"Invisible" single-industry towns in Russia

This study discusses the phenomenon of 'invisible' single-industry towns in Russia and their economic transformations in light of the lock-in effects they are facing. The economy of a single-industry town is usually dominated by the so-called town-forming enterprise, even though the latter is often a branch or subdivision of the head enterprise located outside of the town. The study proposes an original way for reconstructing the data on revenues, fixed assets and wages, which usually remain hidden in the reports of head enterprises. The resulting models indicate that such indicators as the residual activity of enterprises in single-industry towns and the number of these enterprises retain the 'memory' of the town-forming enterprise. Such 'memory' becomes a lock-in factor impeding single-industry towns' economic transformation. The proposed models and the reconstructed data increase the visibility of the Russian single-industry towns on the map of economic activity.