Social transfers in Poland in the context of monetary and multidimensional poverty

Abstract

The article examines the impact of the social transfers on well-being distribu-tion in Poland in 2010 and 2014. The main purpose is to assess the relationship between the distribution of benefits and of well-being, the impact of benefits on social indicators (i.e. the incidence and intensity of monetary and multidimensional poverty) as well as the influence of benefits on the behaviour of beneficiaries. The individual well-being is measured by means of equivalent income as well as by multidimensional indicator, including also consumption, dwelling quality, household appliances and subjective evaluations of the economic position. The study is based on data for 2010 and 2014 from the household budget survey of Statistics Poland. The comparison of the distribution of transfers and well-being indicates that the benefits are definitely pro-poor, irrespectively to the method of comparison and well-being measure. In 2014, as compared to 2010, higher reduction of poverty due to the transfers took place, in spite of the reduced number of recipients. However, the estimation of the net effect of the benefits including behavioural responses suggests strong demotivation effect.