Before embarking on practical tasks on this topic, it is necessary to find out the economic nature of factorial and socialized income, to know the methods of their formation and distribution, as well as the structure of the fund of subsistence, to have a clear idea of the income policy of the population at the present stage of economic development, the degree and the reasons for income differentiation, to know the sources of formation and use of income for consumption and savings, expenditure indicators: disposable resources of households; cash expenditures of the population; household cash expenditures; consumer spending of households, etc., to understand how the level differs from the quality of life of the population, to study in detail the methods of calculating indicators and indicators of the level and quality of life.
Working programm
Factor income in a market economy. Marxist interpretation of factor income in the market system as transformed forms. Interpretation of factor incomes in the theory of "marginal productivity". Post-Keynesian criticism based on the production function of the concept of income distribution. Alternative interpretations of factor income.
Features of socialized income in a market economy. Socialized incomes as specific forms of the price of labor. Methods of distribution through social funds, sources and forms of their financing.
Classification of sources of income in international and Russian statistics. Indicators of personal, disposable personal and real disposable personal income. Sources of the formation of the total family income.
Comparative analysis of income policy options in a market economy.
Study of the consumption function by D. Keynes. Demonstration Dusenberry effect. M. Friedman's constant income hypothesis. The interpretation of the consumption function by A. Ando, R. Brumberg and F. Modigliani.
Household expenses. The cost of living.
Standard of living. The indicator of the standard of living of the population. Poverty threshold. The quality of life. Integral and partial indicators of the quality of life.
Basic concepts
Household cash expenditures- are the sum of the actual costs incurred by household members during the survey reference period and include consumption expenditures as well as non-consumption expenditures.
Cash expenditures of the population include expenses for the purchase of goods and payment for services, mandatory payments and various contributions (taxes, fees, insurance payments, contributions to public and cooperative organizations, interest on loans, etc.), savings, purchase of foreign currency.
Decile (quintile) coefficient of differentiation- is calculated as the ratio of the minimum income level of 10% (20%) of the richest population to the maximum value of the income level of 10% (20%) of the poorest.
The quality of life- reflects the qualitative aspect of public welfare. The UN defines the quality of life as "a broad concept that combines a set of social, cultural and moral values that enable a person to live in harmony with society, nature, and himself." WHO defines this concept as “an individual's perception of his position in life in the context of the culture and value system in which the individual lives, and in relation to the goals, expectations, standards and interests of that individual”.
Gini coefficient- quantitatively measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of incomes of the population based on the analysis of the Lorenz curve. The higher the value of the Gini coefficient, the higher the degree of inequality in the distribution of income.
Funds ratio represents the ratio of average incomes or their shares in the total income of 10% (20%) of the most and 10% (20%) of the least well-off groups of the population.
Minimum consumer budget- the most important social standard in a modern economy. In terms of its economic content, it is a balance of income and expenditure, which makes it possible to determine the cost of living of those strata of the population who have the minimum income.
Household consumer spending are part of the cash expenditures that are used to purchase consumer goods and services. Consumer spending consists of the cost of purchasing food, alcoholic beverages, non-food items, and service costs. They do not include expenses for the purchase of works of art, antiques and jewelry purchased as capital investments, payments for materials and work for the construction and overhaul of residential and auxiliary premises, which are investments in fixed assets.
Disposable Household Resources- represent the amount of money available to the household to cover its expenses and create savings during the survey reference period, as well as the value of food receipts in kind and benefits provided in kind.
Socialized income- income associated not with the initiative activities of the owners of factors of production, but with the distribution of income through social funds of society, which are intended to meet various kinds of needs (raising children, education, health care, maintenance of disabled members of society, etc.).
the cost of living- the objectively emerging size of costs to ensure the satisfaction of the vital needs of citizens in material goods and services. It changes depending on the level of prices and tariffs for their purchase in specific conditions in the time period.
Consumer basket value for the main socio-demographic groups of the population, it is calculated as the sum of the cost of food, non-food goods and services. The calculation uses Rosstat data on the level of consumer prices and tariffs.
Standard of living- characterizes the quantitative aspect of social welfare. It is determined by the degree of satisfaction of material and other needs of the population; it is a complex economic category that cannot be characterized by one indicator. To assess the standard of living of the population, the UN Statistical Commission recommends distinguishing the following subgroups of indicators: demographic characteristics; income indicators of the population; indicators of expenditures and savings of the population; indicators of consumption by the population of material goods and services; indicators of the provision of housing and durable goods; employment and unemployment rates; indicators of working conditions; free time indicators; indicators of education, health care, culture, sports, tourism and recreation.
Actual final consumption of households- includes household expenditures for the purchase of consumer goods and services, as well as the cost of consumption of goods and services in kind - produced for themselves, received as wages and in the form of social transfers in kind, i.e. free or preferential individual goods and services received from government agencies and non-profit organizations serving households.
Factor income- the income of the owners of the main factors of production, received by them due to their proactive activities in the system of market economy.
Control questions and tasks
Choose the correct answer
the costs of the enterprise;
the reduction of the state budget deficit.
the normal amount of consumption of this type of goods in perfume;
the amount of consumption of this good.
1. Using statistical data for 2007-2008. for RF:
define the following indicators:
Growth rates (15011: 12506) - 100 = 120%.
Growth rates: (13249: 11176) - 100 = 118.5%;
Growth rates: (22: 21.5) * 100 = 102.3%;
population.
