All news
HSE Research Director Talks About the Phenomenon of the “Poor in Quotes” in Russia
According to RBC, he spoke at a scientific seminar about the phenomenon of “citizens without quotes” in Russia.
This phenomenon is that adult children of wealthy parents who live off their own money are statistically perceived as the poorest citizens, although in fact this is not the case. This distorts income statistics and prevents countries from formulating effective social policies.
Kuzminov stressed that this phenomenon is much more widespread in Russia than in Europe or the United States, so it must be taken into account for an accurate analysis. Kuzminov noted that such "poor" people live in their parents' apartments, drive cars and spend money, which leads to discrepancies in income and expense data.
Kuzminov also pointed out another important point – hidden consumption at the corporate level. He called it “travel expenses,” which include the cost of hotels, restaurants, and other services. These costs are not included in private consumption statistics, which limits the country’s ability to correctly assess economic activity and develop support measures.
Kuzminov also noted that statistics need to be updated to provide a more accurate understanding of effective demand. Gaps in this area make the behavior of high-income households, which play a key role in the economy, unpredictable.
Let us recall that President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to ensure growth in real incomes of the population and to pay attention to low-income groups of the population.
Central Bank Chairperson Elvira Nabiullina outlined a set of measures covering six key areas of poverty reduction in Russia.