Welfare level definition. The well-being of the nation as a global goal of the economic development of the Russian Federation, the main indicators and problems of assessing the well-being

PROBLEMS OF WELFARE OF THE POPULATION OF RUSSIA

The problems of the level and quality of life are among the most urgent. The reason is the economic crisis of 2008-2010, against the background of which there was a deep drop in the level and quality of life of the main part of the population in the world.

Ensuring the economic well-being of a person is one of the main tasks of the state. Of course, the role of the state in ensuring economic well-being largely depends on the socio-economic model of the country, but most states, to the best of their ability, try to provide serious support to their citizens. As the world's leading economists have repeatedly proven, this is also justified from an economic point of view - smoothing out social inequalities and compensating for market failures helps to stimulate economic growth.

The formation of the Russian welfare model takes place under the influence of a number of factors and conditions that make up the institutional environment and structure, and depends on the trajectory of the previous development of the national system. These factors can be conditionally divided into past and present factors.

The factors of the past include the specifics of the development of the Russian economy, in connection with this, the prevailing stereotypes in society, the mentality, a crisis 1998 etc. The factors of the present include those real conditions that have developed in society today: the level and degree of income differentiation, regional,territorial, sectoral imbalances, GDP, human development index capital and others.

But in order to better understand the situation with economic well-being, it is necessary to turn to national statistics, that is, to the data of Rosgosstat. One of the main indicators is the subsistence minimum and the percentage of the population below the poverty line.

The subsistence minimum is an indicator of the volume and structure of consumption of the most important material goods and services at the minimum allowablea level that provides conditions for maintaining the active physical condition of the population.

The subsistence minimum of the Russian Federation for the III quarter of 2016 was established by Decree No. 1275 of December 01, 2016 and is:

per capita - 9889 rubles per month;

for the able-bodied population - 10678 rubles per month;

for pensioners - 8136 rubles per month;

for children - 9668 rubles per month.

Officially numberpopulation with average per capita cash income for 2016 below the minimum subsistence level established in Russia as a whole - 18.9 million people.

In Russia, according to UN criteria, 20-30% of the population lives in poverty, three-quarters of the population of Russia live in poverty. Unlike Western countries we did not have a "leakage" of income from the rich to the poor, rather - "poor poor, rich rich". The gap between the richest layers - the top10% of the population - and the poorest 10% is, according to various estimates, 15-20 times.

The problem of the well-being of the population is one of the important problems of society. To solve this problem, it is necessary to have a clear and specific plan for the development of society and the improvement of the welfare of the country.

Critical importance in solving the problem of well-being have food programs (in socio-economic and environmental terms). The realization of the genetic potential of individuals, social groups, nations depends on the solution of the problem of optimal nutrition.

Political stability in society depends on food security. Thus, the state should contribute to maintaining stable food prices by subsidizing them.

One of the most important aspects of an individual's well-being is his employment in social production. During the transition to the market, just as in the framework of the functioning of a developed market mechanism, unemployment is inevitable. But if society aims to achieve the goals of individual well-being, ensuring efficient and stable employment should be one of the main objectives of economic policy.

The growth of the level of economic well-being depends on the effectiveness of measures to activate the human factor, enrich the content of labor, which is due to the presence of special broad knowledge that is emerging in the process of developing the education system. A high economic culture is needed, the ability to participate in price competition, to focus on maximizing utility. The expansion of the education system is a means of reducing the gap between the demand and supply of various types of work. Educational growth is one of the most important drivers of income growth.

For international comparison of the standard of living (well-being), the UN uses the so-called "human development index", which includes a convertednational income per capita, life expectancy, education. According to the new Human Development Index, Norway is recognized as the most prosperous country in the world. The top five most prosperous countries also included Australia, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands. Russia ranks 50th in the ranking, sharing it with Belarus. This is reported in the Human Development Report 2015 ( ) prepared by the United Nations Development Program.

Welfare includes the following components: income and ; state social guarantees and paid , and social protection.

The main element of well-being is the level and differentiation of incomes of the population. The level of income as a whole is the result of the development of the country's economy and the presence in it natural resources. Income differentiation is formed under the influence of economic, demographic and social factors and is measured by the ratio of the level of material security of 10 percent of the most and 10 percent of the poorest groups of the population (decile coefficient).

One of the main characteristics of the well-being of the population is the degree to which monetary incomes correspond to the subsistence level. In the study of well-being, the problem of poverty is acute - a consequence of low income, low qualifications, unemployment, the presence of dependents, etc.

Inflation negatively affects the well-being of the population, which devalues the income of the population. The negative consequences of inflation are neutralized through the policy of indexation of income.

Another equally important factor is demographic. Demographic

the situation of society is the most important guideline of production and social policy. The health of the nation is directly dependent on the individual well-being of citizens, on the quality of the environment, personal and collective security, and others.

Aggregatewell-being of the world population over the past year by 5.2%.The decline was recorded for the first time since 2007-2008.

Analyzing data on the distribution of income, we can conclude that globally, billionaires control less than 2% of the total amount of world wealth, while Russian billionaires control up to 30% of national wealth. As a result, Russia leads the world in terms of income inequalitywhich negatively affects the well-being of the majority of the population of the country.

Despite the decline in the total volume of world wealth, since 2000, an increase in the well-being of the population of the entire Earth by 38% has been recorded.

According to the forecasts of prominent economists, the well-being of the population of the entireworld by 2017 will increase by almost 50%.

The United States will retain its leading position in terms of the level of wealth of the population, in Europe this indicator will grow to the current level of the United States. China will increase prosperity and surpass Japan, which now occupies second place, in this indicator. And Russia by 2017 will reach a level equal to the level of the United States in 1904. However, as many economists note, the main thing is not to catch up with America in terms of “gross wealth”, but to ensure its even distribution. In this, Russia, as can be seen from the survey data, has not yet succeeded.

In the coming year, one can expect an acceleration in the growth rates of world GDP and national wealth. But the problem of the difference in the level of income in Russia is unlikely to be solved in this case, although so far it has been partially leveled by the fact that the level of well-being has been growing both among the wealthy and the poor.

Thus, the level of well-being is largely determined by income, which is one of the important indicators economic development. The elements that provide the resource potential of economic growth in the new economy are: humanAndsocial capital, national wealth in all its diversity.www. statistika.ru

Introduction

Any process occurring in the economy, to one degree or another, constantly faces the problem of a discrepancy between the distribution of a limited amount of resources and the corresponding system of their use, therefore it has not only economic, but also social overtones. In the previous years of reforms, preference was given mainly to the transformation of economic institutions, while insufficient attention was paid to the tasks of social development, improving the level and quality of life of citizens. This hindered the country's further advancement along the path of socio-economic progress.

