Consumer basket as the basis for the State guarantees of minimum monetary income of Russian citizens (Part 1)

In: Narodonaselenie: ežekvartal'nyj naučnyj žurnal = Population, Band 23, Heft 3, S. 4-15

Abstract

The article provides an overview of special sources, research results, ideas and discussions in the following areas related to formation of consumer basket (CB): 1) methods of forming consumer baskets in the Russian Federation and abroad, their advantages and disadvantages; 2) composition and standards of consumption of goods and services that may be recommended to meet the basic needs of the population; 3) approaches to defining the relationship between the actual consumption of goods and services by low-income population and the composition and standards of consumption of food, non-food goods and services in CB; 4) minimum state guarantees, which should be linked to the cost estimation of CB; 5) advantages and disadvantages of the current method of forming a living wage CB; 6) new research directions and proposals for changing the CB composition and regulatory framework, ways to determine their cost and impact on the level of satisfaction of the population's needs forfood, non-food products and paid services, their comparison; 7) comparison of the CB cost, resulting from different approaches to its definition, the size of minimum state guarantees and actual monetary income: modal, median and per capita; 8) alternative approaches to setting the limits of monetary income for determining the state guarantees of minimum monetary income, advantages and disadvantages of their use in the Russian Federation. Conclusions and recommendations are proposed that could contribute to formation and introduction of a science-based CB in 2021 in order to improve the standards and quality of life of Russian citizens. The article consists of two parts. The First part of the article addresses the first two of these areas related to formation of CB.