ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTREPRENEURS IN RUSSIA IN 2020

Abstract

Small and medium-sized businesses are one of the most vulnerable areas of the national economy; they are strongly affected by external shocks such as pandemics and restrictive anti-epidemic measures. At the same time, the features of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small and medium-sized businesses in Russia have been studied to a limited extent. The purpose of this study is to identify trends in the dynamics of small and medium-sized businesses in Russia in 2020 under the influence of COVID-19 and aimed at limiting its spread of anti-epidemic measures. The standard methods of economic and statistical analysis of time series were used: indicators of absolute and relative growth, Irwin's criterion, autocorrelation assessment, Darbin-Watson criterion, construction of trend equations. As a result, it is shown that the number of small and medium-sized enterprises had a statistically significant downward trend (about 36 thousand units per month). The maximum drop in the number of business entities was observed in July-August 2020 (up to 8%). However, the decline in the number of small and medium-sized enterprises in Russia turned out to be significantly lower than, in particular, in the United States, which was caused by institutional factors. At the same time, there was an increase in employment in small and medium-sized businesses (about 26 thousand people per month), mainly due to its legalization in order to obtain state support. This testifies to the high productivity of state support for employment in this area. Different categories of small businesses have shown different responses to the pandemic and restrictive measures. Microenterprises were characterized by a stable number in January-June, a sharp (up to 8%) decline in July-August, and a gradual recovery in the third and fourth quarters of 2020. Microenterprises suffered from the crisis to a somewhat greater extent. But small enterprises (excluding microenterprises) showed a monotonous and more stable decrease in their number, without a pronounced jump in July-August 2020.The decline in the number of small enterprises (excluding microenterprises) was caused not only by the coronavirus crisis, but also by fundamental economic reasons.

Keywords

small and medium-sized businesses, micro-enterprises, COVID-19 pandemic, entrepreneurship support

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About the Author

Irina V. Korchagina – PhD in Economics; Associate Professor, Kemerovo State University, Kemerovo, Russia. E-mail: korchagina-i@mail.ru. SPIN РИНЦ 6506-7273. ORCID 0000-0002-3297-3259

For citation

Korchagina I.V. Assessment of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small and Medium Entrepreneurs in Russian in 2020 // BENEFICIUM. 2021. Vol. 2(39). Pp. 61-69. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.34680/BENEFICIUM.2021.2(39).61-69