As a result, one of the constantly observed phenomena in the modern economy has become an increase in social fatigue and passivity of the population, a decrease in expectations for a prosperous future, and a narrowing of the horizons of economic, personal and family socio-economic planning. There was a gap of interests, in particular, the economic interests of man and society. The discrepancy lies in the fact that the personal interest of individuals, at the moment, is little combined with state interests, all this leads to a decrease in the degree of general well-being, and an increase in the well-being of individual individuals, who are represented by a small stratum of society. As a result, there is a waste of natural, ecological and material resources of the country, the previously accumulated qualification, intellectual, spiritual and physical potential of the people. The resolution of the accumulated social problems and contradictions becomes an urgent problem.
In addition, along with economic and political changes in society, moral criteria, norms, ideas of all members of society about social inequality have also undergone a transformation. This led to a shift in emphasis, priorities, as well as a sharp differentiation of the interests of various social groups. A large layer of the unprotected population appeared, which exacerbated social and personal instability, and even greater inequality, manifested in an increase in the proportion of the population with low incomes. Getting into such an unfavorable financial environment, even a developed personality or strong families that previously had a high income are forced to experience material deprivation for a long time. This does not contribute to a positive assessment of the level of well-being. The level of well-being is determined not only by income, but also by other indicators that characterize the conditions of the place of residence, the degree of comfort of the living environment, job satisfaction, etc. The purpose of my control work is to study the well-being of the population, its structure and dynamics, and I also want to reveal the concept of poverty , to note the ways and methods of overcoming it.

1. Economic policy and welfare of the population, its structure, differentiation and dynamics.

1.1 Welfare, its essence, characteristics

Welfare is a characteristic of the socio-economic conditions of life and satisfaction of the needs of the population. According to the UN recommendations, well-being is a system of several elements: health, incl. demographic conditions, food, clothing, consumption and accumulation funds; working conditions, employment, labor organization; education, incl. literacy; housing; social Security; human freedoms. For international comparison of the standard of living (well-being), the UN uses the so-called "human development index", which includes the converted national income per capita, life expectancy, education.

The main element of well-being is the level and differentiation of incomes of the population. The level of income as a whole is the result of the development of the country's economy and the availability of natural resources in it. Income differentiation is formed under the influence of economic, demographic and social factors and is measured by the ratio of the level of material security of 10 percent of the most and 10 percent of the poorest groups of the population (decile coefficient).

One of the main characteristics of the well-being of the population is the degree to which monetary incomes correspond to the subsistence level. Thus, the Declaration of the Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen (Part 2, Article 26) stipulates that “pensions, benefits and other types of social assistance must ensure a standard of living below the living wage established by law.” The subsistence minimum is an indicator of the volume and structure of consumption of the most important material goods and services at the minimum acceptable level, which provides the conditions for maintaining the active physical condition of the population. The subsistence minimum budget is a cost estimate of the natural set of the subsistence minimum, and also includes the cost of taxes and mandatory payments. In the study of well-being, the problem of poverty is acute - a consequence of low income, low qualifications, unemployment, the presence of dependents, etc.

Well-being, along with income and consumption, includes working and living conditions, the volume and structure of working and free time, indicators of cultural and educational level, health, demography, and the demographic and environmental situation. In most countries with a market economy, the predominant part of the costs of education, medicine, and social services is covered by collective sources of financing. Inflation, which devalues the income of the population, negatively affects the well-being of the population. The negative consequences of inflation are neutralized through the policy of indexation of income.

1.2 Dynamics of the well-being of the population, sources of its influence

In modern conditions, when the main characteristic of a developed society is its social orientation, special attention must be paid to material sources that ensure well-being. One of the sources is, first of all, the income of the population. Therefore, to characterize well-being, it is necessary to study the sources of life support. They most fully reflect the relationship between income and well-being.

Welfare is a multi-layered and multi-aspect category. It is characterized not only by the level of income, but also by the satisfaction of people with their lives in terms of satisfaction of various needs and interests, depending on various factors that directly affect it. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to consider and investigate it taking into account specific features. The impact of causes and conditions, as you know, is not the same for different periods of the development of society, characterized by a certain dynamics of the economy.

In addition, the importance of this topic is further enhanced by the fact that as market relations and transformations in the socio-economic sphere develop, the economic and social conditions of the region play an increasingly prominent role.

Different provision and degree of intensity of the use of factors led to an increase in regional differences in the level of well-being of citizens. In addition, in modern market conditions, there are processes that have a certain impact on the real level of well-being of the population living in the region. All this is connected with the growth of the economic independence of the regions. The regions with the best values for each specific indicator, for example, the highest per capita income, the lowest subsistence level, etc., are recognized as economically developed. Based on these data, the rating of a particular region is determined. At the same time, now almost all regions are dependent not only on the degree of saturation with resources, but also on the level of their depletion located on its territory. This is an objective reason that determines the material possibility of development.

Each region has a certain degree of saturation and completeness of the use of resources. As a result, a level characteristic of well-being is necessary. When considering it, it is necessary to take as the basis of the source of income not only general provisions, but also regional features and conditions affecting income generation.

Therefore, it is necessary to undertake a deeper study of the influence of individual sources on the level of well-being of citizens, studying not only the totality of factors, but also the sources that have the most significant impact on its growth in specific economic conditions. One of them is the level of income and their structure. It is he who has the greatest influence in modern conditions.
The degree of development of the problem The methodological foundations of the study of welfare problems have been given considerable attention from the very beginning of the formation of economic theory as a science. Welfare economics emerged as a kind of neoclassical sub-sector. The basis for its emergence was the work of A. Smith, D. Riccardo, K. Marx, A. Marshall, L. Walras.

1.3 Criteria of well-being: essence, types, assessments

Welfare is not only a characteristic of the development of society, but also an objectively necessary condition for its development. In addition, the growth of welfare can be equated with an increase in wealth, the growth of which is directly related to economic growth, the accumulation of capital and other resources, and therefore the basis for the growth of welfare is material production that creates material well-being.

For any economy that seeks to increase the material bases and benefits in society, it is necessary to create a structure and growth criteria that can be applied systematically. The criterion of well-being means a balanced impact of economic efficiency and the distribution of income received between government programs, in which one of the main consequences and one of the main goals of government activity is a change in income.

The impact of welfare on the economy is associated with the creation and use of the necessary material foundations and benefits in society, it includes all aspects of human activity necessary for full-fledged life support. The problem of achieving well-being in society has been and is being tried to be solved for several centuries.

The wealth of an individual, according to A. Smith, depends on "the amount of the labor that he can dispose of or that he can buy," as well as the ability to dispose of the products of the labor of other people. He defined the quantitative assessment of well-being as how much an individual or society becomes richer with a change in time and place, causing an increase in real income, which is tantamount to an increase in well-being. At the same time, he linked the growth of material foundations and benefits in society with a decrease in the hardships that one would have to go to in order to obtain a higher income.

Thus, analyzing the nature of the formation and distribution of income, he notices that the income itself has a factorial origin, and their distribution is carried out according to market laws. The income of workers (wages), according to A. Smith, is the result of labor, and it depends on its quantity, severity and complexity.

In addition, Smith suggested that the wealth of an individual is measured by the ability to dispose of the products of other people's labor. At the same time, the pursuit of wealth in the conditions of the division of labor is motivated by the desire to reduce the burden of labor for oneself and place it on others. Therefore, a person, evaluating his financial condition or the quantity of goods that he owns, expresses it in the amount of other people's labor that he could buy on the market for his goods.

