The economic situation of households in Poland and the Czech Republic. Comparative analysis

Abstract

Income distribution can cause large-scale transformations in social structure, as well as in the quality of life. The aim of the paper is to compare the economic situation of households in Poland and the Czech Republic. The level and the dispersion of income distributions of households and the level of poverty due to the selected socio-economic characteristics of a respondent or a household are analysed. All the conclusions are based on the results of European Quality of Life Surveys. To describe the distribution of net equivalent income, the Singh-Maddala model is used. The estimation parameters are obtained by means of the maximum likelihood method. The descriptive statistics characterising the total situation in the Czech Republic and Poland, as well as in selected socio-economic groups, are calculated. To analyse the extent, depth and severity of poverty in the countries in question, the aggregate indices are obtained. The conducted research shows a high similarity for both distribution of equivalent income and the socio-economic groups particularly exposed to monetary poverty.