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Articles |
2004 r. |
2005 year |
2006 G. |
2007 year |
2008 r. |
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Consumer expenses, including: |
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Food |
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Clothes and footwear |
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Transport |
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Health care |
3. Based on the presented statistical data on the dynamics of the main socio-economic indicators in the Russian Federation and some regions of the Southern Federal District in 2008:
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Region |
Population (thousand people) |
Average annual number of employed. (thousand people) |
Average per capita money income (in m-c, r.) |
Average per capita cash expenditures (in m-c, r.) |
Index consumption |
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Russian Federation |
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Republic of Adygea |
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The Republic of Dagestan |
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The Republic of Ingushetia |
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Republic of Kalmykia |
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Polish |
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Rostov region |
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city |
Calculate:
3. Compare the indicators of the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov Region,
draw conclusions.
4. The following data are available on the dynamics of the final consumption expenditure index and the consumer price index in various countries (2000 = 100.0).
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Country |
Household final consumption expenditure index |
Consumer price index |
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2005 year |
2008 r. |
2005 year |
2008 r. |
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Belarus |
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Bulgaria |
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Germany |
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United Kingdom |
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Make structural and logical diagrams:
Exercises
1. The presence and nature of the factors and resources used determine the structure of the economy. Distribute enterprises by headings in terms of their use of resources: gold mines, diamond mines, timber industry, fishing enterprises, metallurgical plants, steel plants, confectionery enterprises, bakeries, dairies, banks, insurance companies, Aeroflot, oil companies, transport organizations - by the following form.
Primary sector of the economy
Secondary sector of the economy
Tertiary sector of the economy
2. For the terms in the left column, match the pair from the right one:
Labor Rent
Land Wages
Capital Interest
Entrepreneurial Profit
ability
Information Assessment of statistical
Securities Dividends
3. Fill in the second column - which refers to the current transfers received.
4. Fill in:
Crosswords
Horizontally:
Vertically:
Horizontally
On the vertical:
1. Gini; 2. Socialized; 3. Foundations; 4. Rent; 5. Lorenz; 6. Consumer; 7. Private; 8. Transformed; 9. Entrepreneurial.
An important indicator and result of the country's economic activity is standard of living people. For many centuries, the rulers believed that the country's wealth was associated with the annexation of the occupied territories, the presence of natural resources. Today, however, this is not decisive. And the standard of living of people is precisely for its increase that the economy develops.
Standard of living- provision of the population with material and spiritual benefits necessary for life, the degree of satisfaction of people's needs with these benefits.
The standard of living depends on:
The quality of life- a broader concept. It includes: material security + health status + life expectancy + environmental conditions + comfort + satisfaction of spiritual needs, etc. Thus, the quality of life- This is the satisfaction of material, spiritual and social needs.
The most important indicators of the standard of living in the Russian Federation:
Prepared by: Vera Melnikova
Plan:
1. Incomes of the population: essence, types, inequality.
2. The level and quality of life of the population. Living wage.
Population income. Nominal and real income. Ordinary, sporadic and imputed income. Labor and unearned income. Total income. Disposable income. Indexation of income. Income differentiation. Median income level. Lorentz curve. Gini coefficient. Income policy. Standard of living. The quality of life. Indicators of the level and quality of life. Public welfare. Living wage. Poverty. "Consumer basket". Social protection of the population.
The problem of income and living standards of the population, various social and professional-qualification groups is one of the most important components of social policy at all times and in all social formations.
Population income - it is the sum of money, material values and services received from labor and non-labor activities for a certain period of time. These funds are used to maintain and develop the physical, moral and intellectual state of a person at a certain level of satisfaction of his needs.
At the expense of these funds, the reproduction and development of the labor force in material production is carried out, those employed in the non-productive sphere of the economy, as well as non-working members of society, are kept. Due to the fact that in a market economy the bulk of consumer goods and services are sold for money, the level of consumption of the population is determined mainly by the level of income.
Income appears as a result of the distribution of the product produced. Since it is possible to distribute and consume only what is produced, the real source of income is the produced product. The distribution of the results of production is always preceded by the distribution of factors of production, and incomes are the economic realization of ownership of the factors of production. As a result of the provision of factor services, the owners of the factors of production receive the right to a part of the generated income. For example, a worker is entitled to a wage.
Incomes received in the production process are subject to primary and secondary distribution. Primary is called such a distribution of income, which is formed directly in the production process without government intervention. Secondary the distribution of income reflects the emerging redistribution of income between its individual recipients, produced by the state through direct taxes, pensions, benefits and other social transfers.
Income is the goal of the actions of each active participant in the market economy, objective and powerful incentives for his activities. The desire to maximize their income dictates the economic logic of the behavior of any market entity. High personal incomes bring social benefits, since they ultimately act as a source of meeting general needs, expanding production, and supporting the poor and disabled.
The income of the population is an important indicator of the standard of living. An individual's income determines his financial position, motives of behavior, interest or indifference to work, attitude towards fellow citizens, etc. The distribution of income in society not only fixes changes in the structure of production, but also actively affects him: the appropriation of income gives rise to an incentive for new production, provides conditions for its growth.
So, any form of income has social production as its primary source. When the total income of a society is distributed in accordance with the function performed by the recipient of the income, this distribution is called functional distribution of income. It has to do with the way in which the monetary income of a society is divided into wages, rent, interest, and profit. Personal income distribution relates to the way in which the total income of a society is distributed among individual households.