Thus, he advocated an increase in social welfare, considering it a positive function of population. The labor nature of its growth is a feature of the quantitative measurement of well-being. However, with the growth of real incomes, the well-being of an individual can not only grow, but also decrease.

Nevertheless, he denied the regularity of the decrease in wages to the subsistence minimum and was convinced that with high wages one can always find workers who are more active, diligent and intelligent than with low wages.

2.1 Levels and forms of poverty in Russia

Poverty in modern Russia It is not homogeneous and has several levels, which differ both in terms of financial situation, social and professional activities, and leisure preferences of people.

In poverty, at least two levels stand out quite distinctly - just poverty whose representatives made up 19.0% in our study. And poverty, where 6.5% of the respondents live. According to the data obtained, the level and lifestyle that correspond more to the concept of “poverty” than “poverty is distinguished by the following characteristics: accumulated debts, including rent, lack of household items, and poor housing conditions. Among those who fell into the category of “poor”, the proportion of those who lived in dormitories, communal apartments and rented housing (34.7%) was twice as high as among the simply poor.

There are also two forms of poverty: "sustainable" And "floating". The first is related to the fact that low level social security, as a rule, leads to poor health, dequalification, and degradation. Poor parents reproduce potentially poor children. Social studies of the stability of poverty confirmed this hypothesis and showed. That people who are "born as permanently poor" remain so throughout their lives. The second form, which is much less common, is due to the fact that the poor sometimes make incredible efforts and “jump out” of their social, vicious circle, adapting to new conditions, defending their right to a better life.

The type of poverty, expressed in the fact that the income of a particular family, group, stratum does not reach a given value, can be considered as poverty. absolute. Subsistence is the minimum necessary to sustain life, and to be below this level means to experience absolute poverty, since the individual does not have enough means to sustain life. In today's Russia, three degrees of absolute poverty are clearly distinguished:

1. poverty , the deepest acute poverty; In a position of absolute poverty, the deepest poverty are people who do not have a physiological minimum means of subsistence. These are those who are on the verge of permanent malnutrition, if not starvation, or beyond this line.

2. need, average poverty; covers those groups of the population who have enough funds for the simplest physiological needs, but who cannot satisfy social needs, even the most elementary ones. In a state of need are people whose income is less than the official subsistence minimum, but more than half or two-thirds of it.

3. insecurity, or under-provided, moderate poverty. In such conditions, people eat more or less satisfyingly, somehow renew their clothes, get medical treatment, and rest. However, all this is done at a level and in forms that do not reach the standards that are considered normal and worthy within the framework of this culture.

Absolute poverty is opposed relative poverty.

This concept is more subjective as it requires someone to assess the level of poverty, and who should make the assessment is a moot point.

The relative definition of poverty is based on a comparison of the living standard of the poor and the standard of living of the non-poor segments of the population. As a rule, the average living standard is used.

If there are mass groups in a society that consider their standard of living to be significantly and unjustifiably lower than that of other social categories or at a different time, in a different territory, then such groups will feel and behave as being in a situation of poverty, regardless of the absolute size of their income and consumption. In this sense, it is appropriate to speak of relative poverty.

2.2 The problem of poverty, factors of downward social mobility

The core of the problem of poverty is the presence in society of people, families, social groups and categories of the population whose incomes do not reach a certain minimum value and whose consumption is therefore below certain minimum standards.

The problem of poverty now affects too wide circles of society, including those that until recently were represented by skilled workers and part of the middle class. In view of the objective difficulty of involving persons who replenish the lower class in timely production and the actual inaccessibility of a normal education for their children, the problem of the lower class becomes to a certain extent hereditary, and migration beyond it becomes more and more difficult.

At present, sociological studies conducted by various research teams and think tanks give a mixed picture of the extent of poverty in Russia. Moreover, estimates of the proportion of the poor in the population range from 50 to 80%.

The most typical factors that determine the risk of being in one or another group of the poor include: loss of health, low skill level, displacement from the labor market, low per capita real income and material security, high family “burden” (large families, single-parent families, etc.). .); individual characteristics associated with lifestyle, value orientations (those who do not want to work, have bad habits, etc.).

The problem of poverty arises as a result of a violation of the objectively determined proportions of social reproduction: the proportions of activity; state proportions; proportions of relations: man - society - nature, man - social group - class - society. They are based on the key proportion between the productive and consumer power of society, the expression of which is the ratio of working and free time.

The problem of poverty is associated with social forms of alienation of a person from a person (from society), from the prerequisites and results of labor, from labor itself, with a significant restriction on the consumption of basic life goods, with the formation of such conditions under which the subculture of the poor turns into a factor destabilizing the life of society.

Thus, five global factors of downward social mobility can be distinguished:

political determinism - downward social mobility - the result of ongoing economic reforms, the consequences of the war in Afghanistan and Chechnya, as well as the collapse of the USSR;

criminality - downward social mobility is associated with criminality, with criminal behavior (theft, extortion, violence, robbery);

personal bad luck in life - getting to the “social bottom” is explained by illness, disability, poor upbringing in the family;

own fault, tendency to vices - the process of downward social mobility is intensified by drunkenness, drug addiction, substance abuse, prostitution;

social isolation - downward mobility is due to refusal to obey social norms, homelessness, isolation from society, loss of ties with family and loved ones, lack of work, faith in God.

2.3 Ways to overcome poverty

Thus, speaking about the causes of poverty and the prospects for overcoming it, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between two independent aspects of this problem - an objective reduction in the number of people experiencing multiple deprivation, on the one hand, and the feeling of being "on the line" or "below the line" of poverty as a subjective one. , a socio-psychological phenomenon associated with real level poverty nothing more than with a number of other factors. At present, all attention is focused only on the fight against "objective" poverty, understood moreover as a formal discrepancy between available incomes and the officially established subsistence minimum. Such a formulation of the problem in relation to "objective" poverty is both incorrect and insufficient.

However, in fact, "subjective" poverty is also very dangerous for Russia's sustainable socio-economic development in the future, and the fight against it is an independent and very difficult task, the significance of which is not yet sufficiently recognized by state authorities, specialists, and the general public.

Poverty is not dangerous in itself. The fight against poverty is also necessary not only because it is dictated by the need for social stability or humanitarian considerations. If we ignore economic considerations related to the fact that poverty contributes to the narrowness of the internal market or the position of law enforcement agencies, for which poverty acts as a generator of domestic and street crime, then there is at least one very important reason that lies in line with social issues that requires a sharp activation community efforts in this area. This relationship between poverty and social exclusion.

Social exclusion is a term so far unfamiliar to both Russian specialists dealing with poverty issues and Russian politicians. In this regard, it should be noted that over the past two decades, two approaches to the problem of social exclusion have developed in the Western sociological tradition. The first one, interpreting social exclusion in the broad sense of the word, considers the phenomenon of exclusion at the macro level, from the standpoint of society and focuses on the lack of access for

part of the population to integration mechanisms. The key word for this

approach is “discrimination”.

