ECONOMETRIC ASSESSMENT OF FACTORS AFFECTING THE STRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL BUSINESS IN THE REGIONS OF UZBEKISTAN

Abstract

This article assesses the factors affecting the structural development of small business across the regions of Uzbekistan using panel data for 2015–2024. The dataset covers 14 territorial units over ten years, yielding 140 observations. Fifteen institutional, sectoral, financial, technological and demographic indicators were initially considered. Pearson correlations and variance inflation factors were used to reduce multicollinearity. The Hausman test supported a fixed-effects specification. The final model identifies the number of small business entities, export share, service-sector share, credit volume, fixed-capital investment and the digital technology index as statistically significant determinants. The within R-squared equals 0.847, indicating that a large share of within-region variation in the regional efficiency index is explained by the selected factors. The largest estimated effects are associated with the number of small business entities (β=0.214), fixed-capital investment (β=0.203) and export participation (β=0.187).