Social contract as a tool for overcoming poverty of the working-age population: assessment of budget efficiency and directions of modernization

Abstract

One of the promising instruments of social support for the population in the Russian Federation is a social contract, the feature of which is the conditional nature of social payments, requiring poor citizens to take active actions to improve their living situation (job search, vocational training, doing business). This study analyzes the Russian and foreign experience in organizing social contract instruments (the TANF program in the USA and the RSA program in France). The subject of the author's research is the effectiveness of budget expenditures of the budgetary system of the Russian Federation for the financial provision of the social contract mechanism in the context of the allocated areas of assistance. Special attention is paid to the legal support of the functioning of the social contract in terms of methods for evaluating its effectiveness and the distribution of appropriate subsidies from the federal budget. Based on the criterion proposed by the author of the relative amount of budget expenditures per citizen who has overcome the poverty threshold, an assessment of the budgetary effectiveness of various areas of assistance under the social contract is carried out. The conclusion is made about the difference in the evaluation results when using official indicators and the author's approach. Thus, official data indicate the success of the results of the social contract program, comparable with foreign analogues. The author's assessment of budgetary efficiency showed the irrational use of budgetary funds: 60% of financial resources in 2021-2022 were directed to the least effective area of assistance. Additionally, the problems in the mechanism of federal co-financing of expenditures of regional budgets for the use of the instrument are identified. The author identifies the methodological shortcomings of the current methodology for evaluating its effectiveness. Based on the identified problems, changes are proposed in the regulatory framework governing the financial mechanism for providing assistance on the basis of a social contract. These results are of high practical significance for the activities of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, as well as regional executive authorities responsible for the implementation of the social contract.