The second approach analyzes the situation of the bearers of social exclusion themselves and focuses on what is the specificity of the life situation of members of this group in relation to other members of society, why they were excluded, “thrown out” from society, how they turned into “outcasts” and how they experience it. your state. And if exclusion is understood in this way, then exclusion leads to a long, as a rule, lasting at least 5–7 years, being below the poverty line. value orientations of people. Moreover, in the case of a smooth long-term impoverishment, exclusion may not be realized for a long time until significant needs are actualized, which turn out to be impossible to satisfy due to low incomes and discrimination from all alternative forms of problem solving.

This allows us to talk about the formation in modern Russian society of a special multimillion-strong layer of the socially excluded, which, in principle, did not exist in the social structure of Russia ten years ago. characteristic of modern world negative social phenomena and, accordingly, the development of special mechanisms for the integration of representatives of chronic poverty into society or, at least, the development of special measures for the integration of children from these families into society.

Unfortunately, in Russia, not only the public consciousness, but also the broad scientific or political circles turned out to be unprepared to take the measures necessary to neutralize the negative effects of exclusion, and even simply to realize them. At the same time, dealing with the negative consequences of mass social exclusion is much more difficult and incomparably more expensive than dealing with poverty, and the time allotted for understanding this is running out.

List of sources used

1. Ivanov V.N., Suvorov A.V. Inequality and poverty of the population: the experience of solving the problem in Russia and abroad // Problems of Forecasting. - 2006. - No. 3. - P. 144. - 150

2. Inshakov O., Frolov D. " Simple people» and indicators of development // The Economist. - 2006. - No. 11. - P. 64 - 68

3. Sharin V. Is it possible to stop the reproduction of poverty? //

Man and labor. - 2005. - No. 7. - P. 25. - 31

4. Sharin V. Overcoming poverty in Russia // Social

security. - 2005. - No. 8. - S. 24 - 28

5. Bernard I. Explanatory economic and financial dictionary in 2 volumes Moscow 1997

6. Fundamentals of economics. Textbook edited by Kozhevnikov N.N. Moscow 2006

7. Borovik V.S. Fundamentals of political science and sociology. Textbook 3rd ed. Moscow 2006

8. Kravchenko A.I. Sociology and political science. Tutorial. Moscow 2001

Course work

Name of discipline Macroeconomics

Topic: Welfare of the nation as a global goal of economic development Russian Federation, main indicators and problems of well-being assessment

Student Sinyugaeva T.G.

Introduction

welfare of the nation

Welfare of the nation as a global goal of the economic development of the Russian Federation

Conclusion

Glossary

Introduction

The problem of the formation of the well-being of the population is currently acquiring a new sound in many developed countries of the world. People with their needs and interests are the focus of many governments. Such concern for a person is due to the increasing importance of creative and personal elements in labor processes. The strengthening of democracy and the expansion of rights is accompanied by the transformation of a person from a simple performer of specified labor functions into a full-fledged member of society with professional skills, a sufficient level of education and a developed system of needs. A more complete satisfaction of the entire spectrum of human needs, including the need for creative work and free self-realization, becomes both the ultimate goal of social development and a condition for further social progress. Increasing attention is being paid to creating conditions for the free and harmonious development of man, which means not only increasing incomes, but also improving education, nutrition and health, improving the environment and equality of opportunity.

Created wealth arises from the ability to create goods and services that can be efficiently produced and profitably sold in domestic and foreign markets. Wealth can only be created by companies.

The wealth created can include goods and services that depend on inherited resources, but add value to them.

The wealth created is limited only by the innovative approach and dynamism of commercial enterprises operating in the country.

The state cannot create wealth, but plays an important role in regulating the conditions that enable or hinder wealth creation.

It turns out that we have simply reduced the very concept of well-being to the financial sphere. Although, even at first glance it is clear that the word consists of two words “good” and “state”, i.e. well-being is a state of well-being, it is when it is good, it is something more holistic.

Welfare - the provision of the population with material and spiritual benefits, i.e. items, services and conditions. satisfying human needs.

In the dictionary of S.I. Ozhegova: well-being is prosperity, well-being.

The main indicator for assessing national welfare is GDP. The indicator of GDP is used by all countries to calculate not only the achieved economic and industrial development, but also its derivatives (for example, GDP per capita) are used to characterize social development).

Also, the human development index is used as an indicator of the well-being of the nation. The index is a composite indicator of human development, the main components of which are the physical condition of people, their longevity: the indicator is the average life expectancy, the spiritual and intellectual development of people: the indicator is the level of education, calculated on the basis of two elementary indicators: the proportion of literates among the adult population and average duration of training; material security of people, i.e. real per capita income: indicator - GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power and even distribution of income in society.

Thus, to analyze the well-being of the nation, many indicators are calculated, including GDP per capita, human development index, and quality of life index.

1. Welfare of the nation

1 Welfare, its essence, characteristics

The well-being of a society is largely determined by its capabilities or potential, called national wealth.

National wealth is the overall result of the development of the social process of production throughout history.

Net economic wealth is a measure of the economic well-being of a society, taking into account not only available income, but also the quality of life.

At the moment, among scientists there is no consensus on what is meant by the term "public welfare". Some believe that this is a purely ethical concept associated with value judgments of various people (statesmen, legislators, scientists) about the influence economic structure on the well-being of the members of society. Other scientists believe that this concept has an exact meaning and is a set of individual well-being of all members of society, aggregated in a certain way.

Welfare - what is meant by this term? What Wikipedia says about it. To convey the meaning briefly, this is the provision of the population (from a group of individuals to an individual member) with certain social, material, spiritual benefits.

Welfare directly depends on the level of development of society and on how effectively the state pursues social and economic policy. Then the standard of living or material well-being of society is determined by the level of per capita income.

Welfare synonyms are well-being (including material). This is prosperity, wealth, contentment, security, solvency, property, sufficiency and even happiness.

Is it then easier to say that people's well-being is how satisfied people are with the material, social, spiritual situation in their country?

But it is now that ancient traditions and rituals are being revived. We reached out to that almost lost spirituality that was once inherent in our ancestors.

But in the explanatory dictionary of V. Dahl there is a word "good, good" has a double meaning. On the one hand, it means virtuous, useful, good, plentiful, etc.

On the other hand, good is wayward, restless, not good, bad. Isn't that why the very concept of increasing welfare causes conflicting feelings in us?

As if by raising your standard of living, you are not doing a very good thing? Isn't that the root of our troubles? How many of us, grown up under socialism, have been told that living richly is bad.

And from this position, I wanted to consider the concept of "welfare" as a good state, goodness when you have as much as you need now, in given time, and not littered with gold to the top.

Over the past half century, as abundance and technological innovation have increased throughout the world, so has the wealth of most of the world's population. Today's average individual lives longer, gets sick less, is better educated, goes hungry less often, and has less child labor. As reasons explaining the achieved level of social welfare, the existing welfare theories are called: geographical position, favorable climate, availability of natural resources, population, human capital, scientific and technological progress, level of economic development, participation in the system of international economic relations, etc. Each of the theories of well-being, being interesting in its own way, unfortunately could not provide convincing evidence of its own viability.

The difficulty faced by economists in the study of welfare problems is due to the fact that it is the concept of "welfare" that refers simultaneously to economic science and ethics, so any theory of welfare is explicitly or implicitly based on some ethical postulates.

