The paper is dealing with the problem o f labour as well as the material goods and wealth resulting thereof. It points out that neither the biblical nor the non-biblical texts condemn wealth, nor the willingness to become rich. It is true, disinterested work on behalf of the neighbours is praiseworthy, yet it should not be a rule for everybody for each worker deserves his pay (1 Tm 5, 18). The Bibie only warns us not to put the material goods in the first place in the hierarchy of the human values. God’s justice has the primacy over anything else, the moral order established by God and put into practice by people.
The main aim of this study was to examine whether the economic status (current and in childhood) determined pro-ecological attitudes and behaviour. The survey involved 207 adults with different economic status. Both economic status in childhood and the present were taken into consideration. Analysis of the results indicated that people raised in families with low and medium material status have not only more eco-friendly attitudes but also have a greater tendency towards various ‘green’ behaviours. The differences among people with different current material status concerning their eco-friendly attitudes and behaviours are not so obvious. The most wealthy seem to have a less pro-ecological attitude, but on the other hand they are ready to put more money towards ecologically-friendly household expenses.
The article presents issues concerning the interpretation of the phenomenon of wealth in the context of Christian thought. From beginning, philosophical thought has been engaged in problems of tangible property and its influence on the human condition. The great philosophers indicated a way that the person should refer to the goods of this world. Plato, Aristotle, Seneca – each of them, according to his own vision of man and the world, referred in his texts to the problem of wealth. Equally significant contributions has been made by the monotheistic religions, Judaism and Christianity. Along with the development of the Church, this phenomenon stood out as an essential point of teaching. Primitive and post-apostolic church, to some extent out of necessity, took polemics with the outside world. Separating faith from matters of management, with its beginning in the Enlightenment, shaken the moral underpinnings of the deeds related to wealth. Marxist philosophy gave impulse to another reflection of the Church over economic phenomena. Leon XIII and his Rerum novarum are a milestone in Catholic thought on negative phenomena within the economy. The Holy Father portrayed threats resulting from the Marxist concept, showing an anthropological concept which was appropriate from the point of view of the Christianity. Social and later encyclicals, treat issues related to wealth from the Christian anthropology standpoint.
The purpose of the paper is to discuss the issues associated with the psychological aspect of possessions. The basic question of our consideration refers to the place which poverty and wealth occupy among human values. In particular, the analysis of this article includes recognition of Milton Rokeach and Shalom H. Schwartz.
Nowadays, it seems that economics penetrated every single area of human life. In addition to the desire of individuals to possess material goods and an increasing number of objects, which puts them at the appropriate level of the social ladder, more and more often we deal with the phenomenon of family treatment as a part of cultural exchange. This article highlights the problem of treating children as property, commodity, which you can offer to others, in relation to children born and unborn, in the area of trade in semen, commerce adoption, trafficking in children. This situation is present mainly in poor countries, where it is considered as a tool of economic rescue for the family: intended for work work, for sale, prostitution and sent to the street to beg. At the same time the child comes to the „specific” economic investment, the profits of which parents receive in the future. Therefore, it is important to highlight the problem of „child as a commodity” in the modern literature and scientific discussions.
An examination of the correlation between health and wealth cannot determine the direction of causality between the two. Countries’ geographic characteristics have an important effect on health, and they are plausibly uncorrelated with other determinants of wealth. This paper uses two climate variables – population-weighted temperature and precipitation – to obtain instrumental variables estimates of the effect of health on wealth.
The Middle English “Floris and Blancheflour” idealizes slave trade and suggests that only the highly-born can be subject to enslavement. It disregards the oriental origin of the merchants who will trade in Blancheflour. The poem focuses on wealth and ignores the widespread nature of medieval poverty. Respect for the merchants in the text foreshadows the later high social status of slave traders in England. Slavery is romanticized in the poem and the reality of serfdom is not included. The text is similar to the later “mercantile romances” and it is a mercantile text responding to the worldview of merchants, who were probably the text’s audience and to whose expectations the plot was adjusted.
This article examines from several positions the question of whether the amount of pecuniary punishment (in the field of criminal or administrative law) should be related to the wealth of the offender. It discusses, whether such a differentiation is discriminatory or not, analyses the jurisprudence of the Czech Constitutional Court and focuses on the application of the theory in practise. Law and Economics, as well as several other influential theories are examined, being followed by critical description of situation in Czech criminal and administrative law and jurisprudence. The attitude of supreme courts, is rather hesitant and they seem to hold back. Their reasons are unclear, one of them might be that there are not many possible ways for administration to discover the real wealth of the offender.
