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.

Please send your paper by e-mail: ./_Ue$TrkK'hcV^?4NqP7jsHYl3]#[$yRAOo8cM8h[WmV*tWgHDPX=b]z 

Please send 2 files:

(1) the main text without the title of the article and the authors (DOC/DOCX file) and

(2) the title page including: the title of the paper, the authors and their affiliation (DOC/DOCX file).

Please read the detailed editing requirements before submitting your text. 

Number of Results 11

WP(10/2023)417. What if she earns more? Gender norms, income inequality, and the division of housework

Authors: Magda Iga, Cukrowska-Torzewska Ewa, Palczyńska Marta
Using data from “Generation and Gender Survey” for Poland, we study the relationship between women’s relative income within the household, as measured by the female share of total household income, and women’s involvement in h…

WP417. What if she earns more? Gender norms, income inequality, and the division of housework

Using data from “Generation and Gender Survey” for Poland, we study the relationship between women’s relative income within the household, as measured by the female share of total household income, and women’s involvement in housework. We find that households in which the woman contributes more to the total household income are more likely to share housework equally. We also find that individual gender norms matter both for women’s involvement in unpaid work at home and for the observed link between the female share of income and inequality between the partners in the division of housework. Women from less traditional households are found to be more likely to share housework equally. However, this negative relationship between the female share of household income and female involvement in housework is not observed among more traditional couples.


Magda Iga, Cukrowska-Torzewska Ewa, Palczyńska Marta
household income income inequality housework gender norms

WP(2/2021)350. The effects of child benefit on household saving

Authors: Liberda Zofia Barbara, Sałach Katarzyn, Pęczkowski Marek
In 2016, a new child benefit was introduced in Poland: a universal benefit for the second and subsequent children in a family and means tested for the first child. Substantial transfers of the new child benefit were granted 60% of households with chi…

WP350. The effects of child benefit on household saving

In 2016, a new child benefit was introduced in Poland: a universal benefit for the second and subsequent children in a family and means tested for the first child. Substantial transfers of the new child benefit were granted 60% of households with children. The generous child benefit, equal to 10% of monthly median households' income, caused an unexpected positive income shock for families with children. In this paper, we investigate how the new child benefit affects the household decisions to consume or save the child's income. Applying the difference-in-differences method and Polish Household Budget Survey data for the years 2012-2018, we find a positive effect of the child benefit on household saving. Our estimates indicate that families obtaining the child benefit (treatment group) increased the saving rate by 8 percentage points after the child benefit reform in 2016. Over time, the control group (not obtaining the child benefit) raised the saving rate by 2.9 percentage points.


Liberda Zofia Barbara, Sałach Katarzyn, Pęczkowski Marek
households income child benefit saving

WP(14/2020)320. Why wealth inequality differs between post-socialist countries?

Authors: Brzeziński Michał, Sałach Katarzyna
We provide the first attempt to understand how differences in households' socio-demographic and economic characteristics account for disparities in wealth inequality between five post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. We use 2013…

WP320. Why wealth inequality differs between post-socialist countries?

We provide the first attempt to understand how differences in households' socio-demographic and economic characteristics account for disparities in wealth inequality between five post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. We use 2013/2014 data from the second wave of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) and the reweighted Oaxaca-Blinder-like decompositions based on recentered influence function (RIF) regressions. Our results show that the differences in homeownership rates account for up to 42% of the difference in wealth inequality measured with the Gini index and for as much as 63-109% in case of the P50/P25 percentile ratio. Differences in homeownership rates are related to alternative designs of housing tax policies but could be also driven by other factors. We correct for the problem of the 'missing rich' in household surveys by calibrating the HFCS survey weights to top wealth shares adjusted using wealth data from national rich lists. Empirically, the correction procedure strengthens the importance of homeownership rates in accounting for cross-country wealth inequality differences, which suggests that our results are not sensitive to the significant underestimation of top wealth observations in the HFCS.


