Clusters have been of interest to researchers since the 19th century. Today clusters are viewed as an integral element in broader industrial innovation processes or systems. In this paper we focused on the current cluster policy in Russia and Mexico. The main questions concern the effects of a cluster policy and the implications they have for the differentiation of regions. Using the theory of economic growth and the models of modern economic geography, as well the methods of spatial analysis and spatial econometrics, we have constructed the regression model of resource and institutional groups of factors influence on the level of regional development. This model allows us to substantiate the dominance of different groups of factors above the level of regional development in economic systems with high differentiation of local territories. The results of econometric analysis have proved our assumption that the differences among regions in Russia and Mexico mostly arise due to geographical location and natural resources endowments. These considerations have become the starting point of the conception of territorial differentiation decrease on the base of clustered forms of interaction. However, our findings suggest that, in both cases, the current cluster policy increases the regional development gap due to a centralised economic policy that often disregards regional needs and capabilities.

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