This article is devoted to poverty and wealth presented in fiction films - both cinema and television - directed in the times of the Polish People’s Republic. Poverty and wealth shown intentionally and unintentionally in these films manifest themselves in many ways. If we want to learn anything about wealth of the society shown in a given movie, a critical approach must be applied.
Celem niniejszej pracy jest wykazanie, w jaki sposób postawa wobec pieniędzy wpływa na spostrzeganie swojej sytuacji finansowej. W badaniu użyto typologicznego podejścia do nastawienia wobec własnych finansów, sprowadzającego je do dwóch postaw instrumentalnych (refleksyjnych zarządców i niezaangażowanych hedonistów) i dwóch postaw symbolicznych (niespokojnych wielbicieli i negujących znaczenie). Wykazano, że osoby o odmiennych postawach wobec pieniędzy różnią się poziomem oceny własnej sytuacji finansowej przy kontrolowaniu dochodu, ale jednocześnie w każdej grupie zależność pomiędzy uzyskiwanym dochodem a oceną swojej sytuacji finansowej ma odmienny charakter.
EN
The aim of this paper is to examine the influence of money attitude on the perception of own financial standing. The typological approach to attitudes towards money was used, thus it concentrates on two instrumental (reflective managers and detached hedonists) and two symbolic attitudes (anxious admirers and money repellers). People presenting various money attitudes differs in terms of their perception of wealth, and in each group the relation between income and the perception of one’s financial standing is of different character.
The article presents the interpretation of the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Lk 16,19-31), made by Asterius of Amasea and Nilus of Ancyra. Both authors represent the background of the ancient Church of the east at the turn of the 4th and 5th centuries. The exegesis presented is of a pastoral nature. The history of Lazarus and the rich man subserved both Church Fathers to edify the rich Christians of the necessity to share their goods with the poor. Mercy shown in this way will be repaid in eternal life. A rich man ought to do as much good as he can in this life, as the time is short. Forms of aid to those in need proposed by Asterius and Nilus were not to disturb the existing social order but merely to sensitize to the needs of others. The teaching presented in the commentary in question is within the strand of the social doctrine of the Church Fathers.
I considered the different views regarding the issues of possession, wealth and poverty in the fourth and fifth century. I focused on the concepts of the fifth-century theologian (St. Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, St. Augustine the Bishop of Hippo), pioneers of the western monastic theology and also the earliest monastic theologians and the heterodox pelagianist writers. They regarded soteriological perspective of Christianity. In that early period the socio-economic view did not constitute a doctrine. We can distinguish two essential approaches to the issue of possession in the teaching of the Church Fathers in the fourth and fifth century: a realistic and a pessimistic attitude. (The optimistic version regarded the possession of wealth as the result of Divine Protection and as a reward for pious Christian life. Both those models presumed that all the earthly goods were created by God and that people are only the temporary stewards of the goods given them for use. The realistic approach emphasized that everything which God has made was good and there was nothing wrong with owning possessions but it denounced the unjust means by which it is sometimes achieved or used. The pessimistic approach of Anchorites (monasticism, orthodox and heterodox ascetics) accepted the possession of goods which were made with one’s own hands. Everything which was not necessary should be given as alms. Coenobitic monks didn’t have anything of their own because everything belonged to the monastery. Their superior decided how everything could be used. The heterodox followers of Pelagius condemned shared of private property at all, and shared the view that voluntarily poverty was the only possible way for Christian.
Contrary to received opinion, Marx’s analysis in Capital does not start from the commodity, it starts from wealth. This has enormous theoretical and political implications.
PL
Wbrew obiegowej opinii, analizy Marksa zawarte w Kapitale nie rozpoczynają się od towaru, ale od bogactwa. Ma to bardzo daleko idące konsekwencje dla teorii i polityki.
