improvement of well-being. Moreover, there is the considerable heterogeneity in the foreign trade rate effect on the human development within different industries and federal districts. The estimates obtained are seemed to be consistent as different econometric biases are controlled for.