The well-being of a person and society is an integral assessment of all aspects of a person’s life, which shows how “well” he lives a certain period of his life. In order for the above definition of well-being to have a meaningful meaning, it is necessary to establish an ethical criterion that clearly defines what is good and what is bad for a person.

Indeed, the well-being of the population is formed under the influence of many factors that have a different nature, nature and degree of impact. These factors influence the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of vital goods, determine the state of the natural and social environment in which human needs are satisfied. The whole set of factors can be represented as follows.

Economic factors are the conditions that affect the distribution of scarce resources and the creation of economic benefits necessary to satisfy needs.

Non-economic factors are a combination of personal, social, technical and technological, demographic and natural parameters of the country.

The main element of well-being is the level and differentiation of incomes of the population. The level of income as a whole is the result of the development of the country's economy and the availability of natural resources in it. Income differentiation is formed under the influence of economic, demographic and social factors and is measured by the ratio of the level of material security of 10 percent of the most and 10 percent of the poorest groups of the population (decile coefficient).

One of the main characteristics of the well-being of the population is the degree to which monetary incomes correspond to the subsistence level.

Thus, the Declaration of the Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen (Part 2, Article 26) stipulates that “pensions, benefits and other types of social assistance must ensure a standard of living below the living wage established by law.”

The subsistence minimum is an indicator of the volume and structure of consumption of the most important material goods and services at the minimum acceptable level, which provides the conditions for maintaining an active physical condition of the population. The subsistence minimum budget is a cost estimate of the natural set of the subsistence minimum, and also includes the cost of taxes and mandatory payments. In the study of well-being, the problem of poverty is acute - a consequence of low income, low qualifications, unemployment, the presence of dependents, etc.

Economic growth is not the only factor of prosperity. Equally important are social and environmental factors. Assessing the resources of humanity, i.e. real wealth, including natural resources, allows a better understanding of what policy changes are needed to move towards a sustainable development path.

Many resource-rich countries (including Russia) have not been able to achieve the level of prosperity achieved by countries with much less legacy resources.

This is because the availability of resources creates difficulties for the development of a non-resource-based economy.

This is far from limited to the Dutch disease and rising domestic spending preventing the country from diversifying into new commodity markets.

Abundance of resources can lead to the emergence of such structures government controlled and an incentive system that hinders competitiveness.

With resources, governments can also support non-economic policies such as subsidies and the preservation of unproductive jobs.

In addition, natural resource wealth tends to place the state and its role in wealth distribution at the forefront of economic policy over the private sector, worsening the conditions for wealth creation.

It is possible to generalize the development of welfare theories in the form of a graphic scheme of a “tree” growing from the roots of neoclassical theory: marginalist concepts of individual welfare, Marshallian welfare theory and the concept of general equilibrium by L. Walras.

The idea of the content of the concept of "welfare" has historically developed in parallel with changes in the processes of social reproduction. In the above diagram, we can see the evolution of the development of welfare theories, which is built on a chronological basis, and grouped depending on the change in the stages of social production and research paradigms, as well as taking into account approaches to interpretations in determining the category of welfare, which were closest to one or another scientist in a certain period of time.

Welfare includes the following components: income and consumption; state social guarantees and paid services, social security and social protection.

The well-being of the country is the provision of the population of the state with the material, social and spiritual benefits necessary for life. Welfare is directly dependent on the level of development of productive forces and the nature of economic relations. To an even greater extent, it is connected with the effectiveness of socio-economic policy in a given society. Economists are often criticized for using only gross domestic product (GDP) to measure the welfare of countries, which does not take into account many of the factors that affect living standards. When a country's GDP is high, this indicates the average income of the country's citizens, which reflects their well-being only under the assumption of "other things being equal". But this assumption is not always fulfilled. There is a method for determining the welfare of a country by examining people's subjective satisfaction with their lives. And on the recommendation of the UN since 1978 in international statistics standard of living The population is estimated by the quantity and quality of the consumed vital goods (material and spiritual).

The well-being scale makes it possible to clearly delineate the standard of living in accordance with specific indicators characterizing the degree of satisfaction with basic human needs.

2 Key indicators of well-being

One way or another, the level of well-being is closely related to the consumption of goods. At the same time, it is not constant and changes along with the change in the nature of consumption. Over time, some indicators gradually die off, while others appear. For example, twenty years ago, one of the main indicators of the well-being of a particular family was the presence of such devices as a TV, refrigerator and washing machine, today such indicators are more expensive goods - mobile phone, computer, car or own house. If the first two are available to almost every average citizen of the country, then the last ones remain an unrealizable dream.

Economists measure the level of well-being of the population, give it a quantitative description. If such a need arises, a special indicator called the standard of living is used, which is a quantitative characteristic of well-being, resulting from a comparison of the well-being of various people, families, and populations. As a rule, the standard of living is assessed as low, medium and high. The accuracy of the assessment here depends on the variety and number of indicators used in the comparison process. Therefore, usually experts tend to make judgments about a particular standard of living on the basis of as many indicators of well-being as possible.

At the moment, there is no consensus on which indicators should be included in the assessment of the standard of living. So, some scientists believe that it is possible to determine the standard of living only by one indicator. Sometimes its role is played by the literacy of the population, which is defined as the proportion of those who can read and write among the population in the age range from 9 to 49 years. Other experts, on the contrary, deny the reliability of the results obtained only on the basis of one indicator. In their opinion, the standard of living is a relative, not an absolute indicator, it is formed as a result of comparison. Therefore, the population of a certain country cannot have a low or high standard of living, regardless of other countries. In order to measure the standard of living, it is necessary to compare the well-being of the population of a certain country relative to other states.

Recently, United Nations experts have come to the conclusion that the standard of living of the population can be determined by quantifying the following indicators of well-being:

· life expectancy at birth;

· the level of education. These include the population's literacy rate and average years of schooling;

· the amount of GDP per inhabitant of a country.

Using these three indicators, you can calculate a value called the Human Development Index, which is also often called the Human Life Index or the Human Potential Development Index.

The main characteristic of the level of well-being achieved by society is the amount of income of the population and the degree of their differentiation among different social groups.

Personal income is all material resources that households receive as a result of economic activity or as transfers. Income is received by the population in cash and in kind. The in-kind form of income includes products produced by households for their own consumption, transfers in kind (food, clothing).

The income level of the population is reflected using the following indicators.

Per capita money income, which is calculated by dividing the total amount of money income by the current population.

Nominal monetary incomes of the population characterize the total amount of money that is received (or accrued) for a certain period of time.

Disposable cash income is income that can be used for personal consumption and savings. They are equal to nominal income minus taxes, mandatory payments and voluntary contributions from the population.

The rise in prices has a significant impact on the income of the population. An indicator reflecting this impact is the consumer price index (CPI) - a price index calculated for a group of goods and services included in the consumer basket of an average city dweller. The CPI is calculated using the formula:

CPI = Consumer basket at current prices / Consumer basket at basic prices x 100

To calculate it, you need information about price changes, which is obtained by registering prices and tariffs in the consumer market. In Russia, price information is collected at trade and service enterprises of all forms of ownership, as well as at markets and fairs throughout the Russian Federation: in the capitals of republics, centers of territories, regions, autonomous regions and selectively - in regional centers.

