Financial behavior of the population during the 2014-2015 economic crisis

The article considers the changes in people’s financial behavior that occurred under the influence of the “structural recession” of the Russian economy. Any changes in the economic behavior of the population in the context of its individual types are caused by transformations taking place in society, proceed from people’s adaptation to new conditions and affect the duration and consequences of crisis processes. The goal of our study is to identify changes in people’s financial behavior caused by the economic crisis of 2014-2015. The paper uses official statistical data and materials of national and regional sociological surveys. We analyze manifestations of the 2014-2015 crisis, such as the changes in the level and use of monetary incomes, bank deposits and loan debt of the population. On the basis of regional sociological studies we reveal the changes in people’s financial behavior. We find out that during the crisis processes the growth rates of bank deposits and loan debt decreased, the structure of savings and credit purposes changed, and the violations in the regularity of loan payments became more frequent. In particular, at the regional level (in the Vologda Oblast), the share of inhabitants with savings has decreased significantly, the share of those who are saving money to use when they retire and the share of car loans have decreased; the share of savings for improving housing conditions, for recreation and travel, as well as the share of loans for urgent needs and unforeseen expenses have increased; the number of cases of overdue monthly payments on loans has increased. At the same time, some components of financial behavior turned out to be insensitive to the changing economic situation, among them - the reasons for refusal to form savings, the most common forms of accumulation, and the criteria for choosing a bank. We conclude that there are no mass deviant practices in the financial behavior of the population of the region in the crisis period; in general, people adapt to the changes that take place in the socio-economic situation. We recommend using the results of the monitoring studies of financial and other types of economic behavior in the activities of regional authorities in order to obtain timely information on current changes and make adequate management decisions.