Acta Oeconomica 1. (1966)

1966 / 3-4. szám - Lengyel László: Living Standard: Facts and Opinions

L. Lengyel LIVING STANDARD: FACTS AND OPINIONS On basis of the data covering 4000 households continuously surveyed in the framework of family budget statistics, the author tries to give answer to the question: what connection exists between the objective facts of the living standard of the different strata of the society, on the one hand, and the subjective opinions on their own living standard of the persons belonging to the same strata, on the other. There is no doubt that the objective situation, the concrete facts have under all circumstances an incontestable priority in developing the general principles of economic and social policies, within them of the policy on living standards. This is why in economic and statistical analyses the living standard is defined as an objective concept connected with meeting the population’s personal needs and is determined by the volume of the physical goods consumed (or to be consumed) and of the services used (or to be used). Still, not only scientific interest but also the preparation and foundation of the decisions to be taken in solving the practical problems of the pohcy on living standards make it justified to get an insight as differentiated as possible into the mental sphere and try to reveal from as many aspects as possible the opinions of the population, of the individual strata and groups of the society, about the indi­vidual economic and socio-political decisions — in the present case, the deci­sions on the living standard policy, more exactly, about their effects and results. (The paper of Bastide and Girard gives account of a research of this type. [1]) The results of researches of this type become especially worth attention and useable if the subjective data obtained from the mental sphere can be compared with the objective data. In the paper below the author intends to review the major results of a research of this type. Aim of the research was to give a picture (by means of statistical methods) of the connection between the objective facts of the living standard and their reflection by human mind. The research was made possible by the fact that in Hungary a continuous survey of family budget statistics has been going on for more than 10 years covering 4000 households, in whose frame the households report about their receipts (income) and expenditure (con­sumption) day by day in their household records to the Central Statistical Office and identical households make available their records to the Office for Ada Oeconomica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 2, 1966

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