Brzeziński Michał, Sałach Katarzyna
wealth inequality decomposition recentered influence function (RIF) regressions survey weight calibration Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) post-socialist transition Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) housing homeownership missing rich

WP(5/2020)311. Preferences for demand side management—a review of choice experiment studies

Authors: Gołębiowska Bernadeta
This review of choice experiment (CE) studies deals with the valuation of electricity supply attributes in the residential sector. We consider the willingness to pay and the willingness to accept changes in the electricity supply. The results could b…

WP311. Preferences for demand side management—a review of choice experiment studies

This review of choice experiment (CE) studies deals with the valuation of electricity supply attributes in the residential sector. We consider the willingness to pay and the willingness to accept changes in the electricity supply. The results could be used to determine consumers' preferences for demand-side management (DSM) programs and could serve as a reference for formulating policies. DSM is an option for constructing a low-carbon electricity system, improving energy efficiency, and achieving the sustainable development of an economy. The results from CEs justify investment in new solutions. The research shows that consumers are open to DSM, but they prefer simple programs to complex ones. Decision-makers could introduce DSM programs that enable power outages and provide compensation for households. The societal advantages of DSM are not obvious to consumers, so the implementation of DSM requires communication and more research on peoples' preferences.


Gołębiowska Bernadeta
choice experiments demand-side management energy households review

WP(9/2019)294. Wealth inequality in Central and Eastern Europe: evidence from joined household survey and rich lists’ data

Authors: Brzeziński Michał, Sałach Katarzyna, Wroński Marcin
We study how the problem of the 'missing rich', the underrepresentation of the wealthiest in household surveys, affects wealth inequality estimates for the post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The survey data from the…

WP294. Wealth inequality in Central and Eastern Europe: evidence from joined household survey and rich lists’ data

We study how the problem of the 'missing rich', the underrepresentation of the wealthiest in household surveys, affects wealth inequality estimates for the post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The survey data from the second wave of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) are joined with the data from the national rich lists for Esto-nia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia. Pareto distribution is fitted to the joined survey and rich lists' data to impute the missing observations for the largest wealth values. We provide the first estimates of the top-corrected wealth inequality for the CEE region in 2013/2014. Despite a short period of wealth accumulation during the post-1989 market economy period, our adjust-ment procedure reveals that wealth inequality in the Baltic countries is comparable to that of Germany (one of the most wealth unequal countries in Europe), while in Poland and Hungary it has reached levels observed in France or Spain. We discuss possible explanations of these find-ings with reference to the speed and range of privatization processes, extent of income inequali-ty, and the role of inheritances and wealth taxes in the region.


Brzeziński Michał, Sałach Katarzyna, Wroński Marcin
wealth inequality missing rich Pareto distribution rich lists Forbes Household Finance and Consumption Survey transition countries Central and Eastern Europe

WP(13/2014)130. Determinants of saving in Poland: Are they different than in other OECD countries?

Authors: Kolasa Aleksandra, Liberda Zofia Barbara
This paper studies the drivers of total private and household savings in Poland and compares them to those in developed countries. To this end, the two types of saving regressions are estimated: one based on an annual panel of OECD countries and the …

WP130. Determinants of saving in Poland: Are they different than in other OECD countries?

This paper studies the drivers of total private and household savings in Poland and compares them to those in developed countries. To this end, the two types of saving regressions are estimated: one based on an annual panel of OECD countries and the other using Polish quarterly time series. Compared to an ?average? OECD country, the Polish private and household saving rates are more affected by the process of financial deepening. Moreover, they are also more sensitive to changes in government and corporate savings.


Kolasa Aleksandra, Liberda Zofia Barbara
private savings household savings Poland panel study saving determinants

WP(2/2013)87. Accounting for trends in health poverty: A decomposition analysis for Britain, 1991-2008

Authors: Brzeziński Michał
We use data from the British Household Panel Survey to analyse changes in poverty of self-reported health from 1991 to 2008. Recently introduced ordinal counterparts of the classical Foster, Greer, Thorbecke (1984) (FGT) poverty measures are used to …

WP87. Accounting for trends in health poverty: A decomposition analysis for Britain, 1991-2008

