The article studies the features of the unsuccessful policy of territory development on the example of the canonical depressed region from the practice of the United States of America - the Rust Belt. The study cites the genesis of the term Rust Belt, emphasizing the derogatory connotations used to describe regions of the country that used to be manufacturing centers and are now suffering from deindustrialization. The difference between the terms Rust Bowl and Rust Belt is emphasized. The Rust Belt more often refers to specific formerly prosperous manufacturing centers in cities in the Midwest and Northeast, such as Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo, New York. The Rust Bowl in turn characterizes the once prosperous agricultural regions of Oklahoma, Kansas and parts of Texas that have suffered years of drought and are literally filled with dust. The article highlights the chronology of decline - from the 30s to the 70s of the previous century. It all started in the 1930s in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as a result of the Great Depression. In the 1950s, the decline spread north into Upstate New York. In the 1960s, the spread of the Rust Belt moved westward, capturing the ferrous metallurgy of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, western Ohio, and northern Indiana; Akron, the “tire capital” and Cincinnati, a machine-tool maker. The 1970s marked the beginning of the decline in the American automobile industry. The reason for this was the oil crisis of 1973. The Rust Belt extended from Detroit northwest along the Warren-Pontiac-Flint-Saginaw line and south to Lyme. The statistics of the decline of the population of the Rust Belt are given - a comparison of the peak indicators in 2000 and 2020. It should be noted that, despite the gradual slowdown of negative trends in the 21st century, the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to another wave of decline in the region. Despite all of the above, the states of the Lake District, Pennsylvania and New York still retain a huge innovation potential characterized by the concentration of a significant number of universities and research laboratories. 

depressed region, Rust Belt, territorial development management, territorial development policy, regional economy 

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the development of electronic commerce in different countries of the world. Three countries - Italy, the USA, and China - were chosen for the analysis of the features of the development of e-commerce. The first one is the most classical country of the Old World by many criteria, the second one – the most characteristic representative of the countries of “migrant capital”, the third one – the brightest representative among the Asian countries due to the high growth rates of economic indicators and a planned development system that is almost unique in the modern world. The most popular types of e-commerce transactions in Italy are business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), and consumer-to-consumer (C2C). Italy is lagging behind other European countries in the development of e-commerce due to the country’s aging population, a low percentage of people with bank accounts and bank cards, the low percentage of people with high-quality Internet access, and the fact that only a little more than half of the country’s population uses smartphones. The US e-commerce market is characterized by two main directions of B2B and B2C formats. The e-commerce market in the US is moderately fragmented. Amazon, Walmart.com, and BestBuy.com are the leading online stores in the US e-commerce market. They account for 35% of all online revenues in the US. The mobile shopping category is a growing trend. The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the shift to online consumption as consumers practice social distancing, and e-commerce orders for food and medical supplies have become a survival and convenience tool for the American family. E-commerce in China, despite its rapid development, also faces a number of problems, such as the lack of a security system, insufficiently developed intellectual property institutions, illegal trade, and fraud. The resale of personal information seriously damages the possibilities of sustainable development of e-commerce. Nevertheless, the government is developing measures aimed at solving these challenges and strives to develop stable and safe online trade in the country. 

e-commerce, digitalization, COVID-19 pandemic, e-trade, Internet trade