Influence of agglomerations functioning on the activity of business entities ; Вплив функціонування агломерацій на діяльність суб'єктів господарювання
Problem setting. The processes of local government reform in Ukraine give an additional impetus to the development of agglomerations. The issues related to management of economic activity, activities of economic entities, ensuring the reliability and safety of utilities and transport networks, etc. take an important place among the problems caused by the functioning of agglomerations.A high concentration of various resources, as well as a presence of common tasks for local communities which can be solved by combining their efforts are among the factors of large urban agglomeration development. However, there are also relatively small agglomerations with limited resources in Ukraine. Therefore, the attention should be paid to the characteristics of the functioning of both large and small agglomerations.Recent research and publications analysis. For some Ukrainian cities, a certain threat is posed by population decline, accompanied by demographic imbalances and declining level of socio-economic development. Demographic change gives rise to difficulties in using the existing urban infrastructure. The problems associated with the population decline in some cities are inherent in many prosperous European countries. This is a phenomenon of "shrinkage" which determines the framework conditions for spatial planning and urban planning in a number of countries. In this context, the results of a study within the European Commission's Shrink Smart project which examines the state of development in seven urban areas in the UK, Italy, Germany, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine (including Donetsk and Makiivka), are relevant. The thorough study entitled The Ukraine Urbanization Review (2015) was prepared under the Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Sustainable Urban Development, which funds the World Bank's urbanization reviews for all countries of the globe. Researchers have observed that the share of cities with declining populations is disproportionately higher in eastern Ukraine, and the share of cities with growing populations is prevalent in the west. In addition, according to their findings, despite a large number of urban agglomerations are concentrated in the east, the agglomerations in the west of Ukraine and Kyiv agglomeration are developing more dynamically.Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. Preparation of sound decisions on the formation and functioning of agglomerations is an important task in terms of future socio-economic development of Ukraine. It is advisable to determine their impact on the activities of economic entities. The results of the agglomerations functioning analysis in Ukraine should be taken into account when making decisions on urban planning and regulation of economic processes.Paper main body. The comparison of economic activity in cities included in agglomerations and in cities which are not part of agglomerations was performed according to the data on the number of registered economic entities per capita. The results showed that the relations between the number of business entities registered in the city per capita and the size of the city (population) is almost absent – the correlation coefficient is very small (0.018). Obviously, the indicator of the number of registered economic entities in cities cannot be used to assess the impact of agglomerations on the economy.To analyze the impact of agglomerations on the economy, the data from the Association of Ukrainian Cities on socio-economic indicators of cities was used, in particular, the average wage and personal income tax which is one of the most important sources of revenue to city budgets. As these indicators differ in scale, the data were normalized: the studied value, which relates to a specific city, was divided into the highest value of all cities. The calculations were performed both for cities included in agglomerations and for cities, which are not part of agglomerations.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. It was found that the average normalized value of the average wage in the cities included in the agglomerations is 10 percent higher than the corresponding value for the cities not included in the agglomerations. The average normalized value of personal income tax per capita in cities included in the agglomerations is 39 percent higher than the corresponding value for the cities not included in the agglomerations. At the same time, there is virtually no relation between the number of business entities registered in a city per capita and the size of the city (regardless of whether the city is included in an agglomeration). Further research will engage the analysis of the agglomeration factor influence on the state of business development in the adjacent territories. ; Проаналізовано вітчизняний і зарубіжний досвід формування та функціонуванняагломерацій та їх вплив на національну економіку. Виявлено, що загалом чинник входження міст до агломерацій позитивно впливає на діяльність суб'єктів господарювання, середню заробітну плату, обсяги податків на доходи фізичних осіб, що припадають на одного жителя. Проте показник кількості зареєстрованих у містах суб'єктів господарювання не може бути використаний для оцінювання впливу функціонування агломерацій на економіку, особливо якщо виключити з аналізу дані про обласні центри, які в Україні є центрами агломерацій.