In addition, data are needed on the structure of consumer spending of the population, the so-called consumer basket. It is a sample of goods and services most frequently consumed by the population.

The main sources of income for the population are:

factor income (income from the main factors of production owned by households): wages, income from property ( rent, interest, dividends), business income (profit);

transfer payments: pensions, allowances, scholarships, etc.

other income: insurance indemnities, income from the sale of foreign currency, etc.

Different economic systems have different principles of income distribution. There are usually four main principles:

egalitarian;

market (in accordance with the ownership of one or another factor of production);

on accumulated property;

privileged (redistribution of wealth in favor of certain sections of society).

The well-being of individual groups of the population is compared by the ratio of their income to the subsistence minimum, as well as by the gap in the income levels of the rich and the poor. In 1997, 10% of the richest citizens of the Russian Federation received 32.3% of all income, 10% of the poorest - 2.6%. 21% of the total population of the Russian Federation had an income below the officially established subsistence level, and the ratio of the average per capita income of the population to the subsistence level was 22:10 (for pensioners 11:10), which is significantly lower than in developed countries.

Comparative analysis of the welfare of the population various countries is carried out on the basis of a set of estimates of the standard of living and quality of life (by national income or GDP per capita, the ratio of wages and the cost of the most important goods, by calorie content and the population's diet, etc.).

Depending on the level of socio-economic development of countries, poverty lines differ significantly. In highly developed countries, income corresponding to the level of poverty guarantees the satisfaction not only of vital needs for food and housing, but also of socio-cultural needs at the minimum acceptable level for this society. characteristic feature of the 20th century. became a holistic and stable policy of social support for the population. In accordance with this policy, countries that provide for the social needs of the population through social programs began to be called welfare states.

welfare population economic

2. Welfare of the nation as a global goal of the economic development of the Russian Federation

1 Trends in the formation of welfare in the context of economic growth and determining directions for improving the welfare of the population in modern Russia

As of September 1, 2013, the total volume of the National Wealth Fund amounted to 2,884.79 billion rubles, which is equivalent to 86.77 billion US dollars, including:

) on separate accounts for the National Welfare Fund in the Bank of Russia placed:

$27.58 billion;

€24.09 billion;

£4.38 billion;

) 474.02 billion rubles and 6.25 billion US dollars were placed on deposits with Vnesheconombank.

The total estimated income from the placement of funds of the National Wealth Fund in foreign currency accounts with the Bank of Russia, recalculated in US dollars, for the period from January 15 to August 31, 2013 amounted to 3.6 million US dollars, which is equivalent to 0.12 billion .rubles The exchange rate difference from the revaluation of the balances of funds on these accounts for the period from January 1 to August 31, 2013 amounted to 182.10 billion rubles, and the exchange rate difference from the revaluation of the fund's funds placed on deposits in US dollars with Vnesheconombank amounted to 17.98 billion. rubles.

In order to co-finance the formation of pension savings of insured persons who paid additional insurance premiums for the funded part of the labor pension in 2012, in July 2013, part of the funds of the National Wealth Fund in foreign currency on accounts with the Bank of Russia, namely 2.85 million dollars USA, 2.18 million euros and 0.42 million pounds sterling, was sold for 208.80 million rubles, and the proceeds were credited to the account for accounting for federal budget funds.

Market reforms in Russia were accompanied by a change in the conditions for the formation of the welfare of the population, new structural components of the income of the population appeared, the volume and quality of consumer goods and services changed, as well as the conditions for their provision to the population (the elimination of the principles of free and guaranteed). Based on the generalization of the results of the first decade of market reforms in terms of the dynamics of the welfare of the population, the author comes to the conclusion that the consequences of market reforms for the welfare of most Russian families were ambiguous.

On the one hand, with the transition to the market, the number of sources of livelihood has increased, people have received the right to receive income from property and entrepreneurial activities. As a result, some groups of the population, including those represented by the most enterprising, enterprising people who have taken advantage of the market, have significantly improved their well-being. Market conditions have expanded the choice of areas of activity and investment of capital, and opportunities have appeared for the development of small and medium-sized businesses. Liberalization of the production and provision of goods and services contributed to the elimination of shortages and the gradual saturation of the market. A person received greater freedom of choice as a consumer, acquired the right to choose goods and services that fully satisfy his needs, as evidenced by the dynamic nature of the development of consumer society in modern Russia. Improvement in the quality of service due to increased competition also contributed to an increase in the well-being of citizens.

On the other hand, the reforms were accompanied by a fall in real incomes, an increase in the scale of poverty and the polarization of society, and a decrease in the volume of personal consumption of a significant part of the Russian population. Due to objective economic reasons, the activity of households was mainly reoriented to domestic, autonomous production-consumption, which contributed to the reduction of the effective demand of the population, which acts as a generator of general business activity in a market economy. The desire to maintain the usual level of consumption, ensure the availability of goods and minimize risks was realized as employment in the official economy (reduction of hours worked, forced administrative leave) with an increase in production and employment in the informal sector. Some segments of the population used additional sources of livelihood both from low-productivity (private transport, brigade repair, production of products in the household for sale on the market) and from highly skilled activities (doctors, teachers, lawyers).

In recent years, economic growth has been observed in Russia, which is the most important condition for improving the welfare of the population. No less significant is the significance of the feedback: economic growth will be possible only in conditions of a sufficient level of well-being of the population. Efficient labor activity is provided by employees who have every opportunity to fully meet the needs for food, clothing, housing, education, health, both their own and their family members. The real opportunity to meet the needs of existence creates an economically, socially and politically stable society. If there are additional opportunities for the development of a person and the disclosure of his potential, then conditions are created for social progress and the growth of well-being.

Recognizing the need to maintain economic growth in order to improve the well-being of the population, the author of the work agrees with those economists who believe that excessive enthusiasm for growth rates and the lack of balance in its structure may not only not improve the well-being of the present generation, but also pose a threat to the natural and social habitat human in the future due to environmental pollution, growing social inequality, increased manipulation of the consumer and other negative consequences.

GDP is an indicator of the general economic condition of a country. It gives an idea of the general material well-being of the nation, since the higher the level of production, the higher the welfare of the country. But GDP does not reflect the social condition of the nation. Therefore, it cannot be considered an indicator of the well-being of society.

This indicator also does not take into account free time, which increases due to the reduction of the working week, the increase in the number of days off, vacations and holidays. Free time is an indicator of the well-being of the people, by its value one can judge the standard of living of the population.

GDP does not reflect improvements in the quality of goods, changes in the structure of consumption (pans or books) and distribution (more for some, less for others) of goods among the population. And this most directly characterizes the state of society.

In addition, GDP growth does not always indicate an increase in wealth, since the population of the country can grow simultaneously with the volume of production, as a result of which the output of goods per capita will decrease.

GDP does not include such activities that affect the standard of living in the country, such as:

non-market operations - housekeeping, repairing one's own house, cars, the work of scientists (who write unpaid articles);

shadow economy - legal activity in which income is hidden (for example, an entrepreneur can hide part of his profit, a restaurant waiter - his "tip", an unemployed person registered on the labor exchange - casual earnings).

