About the crisis, consumption and social policy of the state

The crisis processes taking place in the Russian economy directly influenced the socio-economic development of the regions. The Vologda Oblast has also turned out to be among the territories that are under the influence of crisis phenomena. However, according to the data of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, since mid-2015 there has been a consistent halt of economic activity decline, namely a slight increase of the main macroeconomic indicators or a monthly slowdown of decline rate. At the same time, against the backdrop of positive trends and favorable forecasts of socio-economic development, the income of the population and the level of household consumption were demonstrating negative dynamics. The purpose of the study presented in the article is the analysis of the peculiarities and trends developing in the sphere of consumer behavior of the population of the region in the context of crisis processes in the economy. The study of trends in the sphere of material consumption of the inhabitants of the region was conducted on the basis of the public opinion monitoring data of ISEDT RAS. To study the socio-psychological factors shaping the consumer behavior of the population, an integrated index of consumer sentiment was used. It was calculated according to the methodology of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (USA). Studies have shown that in 2015-2016 negative trends in consumption were noted. The deterioration in the estimates of consumption of goods and services was due to a decrease in the income growth rates and price increase. The worsening of the situation in the sphere of consumption was occurring during the stabilization of the main macroeconomic indicators, thus indicating a weak government social policy. The improvement of the situation on the consumer market, as well as the economy’s moving toward a stable development path, will largely depend on the effectiveness of measures taken by federal and regional authorities to support income levels, overcome excessive differentiation and stratification of the population in terms of wealth, create additional measures for supporting low-income social groups, to increase budget spending on social needs, as well as the stabilization of the situation on the labor market.