BEHAVIORAL FINANCE AS A METHODOLOGICAL CONCEPT OF PUBLIC FINANCE RESEARCH IN UKRAINE

Introduction. Under the modern conditions of the Ukrainian society democratization and the reform of financial decentralization, the problems associated with increasing the effectiveness of the interaction of civil society and public authorities, primarily in the context of the modernization of public finance management in Ukraine, have been significantly updated. Therefore, the development of the methodological foundations of research in the field of public finance with the help of the latest approaches is highly demanded in the current domestic realities. One of such approaches is the application of the main principles and effects of the theory of behavioural finance in justification and interpretation of financial processes and phenomena occurring in the public sector of the national economy, since behaviour of all subjects of the public finance sphere is in the coordinates of political science, psychology, ethics, political science, etc., which is most clearly manifested primarily in the budget process. However, in Ukraine, the specified direction of scientific research needs active development, which determines the relevance of the scientific research topic. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the methodological foundations of research in the field of public finance in Ukraine through the prism of the concept of behavioural finance. Results. The article considers the main aspects of the functioning public finance in Ukraine from the standpoint of behavioural approach. Based on the study of existing points of view, theoretical approach to interpretation of the essence of public finance was formed, the main problems of interaction between citizens and public authorities in the context of public finance management were identified, and directions for their solution were proposed, taking into account the developments of the behavioural finance theory. Conclusions. The identification of key features and the most important problems of public finance functioning in Ukraine, as well as the analysis of the impact of the main effects of behavioural finance (in particular, the “framing effect”, “social influence effect”, “pushing effect”, “conservatism effect”, “trap effect”) made it possible substantiation of vectors for improving public finance management in the context of strengthening interaction between civil society and public authorities in Ukraine.