The article presents the results of the qualitative research on the peculiarities of economic behavior of residents of the Donbass front-line zone. It is emphasized that illegal and semi-legal incomes are an integral part of everyday life. Practices of informal employment, tax evasion, bribery and the phenomenon of double social dependence are considered as indicators of monitoring of this problem. Two groups of respondents were identified based on the attitude to the problem of informal employment. This phenomenon does not cause severe condemnation and in some cases is an acceptable form of behavior for the respondents who work. Students, who are mostly at the parent's maintenance and are only hypothetically familiar with the problems of finding a job, they consider the fact that they should not be employed as unacceptable. In this case, the motivation is not the losses incurred by such practices to the state, for example, in the form of non-payment of taxes, but personal interests (pensions, paid vacation, etc.). Respondents condemn bribery, but admit that our society can not do anything without it. There is a phenomenon of double social dependence in the Donbass front-line zones. The population is ambiguous about such fact. The article outlines the prospects for further study of this problem.