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 24

WP(38/2026)532. The Digital Shift: Working From Home and the Educational Gradient in Fertility Rates

Authors: Osiewalska Beata, Neels Karel, Matysiak Anna
The expansion of working from home (WFH) has transformed paid work, but access to remote-workable jobs remains strongly stratified by education. We examine how regional WFH availability is associated with fertility among women with different educatio…

WP532. The Digital Shift: Working From Home and the Educational Gradient in Fertility Rates

The expansion of working from home (WFH) has transformed paid work, but access to remote-workable jobs remains strongly stratified by education. We examine how regional WFH availability is associated with fertility among women with different educational levels in Belgium. We link Belgian population register data (2001–2019) with regional WFH indicators from the Labour Force Survey and estimate discrete-time birth hazards, followed by microsimulation of aggregate fertility patterns. Higher WFH availability is associated with lower first-birth risks at younger ages across educational groups, with later recuperation only among highly educated women. For second and higher-order births, WFH availability is generally associated with higher birth risks, especially among the highly educated. Microsimulation shows that these parity-specific associations produce only modest changes in total fertility and the educational gradient. WFH therefore appears less as a universal reconciliation resource than as a stratified labour-market change with parity-specific fertility implications.


Osiewalska Beata, Neels Karel, Matysiak Anna
working from home remote work fertility educational gradient parity progression microsimulation register data Belgium

WP(16/2026)510. Two Blind Walls: A Transferable Pedagogical Design for Art-Market Literacy Across Art and Economics Education

Authors: Kopczewski Tomasz, Laskowska-Lisicka Justyna, Lisicki Jan, Okhrimenko Kostiantyn, Potocki Tomasz
This article presents an ongoing pedagogical project at the intersection of economics and art education. It starts from a double blind wall: economics rarely uses the art market as a eaching laboratory, while art education often protects aesthetic ju…

WP510. Two Blind Walls: A Transferable Pedagogical Design for Art-Market Literacy Across Art and Economics Education

This article presents an ongoing pedagogical project at the intersection of economics and art education. It starts from a double blind wall: economics rarely uses the art market as a eaching laboratory, while art education often protects aesthetic judgement from market reductionism. We propose a transferable protocol combining diagnostic questions, valuation tasks, anchoring and signalling treatments, public-art perception probes, and dashboard feedback. Its first implementation uses Wojciech Fangor in Warsaw. The aim is not representative measurement, but a replicable design through which students observe how attention, information, narrative, and market signals shape the encounter with art.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.33138/2957-0506.2026.16.510
Kopczewski Tomasz, Laskowska-Lisicka Justyna, Lisicki Jan, Okhrimenko Kostiantyn, Potocki Tomasz
art valuation economics education art education anchoring signalling asymmetric information pedagogical narrative laboratory Know Thyself Wojciech Fangor replication

WP(14/2026)508. Know Thyself: A Methodological Manifesto for Teaching Microeconomics Through Epistemic Provocation

Authors: Kopczewski Tomasz
This paper documents and formalises the Know Thyself method, a teaching approach developed through more than thirty years of university teaching practice. Its starting diagnosis is that students often learn economic models without experiencing the as…

WP508. Know Thyself: A Methodological Manifesto for Teaching Microeconomics Through Epistemic Provocation

This paper documents and formalises the Know Thyself method, a teaching approach developed through more than thirty years of university teaching practice. Its starting diagnosis is that students often learn economic models without experiencing the assumptions that make those models necessary. The method reverses the usual sequence: experience before theory, data as a mirror before abstraction, and questions before answers. Its empirical core is not the experiment narrowly understood, but ad hoc research: classroom experiments, surveys, simulations, valuation tasks, and replication laboratories that make learners’ own assumptions visible. Four case studies — expected value, ergodicity, market equilibrium, and the rationality of altruism — illustrate how the method converts declarative knowledge into reflective practice. Artificial intelligence gives the method scale by lowering the cost of surveys, dashboards, simulations, and replication protocols. The paper’s practical conclusion is simple: change the order. Ask first. Teach later.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.33138/2957-0506.2026.14.508
Kopczewski Tomasz
economics education epistemic provocation experiential learning replication expected value ergodicity market equilibrium AI in education science curiosity

WP(31/2025)494. Hybrid or Hands On? Students’ Economic Preferences over Study Design and Labor Market Payoffs

Authors: Zawadzki Wojciech, Czajkowski Mikołaj, Skrzypek Katarzyna, Jędrzejewska Matylda, Żmijewska Maja, Ryłow Jakub, Gadowska-dos Santos Dominika, Grotkowska Gabriela, Różycka Agnieszka, Filip Arkadiusz, Gruszczynski Marcin, Kałamucka Agata, Kowalski Tadeusz, Kozioł Waldemar, Olender-Skorek Magdalena, Opolski Krzysztof, Saczuk Katarzyna, Szczurek Mateusz, Sztandar-Sztanderska Urszula, Wańczyk Kacper, Wiśniewska Aleksandra, Zabarina Kateryna, Żoch Piotr
We study how university students trade off the design and demands of study against expected labor market returns. We conducted a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) with students of the Economics Department at the University of Warsaw. Choice alternativ…

