HOUSEHOLD INCOMES AND EXPENDITURES: DOMESTIC REALITIES AND FOREIGN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Introduction. Household finances in Ukraine are unbalanced. Households are losing a significant part of their income due to inefficient allocation of available savings. This is the result of the drawbacks in the functioning of the Ukrainian stock market. Social transfers as a lion's share of domestic household income, are redistributed with a violation of targeting principles, and the detention rates of the population are formed. The size of state social guarantees and standards does not correspond to the average European values. Macroeconomic conditions for development of household finances, in particular the inflationary processes in economy are also unfavorable. The purposeof the article is to analyze foreign experience and domestic realities of formation and use of household finances, to carry out a comparative description of the obtained results. It is also aimed at developing a strategy for the comprehensive improvement of domestic household finances on the basis of the analyzed foreign experience. Methods. In the article research methods of analyzis, synthesis, grouping and generalization have been applied in analyzing of population income and expenditure, aggregate financial resources of households. Methods of induction, deduction and analogy have been used for forming a strategy of the comprehensive improvement of household finances. Results. The analysis indicated that the main sources of household incomes are income from employment, wages in particular and entrepreneurship. Moreover, the share of wage earnings is comparable to the foreign one, however, in the part of self-employment and entrepreneurial activity there is a discrepancy of 4-6% versus 10-18%. The share of social transfers in the income of domestic households varies from 20 to 27% and is quite comparable with foreign countries. Income from households in Ukraine is 0.8-1.0%, while in other countries it is 6-10%. The problem is that domestic households are not fully acquainted with the potential of the securities market. Domestic households, in comparison with foreign ones, receive significant financial assistance from relatives and other households, also from abroad. The prevailing part in the structure of household expenditure is directed towards consumption. The share of non-consumption expenditures of domestic households (8-10%) is lower than that of households in the EU (15-30%). Savings of domestic households (1.5-3%) are much less than savings of foreign households (10-15%) due to the crisis of the domestic banking system, distrust of the population to banking and non-bank financial and credit institutions. Conclusions. The strategy of comprehensive improvement of domestic household finances has been suggested. It consists of the general strategy and is applicable at the national level and at the level of individual households. The strategic tasks are stabilization and growth of economy; social responsibility of business; stock market development; increase of state social standards and guarantees.