Working Papers

The WNE Working Papers series has been published by the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw since 2008.

The WNE Working Papers series provides a fast, open channel for disseminating research conducted at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw. The papers hosted here are working versions (pre-prints) and may evolve as authors refine their analyses, incorporate feedback, or progress through formal peer-review. What you read is the current version released by the authors, timestamped and assigned DOI/ISSN identifiers to ensure precise citation and version tracking. Copyright remains with the authors, who may, at any time, upload a revised file or add a note directing readers to a later, peer-reviewed publication.

The Working Papers series accepts articles by research employees of the Faculty and publications from conferences organised at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw. Articles should be original research papers which have not been previously published, on the subject of economics.

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Number of Results 2

WP(28/2022)404. The long-term impact of quasi-universal transfers to older households

Authors: Kolasa Aleksandra
One of the key challenges associated with current demographic trends is to provide adequate financial support to older households without jeopardizing fiscal sustainability or harming macroeconomic performance. Among possible policies, quasi-universa…

WP404. The long-term impact of quasi-universal transfers to older households

One of the key challenges associated with current demographic trends is to provide adequate financial support to older households without jeopardizing fiscal sustainability or harming macroeconomic performance. Among possible policies, quasi-universal transfers have recently gained traction in several countries. One example of this approach is the 13th Pension, introduced in 2019 in Poland. In this paper, I study the long-term aggregate, redistributive, and welfare effects of this type of program, and compare its impact to that of more standard elderly-oriented policies with similar fiscal costs. I also investigate how simple modifications would affect its costs and effectiveness. My analysis is based on a general equilibrium overlapping generations model of an open economy that incorporates family types, individual risk associated with earnings, health and mortality, and stochastic out-of-pocket expenses. According to the model simulations, a quasi-universal transfer to retired households such as the Polish 13th Pension program significantly improves the financial situation of a median pensioner but generates an aggregate welfare loss (under the veil of ignorance) equivalent to a 0.7% reduction in average household lifetime consumption. It also has only a moderate impact on average measures of poverty and inequality.


Kolasa Aleksandra
monetary poverty catastrophic health expenditure out-of-pocket medical expenses recursive probit models

WP(23/2022)399. The causal effect of catastrophic health expenditure on poverty in Poland

Authors: Kolasa Aleksandra, Weychert Ewa
Out-of-pocket medical expenses are a crucial source of health care financing in a number of countries, and thus a significant burden for many households. In particular, large health-related spending can lead to financial hardship and impoverishment. …

WP399. The causal effect of catastrophic health expenditure on poverty in Poland

Out-of-pocket medical expenses are a crucial source of health care financing in a number of countries, and thus a significant burden for many households. In particular, large health-related spending can lead to financial hardship and impoverishment. The aim of our study is to assess the direct impact of large out-of-pocket medical payments on household poverty, while properly accounting for endogeneity between these two variables. We use catastrophic health expenditure as a proxy for problematic health-related costs and estimate recursive bivariate probit models using Polish household-level panel data. We show that the causal relationship between catastrophic health expenditure and relative poverty is significant and positive across different methodological approaches. However, we find no empirical evidence that a one-time incidence of catastrophic health expenditure creates a poverty trap. We also show that using a poverty measure which treats out-of-pocket medical payments and food consumption as perfect substitutes can lead to an underestimation of poverty among the elderly.


Kolasa Aleksandra, Weychert Ewa
monetary poverty catastrophic health expenditure out-of-pocket medical expenses recursive probit models
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