FINANCIAL SITUATION AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS SAVING IN POLISH SOCIETY:EVIDENCE FROM MICRO DATA

Savings of the household sector are undoubtedly very important both in terms of micro- (for the optimum personal finance management) and macroeconomics (from the perspective of the economic growth). Furthermore, the major transformation has occurred in the household saving behavior in Poland in recent years. This is due to sharp changes in the functioning of the households in the period of economic transformation and is the result of the global financial and economic crisis. This paper provides empirical evidence of the complex interrelations of income, level of optimism/pessimism, attitudes towards saving and households' consumption–savings decisions. There is a strong income and savings relationship due to the positive income effect on the household saving propensity (through the increased motivation and the long run planning acceptance) and the saving ability due to ample satisfaction of household consumption needs. Higher income leads to the self-restraint rejection. The level of household optimism/pessimism exerts a substantial effect on the saving motives and attitudes towards saving. The decreasing expectations leads to the slope of the overall saving motivation. Moreover pessimists seem to reveal the lowest inclination to deliberate saving. Simultaneously, they seem to be most suspicious about the bank loan incurring. The level of optimism is positively associated with both the share of savers and the level of accumulated savings.