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Railway transport have unique geopolitical and socio-economic importance for the Russian Federation, providing transport links between most regions, connecting the Asian and European parts with each other and some foreign countries, as well as holds together such a territorially large state as Russia in transport and socio-economic relation. In this regard, the problem of the development of transport systems in strategic regions of Russia, as well as the specifics of the regional policy of Russian Railways in the context of demographic problems and the geopolitical position of these territories, is becoming especially urgent. It is significant that the main connecting element of the infrastructure of the Asian part of the country is the rail transport. The research of the authors showed that the demographic and migration situation in the Russian regions is to a certain extent dependent on the density of the railway network. Then higher the density of railways, the more attractive regions in terms of migration are. And, on the contrary, in regions with a low density of railways, there is a steady trend of the migration outflow of the population. At the same time, demographic forecasts show that in the absence of promising infrastructure projects, negative trends in migration outflow and natural population decline are highly likely to continue, and, therefore, in the medium term, the population of the eastern regions will decline. In our opinion, for the effective spatial development of the territories of Siberia and the Far East, it is necessary to form a network of modern multimodal transport hubs and international transport corridors that take into account the climatic and demographic aspects of the development of the eastern territories of Russia. In addition, international competition for promising transport projects is constantly growing, which, given the low efficiency of the location of productive forces and the unused spatial potential of the Russian economy, becomes a significant geo-economic threat. The presented article examines the influence of the transport infrastructure level development for the system of settlement and trends in the socio-economic development of geostrategic territories of Russia; identified trends in the spatial and socio-economic development of the eastern territories located near the main railway lines; analyzed the demographic situation and migration trends in the eastern territories in the context of the personnel needs of the railway complex; strategic directions for the formation of personnel policy and replenishment of labor resources at Russian Railways have been developed. In addition, recommendations were developed to improve the efficiency of the spatial development of Siberia and the Far East based on the development of railway transport and promising projects for the formation of innovative transport systems.

The article examines the problems of diasporization and defines the con-cept of "modern diaspora." The formation of large diasporas from Central Asian countries is the result of prolonged and large-scale migration from that region to Russia. Migration acts as a kind of catalyst for change in the ethnic composition of the population. Social networks are an additional "pull" factor for those who want to leave their country in search of work. Diasporas have significant socioeconomic resources and can influence decision-making in the area of government regulation, as well as socioeconomic processes. There is a direct relationship between the scale of migration and the size of the diaspora, that is, the choice of destination for emigrants is largely determined by the development level and size of the diaspora. On the one hand, diasporas are actors that help migrants to adapt to the new conditions and integrate into the host society, serving as a buffer between the migrants and the local population, and on the other hand, they help to form ethnic enclaves with an ethnic economy in areas with a high concentration of migrants. The article also notes that for the successful integration of migrants in Russia, it is necessary to harmonize industrial relations by improving working conditions and remuneration, to improve the system for the legal protection of migrants, simplify the procedure for acquiring citizenship and make it more transparent. © 2017, CA and CC Press AB. All rights reserved.

Evolution of poverty measurement methodology is moving away from a monetary approach as the one and the only towards the extended technique that combines different definitions of poverty. One of the approaches is to combine monetary indicator (income poverty) and non-monetary poverty assessment through deprivations. This approach gave birth to a comparative methodology for assessing poverty and social exclusion (AROPE index) which was adopted by EU countries in 2010. According to the AROPE methodology, population at risk of poverty or social exclusion is defined as those who are poor in terms of income poverty, suffer severe deprivations or living in households with a very low work intensity among members of household in working age (or without the employed). Analysis of the AROPE index and its components for the EU countries shows their extreme heterogeneity in terms of this index. However, despite the criticism, the methodology will remain unchanged until 2020, so that poverty dynamics in EU countries can be studied. According to the Statistical Survey of Income and Participation in Social Programs conducted by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), AROPE rate in Russia (2016) is slightly higher than in EU (2017) but the proximity of the AROPE rates in Russia and EU raises doubts about the adequacy of the real standard of living reflection through this index. In 2017, the European Commission decided to modify the part of AROPE methodology related to material deprivation evaluation by expanding the list of deprivations and excluding those household goods that are already included in the consumption standard in European countries.

Multivariate poverty measurement methods have been actively developed worldwide in recent years. Such methods include evaluation of limitations to meet basic human needs in terms of housing, clothing, footwear, education, health care, etc. In many countries non-monetary poverty lines are used as official poverty thresholds. But Russia is taking the first steps in this direction. This article presents a poverty assessment in terms of material deprivations, based on the representative survey conducted by Rosstat in 2016. Poverty analysis in terms of material deprivations shows that in Russia the most vulnerable groups are multi-child families and households of the unemployed and pensioners (especially single), as well as families living in rural areas. Such households are characterized by a higher deprivations concentration as well as a higher prevalence of separate deprivations. Measuring poverty in terms of material deprivations cannot replace the monetary poverty evaluation, but it is an important and additional part of poverty assessment. Households of single pensioners have a higher deprivations concentration but they are not poor in terms of absolute income poverty (due to introduction of supplementary pension payments which make their pensions higher than regional poverty thresholds). That means that poverty measurement should consist of a set of different methods that would give a more accurate estimation of poverty and highlight the poorest groups of the population which should be focus of social protection.

The history of time use research dates back more than 100 years. Russian scientists were among the first to conduct large-scale surveys in this field. Nowadays, this sphere has become interesting among scientists again. Rosstat has rebegun to conduct surveys on the daily time use, large-scale independent surveys have appeared, and media have increased their interest. The amount of empirical microdata that has emerged has made it possible to examine a complex concept as the household time use in ever more numbers. The purpose of this methodological overview is to describe the most significant mathematical models that have been used and are being used to study the time budgets of the population. This article overviews the first models in which time was considered as one of the means of production along with other goods, and households tried to maximize the utility function solely based on financial considerations. Then, modern models, where time is no less an important factor of well-being than material status, are represented. The article demonstrates how the new model classes that have recently emerged adapt to the data that is accessible in certain circumstances, modify themselves to accomplish fresh tasks, and become less costly when looking at analytical estimations. In order to categorize the population's time budget structure under different research activities, the paper examines and systemsatizes a number of mathematical models

The article presents scenario modeling of the effects of an increase in the minimum wage on the population income and the poverty rate and gap in Russia. The authors use data from the Rosstat Survey of Population Income and Participation in Social Programs and consider three scenarios for increasing the minimum wage ranging from 6.3% (actual increase in 2023) to a radical increase to a value corresponding to 1.5 subsistence levels of a working-age citizen. The estimates accounting for a number of assumptions about the reaction of the labor market show that an increase in the minimum wage in a given range leads to a weak or moderate increase in per capita income, poverty gap, and poverty rate. Even within the radical scenario, the reduction in poverty rate ranges from –16% to –19% of the initial percentage, and the reduction in the total income deficit ranges from –12% to –17%. The main factors limiting the impact of increasing the minimum wage on the monetary poverty rate are related to the structure of Russian households. On the one hand, two thirds of Russian workers with the lowest wages live in households that are not poor by formal criteria. On the other hand, individual earnings above the poverty line may not be sufficient to overcome the poverty of the entire household if it includes minor children.