Damian Walczak

Social Security in Poland - Cultural, Historical and Economical Issues

In the first place, the paper analyses the cultural-historical background of the social security in Poland. Given the largely enrooted Catholicism of the country, the development of the social teaching of the Catholic Church is surveyed. It is followed by a short history of the social security legislation in Poland from 1918 to 1997, and finally the current economical conditions of the system are analysed. The paper concludes with the opinion, that the current system, providing large social endowments to various strata of the population, generally answers the expectations of the people as well as corresponds to Catholic social teaching.

Catholic social teaching, sustainable development and social solidarism in the context of social security

Nowadays, opposite to what could be observed at the end of the nineteenth century, people are more focused on creating larger societies rather than sets of alienated individuals. Certainly, there are many factors that cause this kind of trend. The factors may include social determinants known as Catholic social teaching, social solidarism and sustainable growth. Each of the above factors refers to the three methods of social security, whose aim is to protect citizens against the threat of unsatisfied basic needs, socially recognized as valid. Catholic social teaching, social solidarism and sustainable growth refer both to obliging the state to help people who are facing a situation of unsatisfied basic needs (do not allow the possibility of leaving the individual alone – the procurement method) and to indicating everyone the necessity of self-protection that reaches above the minimum guaranteed by the state (the insurance method). Also, they indicate the possibility (necessity) of functioning in society a kind of support provided to persons in need from voluntary payments (institutions or individuals – the philanthropic method).

Analysis of Agrarian Structure in Poland in 1921 and 2002 Based on the Example of Selected Districts

The objective of this article is to present the diversity of the agrarian structure in Poland based on the example of selected neighboring districts. The selected districts, which in the years 1795–1918 (the period when Poland’s area was divided and occupied by three invaders) were located in two different annexed territories, and since 1918 have been the territory of one country—Poland. The analysis of the variation of the agrarian structure employed the Gini coefficient and the average size of farms in individual districts in 1921 and in 2002 was calculated. The obtained results allowed to conclude that the agrarian structure in Poland is considerably spatially differentiated. Undoubtedly one of the reasons is the complex history of Poland’s borderlines. The agrarian structure for selected districts which belonged to the same annexed territory is not significantly different. However, in the case of districts belonging to different annexed territories (even for neighboring districts), the differentiation of the agrarian structure was substantial and it still remains so.

Saving preferences of households in Poland

The purpose of this article is to present the savings’ preferences of households in Poland. Households in Poland invest primarily in deposits made in Polish zloties. Their primary motivation is saving for flats and houses and in the second motivation is saving for durable goods. For the purpose of the analysis authors used the data published by National Bank of Poland and statistical data published in the Social Diagnosis 2011 report.