Economic crises: types, causes, impact on the family

Economic crises, whether past or future, are constantly on hearing. The adversity on the financial front is one of the favorite media topics and a fertile ground for the numerous predictions of expert organizations.

Kinds

Economic crises are of two main types.

• Unproductive (characterized by a shortage of mass consumption goods). A vivid example is the economic crisis in Russia in the 1990s: empty store shelves, food products that are sold strictly on coupons, queues for essentials.
• Overproduction (characterized by a serious prevalence of supply over demand). In times of such crises, the majority of the population does not have the money to secure a normal level of existence (mass poverty). A typical representative of overproduction complications in the economy is the Great Depression of the thirties.

Causes

Modern economic crises are largely due to global hyper-consumerism - uncontrollable craving for people to consume. Every year the range of goods offered to people is growing: a new model of the car, advanced collections from fashion designers, the newest brands of alcohol and food products. Together with consumption, production volumes, the cost of goods and services, the inflation (depreciation) of monetary capital begin to grow. Debts are growing: national, banking, consumer. All this leads to the fact that no one can pay for purchased liabilities (things that do not bring benefits: cars, clothes, furniture).

According to the teachings of Karl Marx, crises are the inevitable companions of capitalism. Their emergence does not depend on the management miscalculations, as well as the negative effect from the activities of consumers or corporations. This process Marx explains the very nature of the relationship aimed at making a profit.

Influence on the family

Of course, a sharp decline in the purchasing power of the family, the inability to have what was available before, adversely affect the emotional background. The grandiose capitalist crisis of the 1930s was not in vain called "The Great Depression." In the description of people of this period, epithets such as numb, doomed, panicky, apathetic, etc. are often used. Economic crises are dangerous to health: financial losses and anxiety for their future shorten life expectancy. The stock crash of 2008-2009 in the US coincided with the peak of heart attacks and deaths from diseases of the cardiovascular system.

At the same time, an interesting study was presented by Russian scientists: they found that the world economic crises contribute to the unification of families, their reunification (we are talking about complicated families) and the desire for cohabitation. This trend is justified both from a sociological and an economic point of view:

1) the threatening danger for centuries made people unite, rely in everyday life on the support of relatives;

2) live together more economically than separately, and the creation of a kind of mini-consumer cooperatives is designed to reduce the cost of food, payment for utilities, gasoline, etc.

Also, scientists found that the instability of the family budget forces people to increase the share of their income in the family in proportion to their spending.