Evaluation of Consumption and Welfare Changes Under Economic Transition in Rural Poland
| Autor: | Sonya Kostova Huffman |
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| Rok vydání: | 2005 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Eastern European Economics. 43:5-20 |
| ISSN: | 1557-9298 0012-8775 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00128775.2005.11041108 |
| Popis: | The consumption and welfare changes under economic transition in rural Poland are evaluated using virtual prices for rationed goods in the prereform period. Rural households responded to price and real income changes during the transition from a cen- trally planned to a market economy. The actual changes in consumption patterns are con- sistent with the elasticity analysis. The results for rural Poland show a 74-86 percent decline in real household welfare, which is approximately one-half the value obtained using the actual prices. Compared with previous studies, the welfare loss for rural residents is slightly higher than the average for Poland. Under the centrally planned economy in Poland, consumers' purchase patterns were dictated by the availability and rationing of goods. Consumer goods, ranging from necessities such as housing and telephone services to luxuries such as cars, were rationed or in short supply. Dufing the central-planning era, rationing dis- torted consumers' behaviors because consumers could not buy their desired quan- tities at govemment-controlled prices. Each household's opportunity set for consumption goods was quite limited. Consumers constantly encountered short- ages that inconvenienced and frustrated them. The process of transformation to a market-oriented economy began in Poland in 1989, and it brought new consumption opportunities and eliminated rationing. The so-called Balcerowicz program (Leszek Balcerowicz was the finance minister who introduced far-reaching economic reforms beginning in early 1990) decreased hyperinflation, opened the economy, introduced the convertibility of the Polish |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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