Factors of innovative activity in Russian regions: modeling and empirical analysis

Considering innovations as a key factor of economic growth, in this paper we identify main instruments stimulating innovative activity in Russian regions. Since the number of potential factors of enterprises innovative activity and respective hypotheses is large, the process of model selection becomes a crucial part of the empirical implementation. A new efficient solution to this problem is suggested, applying optimization heuristics. The model selection is based on information criteria and the Sargan test within the framework of a log-linear panel data model.