Economic Insecurity in Transition: A Primary Commodities Perspective

This paper studies the individual and household-level determinants of economic insecurity in post-socialist countries. Exploring subjective, backward- and forward-looking measures of economic insecurity, the paper focuses on: (1) the perceptions of past affordability of primary commodities; and (2) worries about their consumption in the future. We find that low affordability of primary commodities and big worries about their future consumption are experienced by rural residents, people with poor health, and households headed by females, less-educated, and unemployed persons. In addition, low affordability is reported by people with low incomes and non-Russian ethnic minorities, while high affordability is reported by people for whom remittances are the main source of income. Worries about primary commodities are more prevalent among “younger” households, big-city dwellers and people receiving moderate amounts of remittances. People who have experienced lower affordability of primary commodities in the recent past report higher worries about their consumption in the future.