We use data from the British Household Panel Survey to analyse changes in poverty of self-reported health from 1991 to 2008. Recently introduced ordinal counterparts of the classical Foster, Greer, Thorbecke (1984) (FGT) poverty measures are used to decompose changes in self-reported health poverty over time into within-group health poverty changes and population shifts between groups. We also provide statistical inference for these ordinal FGT indices. Results suggest that the health poverty rate increased independently of health poverty threshold chosen. In case of other ordinal FGT indices, which are sensitive to depth and distribution of health poverty, results depend on the health poverty threshold. The subgroup decompositions of changes in total health poverty in Britain suggest that the most important poverty-increasing factors include a rise of both health poverty and population shares of persons cohabiting and couples with no children as well as an increase of the population of retired persons.


Brzeziński Michał
health poverty ordinal FGT measures self-reported health statistical inference British Household Panel Survey

WP(19/2012)85. Polarization of household saving in Poland during financial crisis 2007-2010

Authors: Liberda Zofia Barbara, Pęczkowski Marek
In this paper we analyse the changing structure of Polish households with regard to the household saving rates in 2007-2010 and compare it with similar distribution of household saving during 1997-2000. The analysis is based on the household budget p…

WP85. Polarization of household saving in Poland during financial crisis 2007-2010

In this paper we analyse the changing structure of Polish households with regard to the household saving rates in 2007-2010 and compare it with similar distribution of household saving during 1997-2000. The analysis is based on the household budget panel data from three panels of 15,000 of Polish households selected by authors for years 2007-2008, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 from the Household Budget Surveys for 2007-2010. We estimate the long-term ergodic distribution of households according to saving rates. Our results show that the long term distribution of households reveals a tendency towards polarization of households with regard to saving rates. Comparing these results with the Authors' previous research for 1997-2000 for Poland we indicate that between 1997-2000 and 2007-2010 the change in polarization of households was asymmetrical towards the highest saving rate groups. That explains why Polish households could maintain the increase in savings during the financial crisis of 2007-2010.


Liberda Zofia Barbara, Pęczkowski Marek
household saving polarization Markov matrix ergodic distribution panel analysis

WP(3/2011)43. How do we value our income from which we save?

Authors: Liberda Zofia Barbara, Pęczkowski Marek, Gucwa-Leśny Ewa
In this paper we analyze the relationship between the perception of income as satisfying household needs and saving rate of this household. Using the multinomial logit regression function we measure the probability of a household to fall into one of …

WP43. How do we value our income from which we save?

In this paper we analyze the relationship between the perception of income as satisfying household needs and saving rate of this household. Using the multinomial logit regression function we measure the probability of a household to fall into one of the groups categorized by the subjective perception of income in relation to the current household disposable income. The variable specified for the valuation of income is income perception, defined as a class of observed disposable income located on the scale of the subjectively satisfying income. Factors determining the perception of income are: gender and education of the household head, family characteristics, source of income and place of residence. The analysis of relations between the income perception and the household saving rates shows that the perception of income affects both the household observed and predicted saving rates. The research is based on the Household Budget Surveys data for Poland in 2008. (Revised version: October 2012)


Liberda Zofia Barbara, Pęczkowski Marek, Gucwa-Leśny Ewa
household income needs valuation saving probability

WP(17/2010)40. Economic determinants of sport participation in Poland

Authors: Strawiński Paweł
The article presents statistical description of economic factors that determine sport participation in Poland. Utilising data from 2008 Sport Participation Survey the biprobit model that takes into account the dependency between individuals and house…

WP40. Economic determinants of sport participation in Poland

The article presents statistical description of economic factors that determine sport participation in Poland. Utilising data from 2008 Sport Participation Survey the biprobit model that takes into account the dependency between individuals and household attitude to sport participation is estimated. Sport participation is found to slightly decline with age of a person, on the other hand, education is found to be positively related to sport participation. The idiosyncratic factor of sport participation in Poland is the influence of children; they seem to encourage their relatives to partake in physical activity. Additionally, both the income level of a household and a personal income of a person have an influence on sport participation.


Strawiński Paweł
sport participation sport expenditure household income education
  • 1
  • 2