The attitude of the population of the Donbas front-line zones to the illegal forms of the income receipt (for example of young people)

• Main Author: L. I. Verkhovod
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Publishing House "Grani" 2018-09-01
• Series: Granì
• Subjects: war in the East of Ukraine; shadow economics; pilot study; bribery; informal employment; double social parasitism; internally-displaced persons
• Online Access: https://grani.org.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/1212

The article presents the results of a qualitative study on the characteristics of economic behavior of residents of the Donbas front-line zones. It is proved that a high fate of the shadow economics sector exists Ukraine. It is emphasized that illegal and semi-legal incomes are an integral part of everyday life. Practices of informal employment, tax evasion, bribery and the phenomenon of double social dependence are considered as indicators of monitoring of this problem.  Based on the attitude to the problem of informal employment, two groups of respondents were identified. For the respondents who work, this phenomenon does not cause severe condemnation and in some cases is an acceptable form of behavior.  Students, who are still in the care of their parents and are only hypothetically familiar with the problems of finding a job, consider it unacceptable not to formalize labor relations.  The motivation for doing so is not the loss that such practices bear to the state, for example, in the form of non-payment of taxes, but personal interests (pensions, paid leave, etc.).  It was emphasized that the absence of a severe condemnation of informal employment and the declaration of the acceptability of such a form of employment indicate a loyal attitude to the practice of avoiding payment of taxes . This attitude to taxes is already an integral part of the economic culture of our country’s population. It is established that the respondents condemn bribery. At the same time, they admit that people can not do anything without it living in our society. Responsibility for the dissemination of this phenomenon relies mainly on the system. Such an assessment of bribery shows that the majority of respondents are not ready to start fighting with it, because it simplifies the solution of problems in everyday life. In the front-line zones of the Donbass there is a phenomenon of double social dependence, to which the population is ambiguous.  It was emphasized that the constant migration of the population from uncontrolled and controlled territories (to the Ukrainian authorities) is a source of illegal and semi-legal incomes.  The article outlines the prospects for further study of the phenomenon of double social dependence, namely: the identification of the origins of this phenomenon; establishing a network of agents involved; recording of the dynamics of public assessment.