Roslyakova N.A., Dorofeeva L.V. Impact of the Coronavirus Crisis on the Dynamics of Consumer Prices in Russian Regions

Natalia А. Roslyakova
Institute of Control Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation

Lyudmila V. Dorofeeva
North-Western Institute of Management, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation

Abstract. The coronavirus infection, which has rapidly spread around the world and started determining global trends, has transformed the life of modern society. Over the past months, in the acute phase of restrictive measures, there have been both explosive growth in demand (digital goods) and negative trends connected with bankruptcies and cuts of salaries. All these fluctuations in supply and demand had an active impact on prices of various segments of the consumer market. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the dynamics of prices in the consumer market of Russian regions and assess possible trends in the postcrisis period, taking into account regional characteristics. In order to do this, the authors assess the main trends in the market of Russian regions at the beginning of the crisis; determine the price dynamics in the period 2019–2020 for separate market segments; specify the nature of certain factors associated with the impact of the crisis on different types of markets; identify promising trends in price dynamics. As a result of the research for five groups of regions with different characteristics of socio-economic conditions and the level of market development the following conclusions were made: 1) a slowdown in the growth of prices for services for the vast majority of regions was revealed; 2) for the Depression cluster, intensive growth in prices for services is caused by weak market development, high costs and concentration on the segment of necessary services (low elasticity in price and income); 3) with similar price dynamics in the non-food segment of Above-average and Below-average clusters, various reasons are specified. In the first case, there is a delayed demand due to rising prices, in the second there is hidden inflation, when people do not have money for goods. For a number of regions, there is a trend towards the emergence of new agents in the markets, due to rising prices (Depression for non-food products, Above-average and Below-average for food products).

Key words: regions of Russia, coronavirus, socio-economic trends, socio-economic transformations, price dynamics.

Citation. Roslyakova N.A., Dorofeeva L.V., 2020. Impact of the Coronavirus Crisis on the Dynamics of Consumer Prices in Russian Regions. Regionalnaya ekonomika. Yug Rossii [Regional Economy. South of Russia], vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 64-75. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/re.volsu.2020.4.6

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