The Role of Informal Economic Activity in the Incomes of the Population of Small Cities and Rural Areas

This paper is devoted to the theme of informal economic practices and their role in the incomes of the local population. The relevance of the topic can be explained by the need to describe the real life of the population (their means of earning income) in order to develop an effective socio-economic state policy. The main objective of the study is to identify and describe informal economic practices of the population in small cities and rural areas based on field research and their contribution to household income. Empirical information was collected during field sociological expeditions in three regions of the Russian Federation: the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the Primorsky Territory and the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. A total of 61 interviews with local residents and 14 - with representatives of administrations.