From the standpoint of production, the material form of income of the population is the consumption fund, which has a monetary and natural form. In kind, the consumption fund consists of consumer goods and services.
When generating income, it is important to take into account the reproductive and stimulating distribution functions. The more labor is expended, the more money is needed to restore the ability to work. The higher the qualifications of the employee, the higher the costs of reproducing his labor force, therefore, the higher the income he should receive. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account that in order to solve state problems (defense, management, maintenance of the disabled, etc.), the state needs funds that are formed through the redistribution of society's income and the creation of national revenues used for these purposes.
All types of income form a system, since they primarily have a single origin - a new value. This predetermines the relationship between various incomes in society and the boundaries of their coexistence in a single system. With a constant value of the total income of society, the growth of some types of income is possible only at the expense of some others.
To judge the amount of income, one should distinguish between its nominal and real expression. Nominal income- these are accrued payments and in-kind payments that come into the personal disposal of the recipient. It can be fixed (unchanged), increase or decrease. Real income is the realized income, or nominal income, adjusted for changes in the prices of goods and tariffs for services.
There are also ordinary, or regularly received income (usually in cash), sporadic that result from the revaluation of wealth and imputed(imputed).
Depending on the sources, the income of the population is divided into:
a) labor income, the source of which is labor activity in production and entrepreneurship (wages and entrepreneurial profit). Labor income also includes income from personal subsidiary and household plots, individual labor activities;
b) unearned income, including:
Income from property (interest for a given cash loan, income from land rent, real estate, dividends, etc.);
Income received in the shadow economy in the form of bribes, embezzlement, as well as lottery winnings, etc.;
Social income in the form of transfer payments, the source of which is social funds that provide cash payments (pensions, scholarships, benefits), free services (education, health care) and benefits (for example, housing and communal services).
Should be allocated to an independent category income of individual entrepreneurs... They consist of the labor part (wages) and the one that is formed from income from shares and profits. You should also pay attention to income certain categories of workers, for example, managers. Increasingly, they are acquiring specific payments that follow after a certain period of time at the firm (or as a reward upon dismissal). We are talking about options, that is, the preemptive right to purchase shares at their nominal price, which provides huge profits with the growth of stock exchange rates, and about the so-called "golden parachutes" - large severance payments.
Thus, in a market environment, different sources (labor, property, entrepreneurship, taxes, etc.) generate different types of income. The totality of all types of income earned or received by an individual member of society during a certain time forms it total income, which are considered to be the main indicator of the material security of the population. Gross income includes all types of cash income, as well as the value of in-kind income received from personal subsidiary plots and used for personal household consumption.
The structure of the aggregate income of the population includes the monetary component - wages, other monetary payments received from the federal and regional budgets, funds of enterprises (organizations); the cost of benefits and free services from social funds (health care services, education, preschool education, subsidies for housing, transport, food, etc.), income from personal subsidiary plots, self-employment, etc.
It is customary to divide both monetary and total income by general, calculated before taxes and mandatory payments (social and health insurance contributions, etc.) , and available- those that remain after the specified payments. Disposable income is the amount of money that a family can use to consume goods and services without using savings or other sources.
In modern conditions, new trends have emerged in the field of income. They consist, in particular, in the emergence of new types of income (including from property), the influence of market relations between supply and demand on the amount of income received (for example, wages under the influence of the ratio of supply and demand in the labor market).
In the conditions of an administrative-command economy, the principle of distribution according to work was in effect. The actual distribution was largely of an equalizing nature and did not act as an effective incentive to increase the efficiency of workers' labor, improve quality, etc. In a market economy, the nature of income distribution is determined taking into account labor input based on the ratio of supply and demand for goods and services in combination with government regulation of income.
In the context of inflation in most countries, incomes are indexed. Indexation of income is aimed at preventing a decline in the standard of living of the population due to inflationary price increases. Indexation of income is an automatic adjustment of the amount of money income of the population from budget sources in order to partially compensate for losses caused by inflation. First of all, those monetary incomes of citizens that are not of a one-time nature are subject to indexation: wages and salaries, state pensions, benefits, scholarships, etc.
The monetary incomes of the population from property are not subject to indexation, since they are formed in conditions of free pricing and therefore do not need additional protection. We are talking about income from the lease of property, from shares and other securities, from running a farm and personal subsidiary plots, from entrepreneurial and other legal economic activities. The scope and mechanism of indexing vary between countries, as well as within them by industry, social strata, employment categories and even enterprises.
Since the amount of income depends on many factors, in every society it is inevitable income differentiation its members, caused by many objective and subjective reasons. Differences in income are based on differences in abilities, education, and professional experience. An important factor of inequality is the uneven distribution of ownership of securities (stocks, bonds) and real estate. Finally, subjective factors often play a role (access to valuable information, personal connections, risk, etc.). These factors act in different directions, sometimes smoothing, then increasing inequality.
To assess income differentiation, various economic and statistical methods are used (they determine the average income in the country, the so-called median level above or below which the same number of employees receive income). They also measure the gap between high and low income groups of the population (the so-called decile indicator).
To determine the depth of inequality in society in the analysis of income differentiation, Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients are used. Lorentz curve reflects the actual distribution of income in society. The Lorenz curve shows the degree of inequality in household income. “Family share” is located on the abscissa, and “income share” is on the ordinate. If all groups of the population in society have equal incomes, then 20% of the population receives 20% of the income, 40% of the population - 40% of the income, etc., that is, an absolutely equal distribution of income is established. Theoretically, the absolute equal distribution of income, which does not exist in reality, is represented in the figure by the bisector OE.
