Consumer behavior models of households and regional features of their formation in Ukraine

Abstract

The theoretical bases of research of consumer behavior of the population are developed. The main types of behavior according to the criteria of the subject, manifestation sphere, interaction, function, character, state, recurrence, influence, controllability are defined. The criterion of the manifestation sphere allows to select social, legal, cultural, political and economic behavior, one of the subspecies of which is consumer behavior. The consumer behavior can be studied in human, industrial and governmental dimensions. The human dimension allows to analyze consumer behavior at the levels of person, household, population and society. In this regard, the conceptual differences in the understanding of consumer behavior at different institutional and spatial levels are identified. Consumer, investment and savings activities of households in the regions of Ukraine are analyzed. The analysis for 2009-2019 confirmed a gradual increase in consumer aggregate expenditures by region, a nominal increase in the solvency of households, as they consume a smaller part of their cash income and save resources to finance non-consumer needs. However, such changes did not significantly improve the living standards of the population in conditions of instability. About 50 % of total household expenditures go to food and non-alcoholic beverages, while in developed countries households spend no more than 30 % on food. The share of investment expenditures of households, estimated by the average monthly expenditures on the purchase of shares, real estate, construction, capital repairs, bank deposits etc, increased from 4,1 % to 4,6 % for the period 2009-2019 and remains very low levels. The analysis of savings activity showed that the total capacity of households to accumulate resources increased 9,4 times during 2009-2019, but most regions show a lower level of accumulated total resources relative to the national indicator. The structure of consumer expenditures of households in the regions of Ukraine with consumer, investment and savings benchmarks to summarize the calculations is determined, which confirmed the low investment activity in conditions of instability. The generalized structure also indicates excessive interregional differentiation of the structure of consumer expenditures, which requires stimulating the investment activity of households as active agents of economic development.