Economic Nature of the Phenomenon “Reebie” in Russian Student Community

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problems of behavioral economics in terms of formation of the attitude and perception of goods with zero price in their special form – “freebie” (or in Russian – “haljava”) as a special form of free (or almost free) good. The study showed the relationship between economic and non-economic goods. The definition of “freebie” is given as a situation of receiving a good in which an individual (recipient) bears zero or insignificant (inconspicuous) economic or physical costs with a perceived high assessment of the usefulness of the good. Three situations were considered: the recipient of a good is a consumer, an employee and a special case of employee – a student obtaining grades in the educational process. Market surpluses in these situations were analyzed in terms of “freebie” and “pure freebie”. An in-depth interview was conducted among students which revealed that 95% of respondents drew a parallel between “freebie” and luck but “freebie” can be prepared to. An interesting finding is the fact that parents’ money is perceived starting from the third year as a “freebie”, while in younger courses it perceived as the help of parents. When studying the issue of morality in a situation “freebie”, it turned out that if a “freebie” does not harm anyone, then this phenomenon is allowed and, moreover, is compared with entrepreneurial activity. Such phenomena as “free money” and “freeloader” as a stable “free” strategy were also analyzed. The latter was negatively judged by respondents. In conclusion, questions are raised for further research of the phenomenon