At any point, a given percentage of families, for example, 20, receive the corresponding percentage of income - 20. But in reality, the poorest part of the population usually receives 5-6% of the income of society, and the richest - 40-45%. The actual distribution of income is represented by the curve OavsdE... At the point a 20% of all families have the lowest incomes, point v corresponds to the income received by 40% of families, with- 60%, etc. The wider the gap between the line of absolute income equality and the Lorenz curve, the greater the degree of income inequality.
Reflecting the actual distribution of income, the Lorenz curve shows what is the actual share of total income for a particular population group. Graphically, it lies between the lines reflecting absolute equality and absolute inequality. The more uneven the distribution of income, the more convex the Lorentz curve is. Conversely, the lower the level of differentiation, the closer the Lorentz curve is to the line of absolute equality of income in society.
It should be noted that cash income after taxes and taking into account transfer payments is distributed more evenly.
Quantitatively, the degree of inequality in the distribution of income can be calculated using Gini coefficient... With a coefficient close to zero, society is in a state of absolute equalization of income, and with a coefficient equal to one - in a situation of “the impoverished majority and the super-rich minority”. In most countries, the Gini coefficient ranges from 0.27 to 0.33.
The reasons for inequality in the distribution of income primarily include: differences in abilities, educational level, ownership of property, the degree of market power, as well as personal connections, etc. It should be noted that differences in income may not depend on the employee himself and the quality of his work. Such factors include: family size, the ratio of the number of workers and dependents in the family, health status, natural conditions, etc.
The growing inequality in the distribution of income leads to the stratification of society, the formation of strata of rich and poor. Therefore, a civilized market economy tries to exclude such extremes by purposeful redistribution of income.
Economic analysis found that the distribution of income, if they are above a certain level, is characterized by significant stability. This relationship between the amount of income (starting with the level of income, which, on average, is 1.5 times higher than the minimum income.) And the number of people receiving it, is called “ Pareto law ”.
This law means that if the distribution of low incomes is subject to sharp and sometimes unpredictable fluctuations, then upon reaching a higher level, it acquires stability. In other words, as the income of the rich rises, the income of the poor does not decrease. The law confirms that social stability in society is a consequence of the high level of well-being of the population.
The income received for the first time is called primary, which after distribution and redistribution form final income in the form in which they are used. The income of the population is used to pay taxes, form the cost of current consumption and personal savings. Current consumption immediately returns to the economy in the form of consumer spending.
Any economic system always faces the problem of choice: a) to prefer the market distribution of income and their regulation by the state, or b) state distribution, adjusted by the market? This dilemma is a controversial income problem that the government is addressing in its income policy. The desire for equality in income (that is, social justice) is always accompanied by a drop in economic efficiency, since in such a situation there is no need to work effectively for either the poor - society will provide him with material support, nor for the rich - society takes away part of his income, equalizing it with other members.
Income inequality provides economic efficiency but is accompanied by social inequity. That is, the choice here is between social justice and economic efficiency. This choice is realized through the held in society income policy.
In a market economy, the state intervenes in income policy, which by its measures, by influencing personal monetary incomes and prices of goods (services), counteracts the tendency of falling real incomes and reducing the range of income inequality. The instruments for redistribution of income in public policy are transfer payments (for example, benefits), price regulation for the most important types of products, income indexation, setting the minimum wage, and progressive taxation.
Almost all countries have social insurance and government assistance programs for the poor. Social insurance provides insurance for old age, disability, in case of loss of a breadwinner or job (unemployment benefits). Programs state aid include a number of additional measures: social and health insurance, assistance to large families, provision of food and various benefits (including a reduction in housing costs, fees for education, medical care).
A certain measure of redistribution, equalization of income, the creation of social guarantees and equal starting conditions is a necessary condition for modern economic development. This problem is especially relevant for a transitional economy. It is necessary that social justice in society becomes a condition for the growth of economic efficiency of production. To do this, it is necessary, among other important measures, to raise the incomes of the poor and to significantly reduce the number of poor people.
The income of the population, providing personal consumption, has a decisive influence on the level and quality of life.
Standard of living - it is the degree of satisfaction of the needs of people, ensuring their livelihood. Needs change depending on the personality of the one who presents these needs, the social conditions in which they are formed under the influence of various factors (scientific and technological progress, changes in the preference system, production structure and other factors). Because of this, the concept of a standard of living, expressed through the degree of satisfaction of needs, is a complex concept.
The quality of life has a broader meaning than the concept of the standard of living. The quality of life expresses the degree of development and the completeness of satisfaction of the entire complex of needs and interests of people, manifested both in various forms of activity, and in the very sense of life. It combines in itself a set of material, social, cultural and moral values, which gives a person the opportunity to live in harmony with society, nature and himself. The quality of life includes the state of the economic, natural and social environments of society as a whole, and of an individual, the spiritual sphere of his life, as well as legal and political aspects related to the rights and freedoms of citizens, behavioral and psychological aspects, the general ideological and cultural background.
The problem of the quality of life includes the conditions, results and nature of work, the level of family well-being, its access to the cultural and social values of society, demographic, ethnographic and environmental aspects of human existence.