In Russia, the shadow economy has received significant development. The shadow economy in domestic science refers to the production of goods and the provision of services to the population for a fee that is not reflected in official statistical reporting. From a legal point of view, this means both permitted and non-legal activities.

The main factors fueling the shadow economy in Russia are:

imbalance of supply and demand, causing a huge shortage of goods and services;

inflationary processes; in conditions of wage depreciation, the need for additional earnings increases, which can be provided by the shadow economy;

a negative attitude towards private entrepreneurship, which for a long time dominated our country, and the ideological and psychological barriers that still exist on the way to its development, pushing these forms of activity into the mainstream of the shadow economy.

The shadow economy harms the national economy by its ability to reduce the role of legal income, complicates the management of the economy and ultimately leads to the degradation of society.

At the same time, GDP includes costs that increase its size, but do not lead to an increase in welfare. Among them, first of all, are the costs associated with environmental pollution (air and water pollution, car dumps, overcrowding, noise, etc.). These are side costs that overestimate the level of material well-being. The greater the pollution of the environment, the greater the volume of national production and the extent of GDP distortion. As one American economist put it, "the product of economic life is garbage."

Thus, GDP is not an accurate reflection of the welfare of society. More accurate indicators are the gross domestic product per capita, as well as the dynamics, the scale of the increase in GDP and ND, i.е. the economic growth.

GDP per capita in an economy consists of three main elements:

) employee productivity, i.e. real GDP produced per hour of work,

) the mobilization of labor resources, i.e. the working share of the population and hours of work,

) the price level in the domestic market, i.e. the volume of consumption that can be realized at the achieved level of income.

GDP per capita growth in Russia continues to rely on very high labor mobilization and low prices domestic market - two factors, the importance of which will certainly decrease.

In Russia, low labor productivity - the parameter that is the main criterion for measuring competitiveness - creates the biggest cause for concern.

The growth of Russia's GDP over the post-reform period by more than 1.5 times contributed to an increase in employment and real incomes of the population, an almost two-fold reduction in the level of poverty and a significant reduction in the income deficit of the poor, that is, overcoming a number of negative consequences of the period of socio-economic transformation. However, according to the author, the quality of economic growth is becoming increasingly important for further improving the welfare of the population in Russia, because at the present stage in most developed countries, economic growth is becoming more and more inseparable from the humanization of social development. In this regard, modern Russia is faced with the task of not only ensuring sustainable economic growth, but also taking into account its possible negative consequences for a person in the present and future.

Labor productivity in Russia is a major concern as it barely reaches the level of the economically weaker countries of Central Europe and only slightly outperforms Russia's neighbors in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

In terms of total factor productivity, where the share of productivity is not directly related to the amount of labor input or capital employed,

Russia is also at the level of the countries in transition and far below the economically developed countries, which it hopes to join.

Improving the quality of economic growth involves achieving a balance in its structure, including through the widespread use of new knowledge and the development of not only the export of raw materials, but also processing industries that create the largest number work places; the final solution of the problem of providing the population with vital benefits; ensuring free access to health care, education, culture, means of communication in accordance with the inclinations and abilities of a person; preservation of a living environment favorable for physical health; creation of conditions for self-expression of the personality. If such economic growth covers all, or at least the majority of members of society, then it becomes the basis for a real increase in the well-being of the population and human development.

Ensuring economic growth and human development in modern Russia involves the intensification of the state's participation in shaping the well-being of the population. The active policy of the state should act not so much as a government reaction to the negative consequences of uncontrolled economic growth, but rather to prevent them, providing access to the benefits necessary for the existence and development of each person.

According to the latest polls by FOM (Public Opinion Foundation), more than half of Russians (about 55%) say that they do not have enough money to live. The “average Russian” believes that in order not to deny himself anything, his income should be 45 thousand rubles. per month, and 25 thousand rubles would be enough for pensioners. Our young compatriots need 50,000 rubles for a carefree life, according to FOM.

Sergei Deineka, Head of the Personal Financial Planning Implementation Department of FG BCS, shares his ideas about the “normal standard of living”. In his opinion, there is a certain necessary monetary minimum:

comfortable spacious housing - in Moscow it will cost from 50-60 thousand rubles. per month (rent) or from 90-100 thousand (mortgage);

food - from 15 thousand rubles. per month per person;

entertainment - from 15 thousand rubles. per month per person;

regular travel - from 20 thousand rubles. per month per person;

daily expenses (transport, telephone, Internet, etc.) - from 10 thousand rubles. per month per person;

savings - at least 10% of monthly income, but 20% is better. With the given parameters - about 30 thousand rubles. per month per person.

“Therefore, in my understanding, the necessary minimum income to ensure a normal standard of living is an amount of 140 thousand rubles. per month per person. However, people's requests are individual and upon reaching one level of income, as a rule, many preferences also change. Over time, due to the growth of expenses, a person inevitably has a need to increase his salary, ”the expert concludes.

Unfortunately, the level of well-being of Russians continues to be low, despite the growth in real wages. When will everything be fine in Russia? This question was asked to President Vladimir Putin in a direct line with the President. Vladimir Vladimirovich answered him this way: “Everything will probably never be good, but we will strive for this!”

Russia had great opportunities to transform in the early 1990s into a highly developed economy with a strong social protection program inherited from the Soviet Union. However, this did not happen. At the beginning of the reforms, as a result of privatization, many Russians received ownership of their apartments and became owners of enterprise vouchers. However, most of the Russian commodity companies ended up in the hands of a select few. And the hopes of most Russians for a prosperous life collapsed.

Meanwhile, the abundance of natural resources has allowed Russia to make a breakthrough in economic development in the last decade. High growth rates of the world economy ensured high demand for Russian oil. As a result, over the first decade of the twenty-first century, according to Credit Suisse economists, the wealth of Russian households has increased eightfold - from $1,700 in 2000 to $13,600 in 2012. However, in Russia the gap between the rich and the poor is too wide. "With the exception of small countries Caribbean (where there are billionaires), Russia has the strongest income inequality between the poor and the rich,” the Swiss bank experts note in their Global Wealth Report 2012. In the world, on average, for every $ 194 billion of total household income, there is one billionaire, while in Russia there is one billionaire for every $15 billion of total household income. If all over the world the total wealth of billionaires is less than 2% of the total capital of households, then in Russia about 100 billionaires own 30% general condition Russians, according to a Credit Suisse report.

Another important problem of the Russian economy, which cannot be solved in the near future, is low labor productivity. According to Sergei Deineka, the relatively low level of well-being is primarily due to the fact that Russia still has a low level of labor productivity. In fact, we are just developing a culture of work. Employers suspect that the efficiency of a significant part of employees is below expectations, so they are in no hurry to raise their salaries. “The conclusion suggests itself: the faster a culture of work is formed in Russia, the faster Russian companies will begin to receive results that exceed expectations. This will result in a gradual increase in wages, the emergence of all kinds of social benefits, so we can expect an increase in the overall level of well-being. I believe that the level of well-being cannot be high if the people themselves do not put effort into it,” the expert is sure.

