Vladimir Karacharovsky, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE), examined the willingness of Russians to sacrifice current prosperity for the sake of 25 and 50 years of prosperity. socialbites.ca was informed about this by the press service of the scientific institution.
To do this, the scientist interviewed 1 thousand people. Study participants had to choose whether they wanted to save 100 lives today or keep more people alive in a quarter and half century.
Another situation offered participants to receive three healthy and prosperous years of life now or give up those lives in favor of grandchildren who would live 25 and 50 years later.
The results showed that more than 75% of survey respondents want to receive hypothetical benefits and save lives today rather than delaying them for decades. Less than a quarter of respondents took the opposite position.
For the average participant, each additional year of a currently healthy and prosperous life is at least three times more valuable than 25 years of prosperity and at least seven times more valuable than 50 years of prosperity.
Russians today valued a life saved as much as 100 lives saved in 25 years or 220 lives saved in 50 years.
The cost of giving up the benefit of a “healthy and prosperous year of life” for future generations turned out to be lower for older participants who grew up in small towns. That is, the older the participant, the less prosperous years in the future he is willing to sacrifice additional years of prosperity today. “The same goes for those who spent their childhood away from cities and regional centres.”
When discussing the reasons for their reluctance to sacrifice the present for the sake of future generations, study participants noted their belief in progress that will improve the quality of life in the coming years. Additionally, participants expressed distrust of public programs whose effects were delayed due to the collapse of the Russian communist project due to unfulfilled “bright future” promises.
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