The state of health of people is of paramount importance:
Increasing life expectancy, reducing mortality and increasing fertility, reducing the severity and reducing the duration of diseases, developing the physical and mental abilities of people, improving their well-being. The quality of life on the part of nutrition is very important: increasing the physiological norm of the calorie content of the daily diet, the optimal content of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and vitamins in it, improving the taste, freshness and purity of the food consumed, and regularity of food.
To assess the quality of life, it is very important to expand the area and arrangement of dwellings, settlements, increase the strength and variety of clothing and footwear.
The quality of life is characterized by the state of education: the duration and level of education, the degree of mastery of scientific knowledge, the moral content and artistic level of literature, the availability of libraries, television, museums and other cultural institutions.
The quality of life is most actively influenced by the improvement of the conditions and development of the nature of work, the reduction of its tension, the increase in efficiency, the correspondence of personal inclinations and individual abilities of people, the expansion of the freedom to choose a profession and specialty. Along with such parameters of labor as the length of the working day, the proportion of manual and automated labor, the frequency and nature of industrial injuries, the moral satisfaction that labor brings, the microclimate in the team, the material and social assessment of labor are important.
For a full-fledged life and meeting the needs and interests of citizens, proper conditions for recreation are needed - its sufficient duration, the availability of rest homes and sanatoriums, sports facilities, as well as opportunities for tourist and excursion trips.
With the transition to market relations, the role of employment and guarantees against unemployment as indicators of the quality of life of the population has increased. The general social situation is such that one has to take into account the level of crime, the environmental situation, stressful tension in connection with military and national clashes, political conflicts, terrorism, drug addiction, epidemics, etc.
The quality of life also depends on the well-being of family life, the possibilities of raising offspring. A high quality of life presupposes decent behavior aimed at ensuring social justice and high morality, a sense of satisfaction with life and personal happiness.
The level and quality of life depend on the development of the productive forces of society, the nature of production relations in it. But in addition to these objective reasons, they are determined by a number of subjective aspects: the system of living standards accepted in society, tastes and subjective assessments of people, their preferences and other behavioral factors.
The level and quality of life are characterized by a system of quantitative and qualitative indicators expressing the economic and social situation of people.
The standard of living is characterized by the following indicators:
- economic- the volume and structure of production of consumer goods per capita; the size of real wages and real incomes per capita; the quantity, quality and structure of consumption of food, industrial goods and services (including educational, medical, etc.); the level and dynamics of prices for basic consumer goods and services; the amount of rent and utility bills, taxes, transportation costs, etc .;
- social- the share of social payments to the family; job security, working hours; the volume of consumption of social benefits (in the field of culture, recreation and sports), the nature of food and its diet, etc.
Into the system quality of life indicators includes: the total volume of consumed material goods and services per capita; employment and unemployment rates; working conditions and intensification; working time and free time; life expectancy; living conditions; indicators of education, health care, cultural development, sports, etc. In addition, this includes assessments of such phenomena as the stability of economic development, social guarantees to the population from the state, indicators of the social protection system, etc.
A general idea of the level and quality of life in different countries is usually formed on the basis of data on the production of the national product or national income per inhabitant. International indices of humanistic development, which are calculated by UNESCO and reflect the levels of education and concern for the health of people in individual countries, are also used as general indicators. In addition to general, private indicators of the level and quality of life are used. They are calculated in physical and monetary terms and have specific historical boundaries. The most important of these is the level of personal consumption.
In the model of personal consumption, there is a different level of consumption of each type of material and spiritual goods and services for representatives of certain social groups of the population (able-bodied population, pensioners, youth, etc.). This level is determined based on the possibilities for the development of production in a given country, the ratio of exports and imports of goods, and the effective demand of the population. This approach is far from indisputable, since it, to a certain extent, focuses on the unification of needs and does not take into account the influence of inflation, the quality of products and services, and also reflects many subjective factors.
In addition to quantitative aspects, many qualitative changes are taking place in the field of meeting people's needs. Thus, in the conditions of intensification of production, the requirements for the quality of the labor force are sharply increasing. The need to develop the intellectual and social potential of the employee requires corresponding changes in the sphere of personal consumption. Qualitative transformations in this area also occur under the influence of the progress of science and technology, the increasing influence of marketing on the consumption process, etc. For example, if in the nineteenth century the standard of living was determined based on the level of consumption of basic necessities, then in modern conditions in industrially developed countries it is measured by the number of cars, sophisticated electronic household appliances, computers, communications equipment, etc.
It should be borne in mind that the size of the national product or income per capita characterizes only the general level of development of the country, but does not reflect its distribution within society among its members, and it is very uneven. In addition, the growth of the national product per capita, all other things being equal, creates opportunities for improving the level and quality of life of an individual citizen of the country. But they can not always be realized due to the growth of military spending, the cost of maintaining the state apparatus, etc. Yes, and the economic growth itself, which provides an increase in the country's wealth, along with positive aspects, carries a burden of negative consequences that reduce the level and quality life.
These consequences include, first of all, environmental costs (contamination of water, air and soil, as well as the depletion of natural resources necessary for personal and industrial consumption). The ecological system, with the acceleration of scientific and technological progress, is increasingly experiencing the impact of human production activities. In addition to purely material losses, society is forced to spend more and more of its social product on environmental protection and its partial restoration of nature.
In addition, there are social costs. Thus, the intensification of labor, leading to psychological and nervous stress, urbanization and the like worsen the social environment of a person, lead to an increase in society's costs for medical care. The increase in the environmental and social costs of economic growth leads to a decrease in the rate of improvement public welfare, which together form the level and quality of life.
