Determinants of Russian Households’ Credit Behavior

The research question of this paper is a comparative analysis of the significant determinants of the emergence of a new credit burden for Russian households from the end of 2017 to the end of 2018. A fundamental understanding of credit behavior drivers at the microeconomic level can improve forecasting by describing in detail the mechanisms of the influence of various variables on the occurrence of a debt load. An important feature of this work is the fact that this study simultaneously controls a wide variety of factors: the socio-demographic and financial characteristics of households, as well as the individual parameters of their members, including economic expectations and consumer attitudes, status claims, level of education and assessment of health status. The sample model was obtained due to the multi-stage integration of several RLMS-HSE survey databases, which made it possible to control both the absolute levels of the variables and their dynamics during the study period. According to the analysis, factors such as the presence of an outstanding loan at the beginning of the study period, wage arrears to members of the household, and the deterioration of the material well-being of the household as estimated by its members lead to an increase in the likelihood of a new debt burden. In addition, the higher the household members assess their position in the social hierarchy by the criterion of respect by society at the beginning of the study period, the more likely they will be inclined to take a loan, which indicates the importance of the role of status claims.