On the economic sustainability of Russian households at a socially acceptable level

The paper is focused on determination and analysis of the thresholds for socially acceptable criteria of economic sustainability for households of different composition. The paper shows the key methodological aspects of determining the economic sustainability of households and its socially acceptable criterion. The main macroeconomic conditions for the formation of economic sustainability of households in Russia are also considered. Besides, the characteristics of employment for the people living in economically (un)sustainable households have been identified and analysed. The basis for the household economic sustainability, according to the authors, is self-sufficiency that enables using its own resources to support the socially acceptable level of consumption of socially significant goods and to accumulate savings subject to the resources’ limitations and social risks. The socially acceptable consumer budget is used as the criterion for identification of the household economic sustainability, including the specifics of the consumption of the main socio-demographic groups of the population (population of working age, pensioners, children) and savings in consumption due to cohabitation. Differentiating features of the threshold values for the households of different types are determined in the paper. It is shown that the threshold values of the criterion for economic sustainability of households per household member decrease as the number of minor children per 1 adult increases. However, the income position of such households worsens and, in conditions of unsustainability, the income deficit increases relative to the threshold value. It is revealed that there are no unemployed individuals among the people from economically sustainable households (unlike those living in economically unsustainable ones), while the situation regarding the share of the employed and the level of income from employment varies, depending on the composition of households, indicating different “strategies” for achieving sustainability of their households.