Unfortunately, in terms of the level and quality of life, Russia loses not only to the industrially developed, but also to most of the developing countries. The recent decline in living standards is unprecedented in peacetime. It affects all aspects of people's life, undermines its foundations and can lead to irreversible consequences for the future of the country, for the preservation and development of the nation's gene pool.
In the conditions of the current economic situation in Russia with the prevailing deep differentiation in the incomes of the population and a high level of inflation, it is important to increase the basic living standard of the majority of the population and its social protection, to ensure the quality of the labor force necessary for full-fledged work and life, and comparatively equal starting conditions for entering the labor process. youth, the availability of social services and vital consumer services.
An important task of implementing constitutional guarantees in society is to ensure that citizens' incomes are not lower than the subsistence level.
Living wage - it is a cost estimate of the minimum set of livelihoods necessary to preserve human health and ensure his life . It expresses the minimum material security, or the minimum consumer budget, beyond which there are layers and groups of the population that need special protection from society.
The living wage expresses the so-called "Poverty line". The existence of low-income groups of the population is an acute social problem of every modern state, even the richest. Poverty there is an estimate of income, a state where the basic needs of a person exceed the available funds to meet them. On the other hand, poverty expresses the minimum conditions for the reproduction of the labor force and the individual. The causes of poverty in Western development models include differences in property, wages and personal qualities of people, education and training. In our economy, the number of real factors of poverty can be attributed to large families, a low level of retirement benefits and low earnings.
Poverty is assessed differently in different countries. For highly developed countries (USA, Germany, Japan and others), where the gross national product per capita exceeds 13 thousand dollars a year, the problem of poverty has a completely different content than for countries where, according to international estimates, the national product per capita does not reach $ 350 per year (India, Pakistan, Mozambique, etc.). In the latter countries, the problem of poverty is not only social, but also of a general economic nature. To solve it, it is necessary to achieve a higher level of economic development. With a sufficiently high level of economic development, one of the main functions of any civilized state is the social protection of those population groups that have low material security.
The size of the subsistence minimum is the basis for establishing the minimum wage, tariff rates (salaries) for wages of public sector employees, the minimum old-age pensions, as well as for determining the amount of scholarships, benefits and other social payments. Thus, the subsistence minimum is the minimum material security, or the minimum consumer budget, which serves as the starting point for the formation of social programs of society.
The subsistence minimum includes economic and social minimums. Economic minimum determines the amount of income that makes it possible to satisfy nutritional needs at the level of physiological norms, reimbursing energy costs and allowing an adult to work, raise children, and maintain health. It includes expenses for food, medicine, household services, transport, etc.). Social minimum guarantees not only satisfaction of physiological needs, but also the purchase of some wardrobe items, furniture, satisfaction of social needs.
To calculate the subsistence level, can be used consumer basket method, that is, the prices of the minimum set of food products, non-food products and services that a person uses are calculated.
The consumer basket is determined for three main socio-demographic groups of society: the working-age population, retirees and children, whose needs for food, non-food products and services have significant differences. The recommended composition of consumer baskets for the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is formed by zones based on the natural and climatic conditions of life, the structure of the population, national traditions and local consumption patterns. In terms of food consumption, the constituent entities of the Russian Federation are divided into 16 zones, for non-food products and services - in 3 zones (warm zone, zone with cold and sharply continental climate, zone with temperate climate).
The set of food products in the consumer basket, according to the RF Law “On the subsistence level in the Russian Federation”, consists of 35 types of products (bread, meat and fish products, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, sugar and confectionery, milk, eggs, etc.). The composition of non-food products in the consumer basket includes clothing, footwear, linen, medicines, cultural and household goods (refrigerator, TV), etc. Also included are housing and communal services paid for the population, intracity passenger transport, services for the repair of clothes and shoes, hairdressing salons, laundries, kindergartens and nurseries, etc.
It should be noted that the subsistence minimum determines only the upper limit of poverty. Unfortunately, many people in our country live on incomes well below this poverty level.
The definition of poverty implies the essence social protection of the population... The ideas of creating certain systems and models of social protection arise from various economic schools, theories and directions. Supporters of modern Western economic theory believe that if earlier poverty existed due to low incomes, now it is becoming a problem of the unemployed.
In their opinion, a means of effective social protection should be an opportunity for all able-bodied people to return to an active labor process. The state will contribute to this by programs in the field of education and vocational training, strengthening the status of the family, and regulating the employment of the population. The disabled will be protected by the availability of social insurance transfer programs and state charity. The economic direction of social protection during the period of Russian market reforms is represented by legislative and regulatory acts in this area.
Among the main directions of state policy for the formation conditions for poverty reduction in our country, the following can be attributed:
Carrying out macroeconomic and sectoral policies of stabilization and economic growth as a basis for expanding employment and raising income levels, eliminating arrears in wages and social payments to the population;
Establishment of a system of minimum social guarantees in line with the principles of the welfare state;
Creation of a system of targeted social assistance to the poor, etc.
The state's concern for providing the population with normal living conditions finds expression in social policy. In addition to the elderly and people with disabilities who are below or near the poverty line, a “new poverty” has emerged, driven mainly by unemployment, the large number of single-parent families, and an underdeveloped income regulation system that is not designed to eradicate poverty.
QUESTIONS FOR SELF-CONTROL:
1. From what sources are the incomes of the population generated? Which of them are prevalent in modern Russia?
2. What types of income are generated in your family?
3. What is the cause of income inequality?
4. How is income inequality in society assessed?
5. How is the problem of choosing between social justice and economic efficiency solved through the income policy pursued in society?
