Financial wellbeing of households in instability

In instability and economic turbulence, the wellbeing of households as market economy entities constitutes the financial-investment capacity of a region, the level of which is determined by the conditions of the competitive socio-economic environment. The paper aims to estimate the financial wellbeing of households on the example of the oblasts of the Carpathian region of Ukraine in instability. The study is based on a system-integral estimation method, which includes the implementation of three stages: (1) development of a system of indicators, (2) determination and substantiation of weight significance, and (3) construction of time series of empirical parameters of households’ wellbeing based on temporal and spatial approaches. The analysis reveals that the financial wellbeing of households differentiates in a competitive economic environment and with the spread of behavioral factors (COVID-19, consumer reflections). Among the oblasts of the Carpathian region of Ukraine, the highest values of empirical parameters of financial wellbeing were in Zakarpatska (0.537) and Chernivetska (0.459) oblasts (2019). Meanwhile, the level of the financial wellbeing of households is higher in Lvivska oblast by several indicators. The divergence of the Carpathian region from Ukraine by the level of the financial wellbeing of households was mostly observed in 2018–2019. Zakarpatska oblast was the leader by the level of the financial wellbeing of households in 2010–2019. The study is of the practical nature for framing the regional economic policy in terms of detecting the critical “pressure” of financial wellbeing on the economic growth of the region and economic ability to increase investment capacity. AcknowledgmentsThe study has been conducted within the framework of the Applied Research “Financial determinants of the provision of economic growth in the regions and territorial communities based on behavioural economy” with the support of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (M. Dolishniy Institute of Regional Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the grant Reg. No. 2020.02/0215, 2020–2022).