The financial aspect of intergenerational solidarity from the point of view of the senior

Abstract

Many currents in economics put an emphasis on the social aspect of management. Recommendations are formulated with regard to using resources having in mind the satisfaction of needs by the current and future generations. The economic crisis has shown the bad state of public finance of many countries and put into question the existence of intergenerational solidarity in the financial terms. The lack of balance between generations is related with a high level of public debt and social obligations of the state burdening chiefly the young generation. The study aims at examining how seniors understand the nature and financial expressions of intergenerational solidarity. The supplementary objective is to learn the seniors’ views on the need and directions of reforms of the Polish public finance, in particular in the scope of pension and health benefits. Objectives were achieved and research hypotheses verified through the critical analysis of literature on the issue and on the basis of the author’s survey among the members of the Toruń Third Age University and the Kujawsko-Dobrzyński Third Age University. The results achieved allow for a conclusion that the vast majority of respondents understand the notion of intergenerational solidarity incorrectly are not aware of the scale of financial obligations which were put on the younger generations, and put too much emphasis on their own input into the increase of our country’s wealth. It Has also turned out that seniors very often present a demanding attitude in the field of the state’s social expenditure and do not take into consideration the financial capabilities of the state.

Translated by Dariusz Piotrowski