6. What is the difference between the level and quality of life of the population?
7. What indicators characterize the level and quality of life of the population?
8. Describe the structure of income and expenses of the family budget.
9. What determines the poverty line? What are the reasons for it? Is it possible to completely get rid of poverty in society?
10. What characterizes the indicator of the living wage? How can it be calculated?
Incomes of participants in a market economy are distributed according to the degree of participation of factors of production (land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship). The factor theory of income does not record the amount of income of individuals, which is formed from various non-factor sources.
The income of the population is understood as the sum of money and material benefits received or produced by households over a certain period of time.
The level of consumption of the population directly depends on the level of income. According to the degree of impact on the consumption process, they are distinguished: nominal, real and real disposable income of the population.
The nominal income of the population is the monetary expression of income received over a certain period. They characterize the level of income regardless of taxation and price changes.
In a socially oriented economy, the share of nominal incomes of the population in GDP fluctuates depending on the level of development of the country and averages 65-75%.
Disposable income is nominal income, reduced by the amount of mandatory payments and taxes, which is the monetary value of the amount appropriated directly by the population for final consumption. Their value is determined by the formula Economic theory: Textbook / Ed. G.P. Zhuravleva, V.E. Saktoeva, E. D. Tsyrenova / [text]. - Ulan-Ude: VSGTU Publishing House, 2005. -P. 433 .:
Dr = Dn-Np,
where Др - disposable income;
Дн - nominal income;
Нп - the amount of taxes and mandatory payments.
Disposable income expresses the relationship between the state and the population regarding the use of funds received. In the system of national accounting, disposable income corresponds to that part of GDP that goes to the population for consumption. The greater the amount of disposable income, the greater part of the GDP is spent on consumption and the greater the amount of necessary material benefits received to support the population's livelihoods.
Real disposable income is income adjusted for price levels.
There are various classifications of the structure of personal income, Appendix A provides one of the most common Economic theory: Textbook / Under general. ed. acad. IN AND. Vidyapina, A.I. Dobrynin, G.P. Zhuravleva, L.S. Tarasevich / [text]. - M .: INFRA-M, 2003. - S. 590 ..
To measure the degree of differentiation in income, Western economic theory and practice suggests using several indicators.
For the sake of clarity, the distribution of income by population groups is depicted in the form of a graph (see Figure 1) Economic theory: Textbook / Ed. A.G. Gryaznova, T.V. Checheleva / [text] .- M .: Examination, 2005. - P. 474., called the Lorenz curve, which demonstrates the deviation of the real income curve from the line of absolute equality.
Figure 1 - Lorentz Curve
On the graph, the bisector D divides the square in half and characterizes absolute equality, i.e. each of the 20% of the population group owns an equal 20% share of the country's income. Such an equal distribution of income is an ideal opportunity that almost cannot be realized. Even if the implementation of the ideal scheme for the distribution of monetary income could be carried out, it would destroy the motivation to work both among entrepreneurs and employees. However, in practice, such a scheme is impossible to implement. An attempt to realize social equality in the Soviet system and equal distribution led to a decrease in production efficiency and social differentiation in Soviet society based on the action of mechanisms not associated with the best achievements in effective labor: proximity to state power and access to the distribution of scarce goods. In a market economy, all of its economic mechanisms are aimed at social differentiation in society.
In real life, income is unevenly distributed. Typically, a smaller proportion of the population owns most of the country's income.
The ideal distribution of income is characterized by the bisector D, while their actual distribution is shown by the Lorentz-IRR curve. The further the Lorentz curve is from the bisector, the more convex it is, the higher the degree of inequality in the distribution of income. In our graph, the Lorenz curve characterizes the differentiation in the incomes of the population of economically developed countries.
For modern Russia, the Lorentz OVSD curve has a more convex character, indicating a significant differentiation in the income of the population.
The Italian economist K. Gini proposed a quantitative assessment of the degree of uneven distribution of incomes or their inequality, which entered economic science as the Gini coefficient Ibid. - P. 475 ..
Coff. J = OVSD / ODE,
The Gini coefficient is calculated by dividing the area of the OVSD by the area of the rectangle ODE, i.e. The larger the GINI area, the larger the Gini coefficient, the higher the degree of income inequality. The value of the Gini coefficient can vary from 0 to 1. However, it can never reach these extremes, since "0" would mean absolute equality, and "1" - absolute inequality.
The standard of living in the narrow sense is the achieved level of consumption by the population of material goods and services. The standard of living in a broad sense is the whole complex of socio-economic conditions of the life of a society.
There are 4 levels of living:
Wealth - the use of goods and services that ensure the all-round development of a person;
Normal level - rational consumption of goods and services, ensuring a person's recovery of his physical and intellectual strength;
1. Poverty - consumption of goods and services at the level of preservation of working capacity as the lowest boundary of the reproduction of labor;
2. Poverty is the minimum permissible set of goods and services according to biological criteria, the consumption of which only allows maintaining human vitality.
It must be said that the concept of living standards is closely interconnected with the concept of income. To characterize the standard of living of the population, a system of indicators is used, consisting of three groups: income of the population, consumption of goods and services by the population, living conditions. These indicators are calculated both for the whole population and per capita.
Three aspects of studying the standard of living are possible:
Applicable to the entire population;
To certain social groups;
To households with different incomes.