WP494. Hybrid or Hands On? Students’ Economic Preferences over Study Design and Labor Market Payoffs

We study how university students trade off the design and demands of study against expected labor market returns. We conducted a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) with students of the Economics Department at the University of Warsaw. Choice alternatives varied the share of in person teaching, weekly class hours, weekly preparation time, language mix (Polish vs. English), net monthly study cost (tuition minus stipends), and expected net salary after graduation. The DCE was embedded in a broader survey measuring study experience, time use, work during studies, scheduling preferences, and perceptions of quality and reputation. The instrument and framings follow state of the art DCE guidance and are publicly documentable. Using multinomial logit and mixed logit models, we estimate compensating differentials students require to accept (i) more online teaching, (ii) more weekly effort (classes/prep), or (iii) English medium instruction in Polish language curricula. The results show large, precise utility gains from higher expected salary, disutility from higher weekly preparation time, and strong (non linear) preferences over delivery mode and language. We then simulate policy scenarios (e.g., introducing 50% online, adjusting effort) and quantify the cost equivalent or salary equivalent levers needed to maintain program attractiveness. We position our results in the international literature on DCEs in higher education and discuss external validity with respect to a large national DCE that emphasized earnings over prestige. We conclude with program design implications for universities worldwide navigating hybridization, workload calibration, and language policy in light of students’ revealed economic preferences.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.33138/2957-0506.2025.31.494
Zawadzki Wojciech, Czajkowski Mikołaj, Skrzypek Katarzyna, Jędrzejewska Matylda, Żmijewska Maja, Ryłow Jakub, Gadowska-dos Santos Dominika, Grotkowska Gabriela, Różycka Agnieszka, Filip Arkadiusz, Gruszczynski Marcin, Kałamucka Agata, Kowalski Tadeusz, Kozioł Waldemar, Olender-Skorek Magdalena, Opolski Krzysztof, Saczuk Katarzyna, Szczurek Mateusz, Sztandar-Sztanderska Urszula, Wańczyk Kacper, Wiśniewska Aleksandra, Zabarina Kateryna, Żoch Piotr
discrete choice experiment higher education hybrid/online vs. in-person language of instruction student workload willingness-to-pay

WP(1/2025)464. Industrial robots and workers’ well-being in Europe

Authors: Bogusz Honorata, Daniela Bellani
In the 21st century, advancements in technologies such as industrial robots have raised concerns about their impact on employment and wages, prompting extensive research. However, their effects on workers’ subjective well-being remain underexpl…

WP464. Industrial robots and workers’ well-being in Europe

In the 21st century, advancements in technologies such as industrial robots have raised concerns about their impact on employment and wages, prompting extensive research. However, their effects on workers’ subjective well-being remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap ¬by examining whether workers experience a decline in well-being due to a loss of agency or maintain it by leveraging human skills to adapt to automation. Using data from the International Federation of Robotics, Eurostat, and the European Social Survey (2002–2018), we link robot density at the country-industry-year level to workers’ life satisfaction, happiness, job influence, and health. Employing an instrumental variables approach, we find that robot adoption negatively affects medium-educated workers’ well-being, particularly its eudaimonic dimension, supporting the decreasing agency thesis. In contrast, low- and highly educated workers experience positive effects. These impacts are more pronounced among women and weaker in countries with robust compensatory social policies.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.33138/2957-0506.2025.1.464 WNE_WP464.pdf
Bogusz Honorata, Daniela Bellani
industrial robots well-being life satisfaction Europe education

WP(23/2020)329. Are Poles stuck in overeducation? Individual dynamics of educational mismatch in Poland

Authors: Baran Jan Aleksander
The paper investigates persistency of overeducation from individual perspective. Following aspects of mobility are analysed: probability of staying in employment, upward occupational mobility and wage dynamics. Data for Poland are used. The results s…

WP329. Are Poles stuck in overeducation? Individual dynamics of educational mismatch in Poland

The paper investigates persistency of overeducation from individual perspective. Following aspects of mobility are analysed: probability of staying in employment, upward occupational mobility and wage dynamics. Data for Poland are used. The results show that overeducated individuals are more likely to stay in employment compared to their properly matched colleagues. The overeducated workers as well as undereducated ones tend to move toward jobs for which they are more properly matched. However, the rate of this adjustment is low and one can fairly claim that in Poland overeducation is a persistent phenomenon from individual perspective. In line with other studies, the overeducated workers are found to experience faster wage growth compared to properly matched individuals. However, it can be largely attributed to overeducated workers improving their match status over time. It means that initially overeducated workers can expect faster wage growth than properly matched workers especially when they move to jobs requiring more schooling.


