РЕГІОНАЛЬНА ДИФЕРЕНЦІАЦІЯ СПОЖИВЧИХ ЦІН В УКРАЇНІ

Abstract

Consumer prices are a litmus test for structural changes in any society. Rapid price changes are evidence of serious problems and are the result of the influence of many factors. It could be easily seen from the events in Ukraine in 2022. The occupation and then partial de-occupation of large areas of the country, and the difficulties of ensuring life in the front-line areas led to a rapid rise in prices and inflation in the entire country. The article examines the impact of a large-scale war on consumer prices by Ukraine regions in January 2022 and January 2023. For this, the methodology of collecting information on consumer prices in the territory of Ukraine and the peculiarities of determining the average values, on which the calculations in this work are based, were studied. Also, were analyzed the features of hierarchical clustering algorithms and the appropriateness of dendrograms usage. During the research, the clustering (regional differentiation) of regions by consumer prices was carried out using a hierarchical agglomerative algorithm based on the Ward method with Euclidean distance, using normalized (linearly transformed) data (prices in the specified periods). The research also includes the comparison of the formed groups with the existing division of Ukraine into economic regions. In addition, the analysis of the obtained results of the differentiation of regions, as well as the factors that influenced the sharp growth of consumer prices, and above all food products, was carried out. From the results, it can be easily seen that districts in which the country was divided by consumer prices are weakly correlated with nine economic districts in which the country is divided officially. Consumer prices are affected by factors other than those considered during the division into official districts. The uneven impact of the war on different regions led to a radical change in the division, as the growth of prices in the front-line zones exceeded even those in the capital. Especially, it refers to the Kherson region, more precisely, that part of it that was freed from the long-term occupation. In this region were recorded the highest prices in comparison with all the other regions.