The main socio-economic indicators of the standard of living of the population in Belarusian statistics include the following main groups:
Population income indicators;
Indicators of expenditures and consumption of material goods and services by the population;
Saving;
Indicators of accumulated property and housing provision of the population;
Indicators of differentiation of incomes of the population, the level and boundaries of poverty;
Generalizing assessments of the standard of living of the population.
Depending on the unit of measurement and the form of presentation, the indicators characterizing the standard of living are divided into the following groups:
Cost indicators;
Physical indicators that measure the amount of consumption of specific material goods;
Relative indicators showing the proportions and structure of the distribution of wealth.
The experts on the instructions of the government working on the "Strategy-2020", in fact, recognized the social and economic policies of the government as untenable, since they reproduce poverty.
"Only 3% of the population receives more than $ 1000 a month, but about 20 million able-bodied Russians do not want to work at all for various reasons. The share of the population with incomes below the subsistence level has dropped from 29% in 2000 to 13.1% in 2010. , but the social acuteness of the problem remains. "
The concentration of children in poor families leads to a drop in the quality of the country's human potential, experts warn. The minimum wage has increased markedly, but about a third of workers have a wage of less than 1.5 times the subsistence level, and every fifth one is below the subsistence level.
A serious cause for concern is that the share of the economically inactive population among the working-age poor is growing. The reproduction of the poor began with the simultaneous formation of a special subculture of poverty in them, the report says. In 2013, 6.3 million working-age men did not want to work; in 2000 there were 5.9 million of them. This means an increase in the number of recipients of social assistance and the lumpenization of the population, experts warn. There are 5 million carriers of the poverty subculture in Russia. - excluding homeless people and illegal migrants. In large cities, it forms the urban bottom, which was previously absent in Russian society in this form and scale.
Of all the components of socio-economic inequality, differences in income play a special role. Cash income mainly determines the standard of living of people, the motivation of labor and business activity, the social well-being of the population and social tension depend on them.
A generally accepted tool for analyzing the distribution of income between population groups is the Lorenz curve, which reflects the ratio of percentage groups of the population and their shares in total income. On its basis, the Gini coefficient is determined, showing the degree of unevenness of this distribution from 0 to 1. At the present stage of development in Russia, a situation has developed in which the media, the scientific community and even the government constantly focus on the negative picture in the sphere of income differentiation.
Table 1 - Genie and Russia coefficient from 2000 to 2012
There are various factors affecting income differentiation. In addition to generally recognized factors - market structure, individual abilities, etc. - we believe that in the modern world an ever-increasing role in the increasing differentiation of incomes and living standards of the population is played by the moral and ethical norms of modern society and territorial differences in living.
Income differentiation leads to an increasing polarization of society, the emergence of antagonism between people (when declaring the construction of a solidary society), which negatively affects the quality of life of the population. Many modern researchers pay attention to assessing the impact of income differentiation of the population on social processes, on various aspects of human life.
At the present stage of development of Russia, the state policy of income regulation is carried out only in the field of reducing absolute poverty. Of all the variety of instruments in the sphere of state policy of income of the population in Russia, only the minimum wage instrument is used.
Disposable resources of households - the amount of cash and in-kind (in terms of value) funds that households had to finance their consumption and create savings during the survey period.
In recent years, the following changes have been observed in the consumption structure of households with children. Thus, the share of food expenditures in all families in 2012, which amounted to 33.6% of final consumption expenditures, decreased by 1.4 percentage points compared to 2011, and over the period since 2010, the decrease was 1.7 percentage points. In households with one child, the share of expenditures on food was 31.1%, decreasing compared to 2011 and 2010 by 1.3 percentage points and 2.1 percentage points, respectively.
In 2012, work continued to ensure state support for families with children, within the framework of the tasks set in the field of maternity and childhood protection in the messages of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Concept of the long-term socio-economic development of the Russian Federation, the Main directions of activities of the Government of the Russian Federation on period until 2012, as well as the most important decisions made by the President of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation.
In recent years, measures of state support for families with children have become more systemic: new types of benefits have been introduced, and their size is indexed annually, taking into account inflation.
In the period from 2010 to 2012, in order to fully ensure the social obligations of the state to citizens for the payment of social benefits and compensations through interbudgetary transfers transferred to the budget of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, the federal budget was allocated to the budget of the Fund in the amounts presented in the Appendix G.
The statistical analysis of the assessment of families in the Russian Federation is presented in Appendix D.
These data show that the income and property stratification of citizens has not changed much in recent years. The share of 20% of the wealthiest population in 2012 accounted for 47.6% of all monetary income (in 2011 - 47.4% and in 2010 - 47.7%), and the share of 20% of the poorest citizens - 5.2 % (in 2011 - 5.2% and in 2010 - 5.2%).
According to a sample survey of household budgets, disposable resources in households with children under the age of 16 in 2012 amounted to 16,251 rubles on average per household member per month (in 2011 - 14,062 rubles, in 2010 - 12,051 rubles ).
At the same time, the incomes of large families are significantly lower than in other categories of families with children.
Thus, disposable resources in households with four or more children in 2012 amounted to 5,574 rubles (in 2011 - 6,617 rubles, in 2010 - 3,869 rubles), in households with three children - 9605 rubles (in 2011 - 8 084 rubles, in 2010 - 7 490 rubles), and in households with one child - 17 664 rubles (in 2011 - 15 182 rubles, in 2010 - 12 756 rubles).
