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Abstract <p>The article analyzes the consumption paradox of Russian households—the maintenance of a high share of expenditure on food despite long-term growth in well-being. The stability of this share contradicts a stylized macroeconomic fact—the negative slope of the Engel curve. A cross-country comparison of household food expenditures was conducted. An assessment of the distribution of Russian household expenditures by individual goods and services was carried out, reconciling data from national accounts, Rosstat sample surveys, and the balance of monetary income and expenditure of the population. The resulting distribution is approximated by the Lorenz curve based on the Rasche function. To test hypotheses about the impact of relative prices and income inequality on food expenditures, a set of regression equations was constructed that describe aggregated consumer demand functions. It is shown that the zero slope of the Russian Engel curve is largely, although not entirely, explained by these hypotheses.</p>

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Structure of Consumption of Russian Households: Can We Explain the Paradox?

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月16日

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  • A. A. Shirov,
  • V. V. Potapenko

摘要

Abstract

The article analyzes the consumption paradox of Russian households—the maintenance of a high share of expenditure on food despite long-term growth in well-being. The stability of this share contradicts a stylized macroeconomic fact—the negative slope of the Engel curve. A cross-country comparison of household food expenditures was conducted. An assessment of the distribution of Russian household expenditures by individual goods and services was carried out, reconciling data from national accounts, Rosstat sample surveys, and the balance of monetary income and expenditure of the population. The resulting distribution is approximated by the Lorenz curve based on the Rasche function. To test hypotheses about the impact of relative prices and income inequality on food expenditures, a set of regression equations was constructed that describe aggregated consumer demand functions. It is shown that the zero slope of the Russian Engel curve is largely, although not entirely, explained by these hypotheses.