Baran Jan Aleksander
overeducation educational mismatch occupational mobility earnings mobility

WP(19/2019)304. Evolution of private returns to schooling over the business cycle in a transition economy

Authors: Wincenciak Leszek
The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it aims to provide the estimates of returns to schooling using consistent methodology and comparable set of data for a relatively long time horizon for a country undergoing economic transition and accessio…

WP304. Evolution of private returns to schooling over the business cycle in a transition economy

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it aims to provide the estimates of returns to schooling using consistent methodology and comparable set of data for a relatively long time horizon for a country undergoing economic transition and accession process into European Union, 1995-2017. Secondly, using the Mincer (1974) methodology of wage regressions it aims to verify if returns to schooling are pro-cyclical or counter-cyclical. Returns to schooling are linked to the evolution of unemployment rate on a regional level. Estimated earnings functions suggest that returns to schooling were increasing in Poland until 2006 and declining afterwards unveiling the supply side effects domination. The estimates show that an increase in unemployment rate by 1 percent leads to an increase of return to additional year of schooling roughly by 0.008 percentage points.


Wincenciak Leszek
returns to schooling education earnings equation wage curve business cycle transition

WP(13/2019)298. Is expansion of overeducation cohort-driven? Evidence from Poland

Authors: Baran Jan Aleksander
The study offers insight into dynamics of overeducation in Poland. The share of overeducated workers among tertiary educated workers grew substantially by about 8 p.p. between 2006 and 2016. In the paper, changing overeducation risk is disentangled i…

WP298. Is expansion of overeducation cohort-driven? Evidence from Poland

The study offers insight into dynamics of overeducation in Poland. The share of overeducated workers among tertiary educated workers grew substantially by about 8 p.p. between 2006 and 2016. In the paper, changing overeducation risk is disentangled into age, period and cohort effects. A strong upward trend in cohort effects is identified for individuals born after 1970, but not for older generations. It suggests that overeducation is a phenomenon which affects more profoundly individuals who entered the labour market after the collapse of the communism. Moreover, the study confirms that overeducation decreases with age, which has been already a well-documented finding in the literature.


Baran Jan Aleksander
overeducation education mismatch tertiary education age–period–cohort

WP(30/2017)259. Macroeconomic consequences of the demographic and educational transition in Poland

Authors: Kolasa Aleksandra
Soon after the start of the transition to market economy in the early 1990s, Poland has experi- enced both a dramatic decline in the fertility rate and an increase in the share of students among young high-school graduates. These two processes signif…

WP259. Macroeconomic consequences of the demographic and educational transition in Poland

Soon after the start of the transition to market economy in the early 1990s, Poland has experi- enced both a dramatic decline in the fertility rate and an increase in the share of students among young high-school graduates. These two processes significantly changed the age structure of the population and average income characteristics of households. Using a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous households and uninsured income shocks I try to assess the impact of these demographic and educational changes on the Polish economic performance and inequalities. I find that in the long term the positive effects of educational transition on output per capita more than offset the negative impact of lower fertility, but the outcome strongly depends on the adjustments in the structure of labor demand. I also show that the educational transition increases income and consumption inequalities, while the demographic transition decreases inequality in assets.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.26405/WP/WNE/2017/259/030
Kolasa Aleksandra
population aging educational transition inequalities models with heterogeneous agents

WP(16/2017)245. Choosing the future: economic preferences for higher education using discrete choice experiment method

Authors: Czajkowski Mikołaj, Gajderowicz Tomasz, Giergiczny Marek, Grotkowska Gabriela, Sztandar-Sztanderska Urszula
This study illustrates how respondents' stated choices (the discrete choice experiment method) combined with the random utility framework can be used to model preferences for higher education. The flexibility offered by stated preference data cir…

WP245. Choosing the future: economic preferences for higher education using discrete choice experiment method

This study illustrates how respondents' stated choices (the discrete choice experiment method) combined with the random utility framework can be used to model preferences for higher education. The flexibility offered by stated preference data circumvents limitations of other approaches, and allows quantifying young people' preferences for selected attributes of higher education programs that are typically highly correlated in revealed preference data. The empirical study presented here is based on a survey of 20,000 Polish respondents aged 18-30, who stated their preferences for higher education programs in carefully prepared hypothetical choice situations. The attributes we considered include tuition fee, expected salary after graduation, quality of institution, interest in the field of study, distance from home, and mode of study. Using random parameters and latent class mixed multinomial logit models, we can formally describe young peoples' preferences, and identify the financial trade-offs they are willing to make, that is, estimate their willingness to pay for specific attribute levels in terms of increased tuition fees or expected salary after graduation. Accounting for respondents' observed and unobserved preference heterogeneity, we address a few research questions related to, for example, distinct preferences of students whose neither parent attained tertiary education, students from lower socio-economic groups, or students of a particular gender. Overall, we demonstrate how stated preference methods can be a useful tool for exploring economic preferences, better understanding the determinants of choices, forecasting, and designing the services offered by higher education institutions in an optimal way.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.26405/WP/WNE/2017/245/016
Czajkowski Mikołaj, Gajderowicz Tomasz, Giergiczny Marek, Grotkowska Gabriela, Sztandar-Sztanderska Urszula
higher education institution choice random utility model stated preferences discrete choice experiment
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