Thus, the level of well-being is largely determined by income, which is one of the important indicators of economic development. The elements that provide the resource potential of economic growth in the new economy are: human and social capital, national wealth in all its diversity.

Summing up, we notice that the well-being of both Russia and other countries of the world, according to scientists' forecasts, will grow, which is a positive trend in the development of the world.

2 Main indicators and problems of welfare assessment in Russia

The main indicator for assessing national welfare is GDP. When it is calculated, many problems arise. For example, some goods and services that were produced in the current year remained in production warehouses and did not enter the market. As a result, their value has not been estimated in terms of market prices and only its imputed part is included in GDP.

It should be noted that many goods and services are generally produced and consumed within the same household, which contributes to their underestimation in the gross domestic product. For example, home-cooked food has no market value and is not included in GDP, unlike restaurant-cooked food. Similarly, the work of a housewife is evaluated in relation to the amount of work performed by a cleaning lady, a servant.

Among other things, the problems of accounting for national production can arise if the sectoral division of the economy is incorrect and its unobserved part is taken into account. So, today in Russia there are 5 problem areas.

Shadow economy. The problem of taxation, inflated tax rates have led manufacturers and entrepreneurs to seek to evade paying taxes to the state treasury. VAT is 18%, unified social tax is 26.2%, income tax is 13%. In addition, the company pays income tax, sales tax, rent, etc. It turns out that there are practically no funds left for the technological development of production, for the development of scientific achievements and developments, for financing departments working on the market, and much more. Entrepreneurs keep double accounting (double bookkeeping): official profits are recorded at a minimum level, taxes are deducted small, and the firm has the means to progress.

On the other hand, this practice is detrimental to the entire economy, since lower taxes reduce the size of the state budget and can lead to its deficit; distorted data also cannot serve as a basis for planning and analyzing economic development.

The shadow economy of the Russian Federation is estimated at 46% of GDP annually. During 1994-2011. 211.5 billion dollars illegally "leaked" from Russia in the form of bribes, income hidden from taxes and funds earned on the trade in drugs, weapons and people, analysts of the American research institute Global Financial Integrity (GFI) calculated.

Meanwhile, the illegal inflow of funds into Russia amounted to $552.9 billion over the reporting 18 years, which cannot but raise questions about economic and political stability in the Russian Federation, experts say.

American researchers have calculated that more than $210 billion was illegally withdrawn from Russia during this period. Volume of illegal inflow Money into the Russian economy amounted to about 550 billion dollars, which came primarily due to the distortion of data when issuing invoices.

Note that the outflow of capital from Russia represents funds that do not pass through any official documents - bribes, income and funds that were hidden from the tax service, and earned from drug trafficking, people and weapons.

According to the World Bank, the Russian shadow economy is 3.5 times larger than that of other G7 countries. In addition, the shadow economy and illicit money flows have been growing dynamically for 18 years, fueled by poor political governance and widespread tax evasion. All this undermines economic and political stability in the country, GFI experts conclude.

“Over the past year, Russia has taken important steps to bring the quality of the business environment closer to economies with high level income. This progress is the result of the government's ongoing efforts to improve the investment climate, which was recently celebrated by President Vladimir Putin<#"justify">Conclusion

Welfare is most often understood as the provision of the population with the material and spiritual benefits necessary for life. A special place among the statistical indicators that determine the well-being of the population is occupied by income, which is a measure of how much a person, a family can satisfy their needs. The level of their differentiation is closely related to the level of incomes of the population. The process of social differentiation affects the interests of all strata of society, leads to a change in the balance of these interests. Sharp and significant changes in social differentiation and the reaction of the population to them can become a limiter, a barrier to the development of society.

The well-being and viability of a nation is largely determined by the strategic choice of economic development goals and mechanisms for achieving them. One should not put an equal sign between the goals of the nation and the goals of economic entities. For a nation, the creation of a favorable environment for economic activity is only a means of achieving social development goals.

The sharp drop in the standard of living of the population as a result of uncontrolled privatization, economic crises, and the lack of work in the homeland had a negative impact on the financial situation of many sectors of society.

Assessing the quality of the formation of the welfare of the population as one of the criteria for building a socially oriented state involves a comprehensive measurement of both objective and subjective components. This is due to the complexity of the welfare structure, which includes both the provision of a person with the basic material goods necessary to meet his needs, and the interests of the individual, realized in various types activities (work, life, rest). The combination of the above approaches will make it possible to compare the extent to which the indicators obtained analytically and used in the field of social policy reflect the views of citizens, affect their satisfaction and social well-being.

The well-being of one part of the nation and its absence in other parts is one of the causes of problems in the world. There can be no national welfare by default until the nation is a single entity. It cannot even be temporary for the nation as a whole, because the particular needs of one person differ from those of another. The roots of this are in the ever-growing selfishness that spurs the need for constant growth and fulfillment. Therefore, G. Vidal's quote is correct, and it is clear that the well-being of some is possible only at the expense of the misfortune of others.

Inequality in any society, caused by the unequal desires and needs of individuals, is a time bomb that from time to time, upon reaching a critical mass, explodes, destroying society and the system. And then you have to build a new one stone by stone, which is done by the coming generations, united by stronger desires and needs.

The national welfare must be abolished and become universal. And then the era of the common good will come.

The common good is the absence of hatred in society. This is harmony with life, knowing how to raise children to care for each other, in accordance with the laws of the global society. It implies the ability and desire to do good to others, to satisfy their needs. And this model of a world without friction between people is called "general welfare."

Improving the welfare of the population of Russia depends not only on the economic efficiency of the economy, but also on the effectiveness of state regulation of the economy. To identify the main areas of state influence on the economy, leading to an increase in the welfare of the population, the experience of economically developed countries was studied. In Russia, the main directions of the state economic policy aimed at improving the welfare of the population are the impact on the structure of production and the competitive environment of the market (through a large-scale structural restructuring of the economy), as well as the financing of social obligations of the state (in amounts 2-3 times higher than the current level). ). A set of measures of the economic policy of the Russian state is proposed, which makes it possible to improve the well-being of the majority of the population over a 10-year period.

Glossary

№ p / p Concept Definition 1 Gross domestic product is the value of final products produced by residents of a given country for a certain period of time 2 Gross national product is the value of final products produced by a given country both on its territory and outside it over a certain period of time 3 Human development index is a composite indicator for assessing the well-being of a nation, quality of life employee, consisting of wages and additional payments, including dividends, interest, rent, bonuses, transfers5 National income is the sum of the incomes of all owners involved in the production of factors, that is, as the sum of wages, profits, interest and rent for an employee after taxes7 Calculation of GDP by expenditures, a method of estimating GDP that sums up all expenditures 8 Calculating GDP by income, a method of estimating GDP that sums up the primary income paid out of value added by resident production units (wages, indirect taxes, profits) 9 Calculating GDP by value added method an estimate of GDP that sums up the value added at each stage of the production of the final product10 Net economic welfare is an estimate that takes into account, in addition to GNP, goods and services that are not included in the national accounts, but, nevertheless, increase the overall welfare of the nation. Net economic welfare includes: - socially useful goods and services produced in the shadow economy; - valuation of household work, self-employed, etc.

List of sources used

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