Measuring the Stability of Households: 1994–2017

Abstract

This article analyzes the stability dynamic of Russian households over the last two decades, as well as its determinants. The methodology used for measuring stability is that which is being developed by intergovernmental bodies such as The United Nations (UN) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The empirical base of the study consists of data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS–HSE). The acquired results speak to the viability of Russian households: families’ average real capita income, after decreasing twofold during the crisis period (1994– 1998), not only recovered and returned to pre-reform values, but even exceeded the latter by one third during the period of rapid growth (2000–2007). Strategies for increasing the stability potential of households change depending on economic recessions and upsurges. It is shown that a decline in the proportion of households with income below minimal cost of living during growth of GDP was accompanied by an increasing inequality in stable development potential between the poor and the more wealthy families throughout the entire examined period, and especially from 2008 to 2017. Scattered local measures aimed at reducing poverty can result in a more pronounced synergetic effect, if we were to view households with income below minimal cost of living as a complex socio-economic system.