The Financial Behavior of the Population: Identifying the Regional Differences

About the authors:

Nadezhda V. Dulina, Dr. Sci. (Soc.), Professor, Department of Social Work and Social Technologies, Volgograd State University; nv-dulina@yandex.ru

Darya V. Moiseeva, Cand. Sci. (Soc.), Senior Lecturer, Department of Management and Finance Production Systems, Volgograd State Technical University; moiseeva-d@yandex.ru

Abstract:

The study of financial behavior of the population in modern sociology has received little attention. The impetus for further research in this area was the Federal project “Enhancing the level of financial literacy of the population and developing financial education in the Russian Federation”. The research, carried out by the Ministry of Finance of Russia, became a valuable source of information and new research tasks, one of which can be formulated as the study of regional differences in the financial behavior of the population, explanation of the causes and development of recommendations on their considering in developing regional programs to improve financial literacy.

This work aims to identify the regional differences in the financial behavior of the population (in the regions participating in this research). The main method of the research is a comparison of the data of sociological studies with official statistic information. The basis of the research was the monitoring data that are freely available on the website of the Finance Ministry, and the statistic information of the RF Central Bank and territorial bodies of Rosstat.

The data comparison allowed characterizing the financial behavior of the population in the regions to study the dynamics of its changes. The financial behavior of the population in the Volgograd Region can be characterized by a low level of savings and loans due to the low income, though there is a responsible attitude to personal finance. The population of the Kaliningrad Region with higher incomes has a higher level of savings and loans, yet there are problems with loan payments. It demonstrates a reduction in the level of liability concerning the loans. The financial behavior of the population in the Orenburg Region raises serious concerns, such as the low income, high level of debt load, lack of awareness of the importance of savings, and the liability for defaults on loans, yet, so far, there are no problems on their payments. The financial behavior of the population in the Yaroslavl Region is successfully in all aspects. The diversity of regional differences suggests the need to consider them in development of regional programs to improve financial literacy of the population.

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