Poverty in Eastern Europe in the Years of Crisis, 1978 to 1987: Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia

Abstract

Eastern Europe experienced an economic crisis between 1978 and 1987. Declining income led to substantial increases in poverty rates in Poland and Yugoslavia, while poverty in Hungary remained at about the same level as before the crisis. In all three countries urban poverty increased, as the economic condition of state sector workers deteriorated to a much greater extent than that of agricultural and mixed households. The increased poverty was entirely explained by declining income, because the overall income distribution did not change or in some cases improved.