The economic effects of perceptions of the Russia-Ukraine war in Ecuador

Abstract

Background: Using an online questionnaire capturing the immediate economic and social effects of the Russia-Ukraine war. The study assesses the topics of more profound concern for university students and the variation of economic attitudes related to their socio-demographic variables.

Methods: Three hundred eighty-five participants, between 18 and 22 years of age, 49% female, leads us to identify significant differences by sex and economic status related to the stock crash, inflation, corruption, and poverty perceptions. However, the effect size and sampling could be improved.

Results: Kruskal-Wallis test confirms that the below-average economic status group feels more worried about higher inflation, while females tend to be more concerned about inflation, corruption, and poverty because of the conflict. Ordered logistic regression reveals that participants who express higher levels of concern regarding the impact of increased energy prices and poverty tend to exhibit greater overall worry.

Conclusions: Even though convenience sampling imposes constraints to extrapolate the results broadly, the research constitutes a benchmark for similar studies among Latin American and Caribbean countries since economic expectations and economic knowledge from citizens, applied in their decisions, play an essential role in national development.

Keywords: Ecuador; Russia-Ukraine war; economic perceptions; university students.