Motywacja: Jednym z podstawowych problemów makroekonomii jest kwestia dobrobytu społeczeństw. W przeszłości, znacząca część ekonomistów zwykła utożsamiać wielkość gospodarki, bądź dynamikę jej wzrostu, ze stopą życiową. Obecnie, ocena dobrobytu społeczeństwa sprowadza się do oceny jakości życia w danym państwie. W głównym nurcie rozważań makroekonomicznych przyjęło się posługiwanie miarą jaką jest Produkt Krajowy Brutto (PKB) wraz z jej pochodnymi. Niestety wskaźniki te nie obejmują wielu kluczowych czynników wpływających na poziom dobrobytu. Z tego powodu na przestrzeni lat zastosowano nowe, szersze podejście i opracowano nowe mierniki takie, jak np. Wskaźnik Rozwoju Społecznego (Human Development Index, HDI). Koniecznym wydaje się rozważenie ich wartości poznawczej w kontekście współczesnego dorobku ekonomii szczęścia. W tym celu dokonano przeglądu najpopularniejszych wskaźników dobrobytu i jakości życia oraz skonfrontowano je z pozaekonomicznymi danymi opisującymi procesy zachodzące w społeczeństwach, zwracając szczególną uwagę na różnice interpretacyjne i możliwe odmienne oceny. Cel: Celem jest ocena pomiaru jakości stopy życiowej, przez przegląd dostępnych rozwiązań i metod oraz konfrontacja wyników z danymi publicznych statystyk wybranych państw Unii Europejskiej (UE). Materiały i metody: Wykorzystano przegląd systematyczny i analizę krytyczną literatury, analiza zagregowanych danych makroekonomicznych oraz statystyki publicznej. Materiał empiryczny stanowią dane publikowane przez Eurostat, Organizację Współpracy Gospodarczej i Rozwoju (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD), Światową Organizację Zdrowia (World Health Organization, WHO) oraz Bank Światowy (World Bank). Wyniki: Istnieją istotne różnice w ocenie jakości życia między wskaźnikami przyjętymi w głównym dyskursie ekonomicznym a empirycznymi danymi z innych nauk, tj. społecznych czy medycznych.
EN
Motivation: One of the basic problem in macroeconomics is issue of wealth of nations. In the past, a significant part of economists, used to identify the scale of economy, or dynamics of its growth, with the life rate. Nowadays, the evaluation of wealth of a society comes down to the rating the quality of life in a given country. In the mainstream of macroeconomics discourse, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), alongside with its derivatives, is used as a key method of measurement. Unfortunately, those indicators do not include a number of key aspects, that influence the wealth ratio. Because of that, throughout the years a new, expanded approach and new indicators were developed, for example the Human Development Index (HDI). It seems essential to consider their cognitive value in the context of a modern approach to the economy of happiness. For this purpose, an overview of the most popular wealth and quality of life indicators was compiled, and was confronted with non-economic data considering the processes happening in societies, with a main focus being the interpretational disparities, and possible different outcomes. Aim: The aim of the article is the evaluation of quality of life rate by overviewing available solutions and methods, and confrontation of the result with public statistic data considering the selected countries of the European Union (EU). Materials and methods: The systematic review and critical analysis of sources, aggregated macroeconomics data analysis and public statistics were used. Data published by Eurostat, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank were considered empirical material. Results: There are significant differences in the evaluation of life quality between the indicators used in the main economics discourse and the empirical data from other studies i.e. social and medical.
The present article is an attempt at establishing away of understanding the term ‘wealth’ as well as characterizing all the phenomena the term encompasses in communities of Polish, Russian and German students. The author analyses the results of averbal association test.
RU
В настоящей статье определяется способ понимания понятия богатство современными польскими, русскими и немецкими студентами в аксиологическом аспекте. Автор анализируетрезультаты теста вербальных ассоциаций.
Статья посвящена сравнительному анализу социальных неравенств в различных обществах. Рассмотрены отдельные работы отечественных и западноевропейских ученых, в которых выявлены основные факторы, определяющие неравенства и средства по их снижению. Уделено внимание основным тенденциям развития неравенств в современном обществе, где достойной альтернативой иррациональному рыночному обществу выступает возрождение трудового социалистического общества на нравственно-духовной опоре социальной справедливости и социального равенства.
EN
The article is devoted to comparative analysis of social inequalities in different societies. An author considers separately the work of Russian and Western scientists that identified the major factors determining inequality and means to reduce them. Attention is paid to the basic tendencies of development of inequalities in modern society, where a viable alternative to the irrational market society advocates revival of the labor of a socialist society in the moral and spiritual support of social justice and social equality.
Quantiles of income distributions are often applied to the estimation of various inequality, poverty and wealth characteristics. They are traditionally estimated using the classical quantile estimator based on a relevant order statistic. The main objective of the paper is to compare the classical, Huang-Brill and Bernstein estimators for these measures from the point of view of their statistical properties. Several Monte Carlo experiments were conducted to assess biases and mean squared errors of income distribution characteristics for different sample sizes under the lognormal or Dagum type-I models. The results of these experiments are used to estimate inequality, poverty and wealth measures in Poland by macroregion on the basis of micro data originating from the Household Budget Survey 2014.
PL
Kwantyle rozkładu dochodów są wykorzystywane do szacowania różnorodnych miar nierówności, analiz ubóstwa i bogactwa gospodarstw domowych. Najczęściej są one szacowane z użyciem klasycznego estymatora, będącego statystyką pozycyjną odpowiedniej rangi. Głównym celem pracy jest porównanie własności klasycznego estymatora kwantyla z własnościami estymatorów zaproponowanych przez M.L. Huanga i P.H. Brilla oraz Bernsteina. W celu zbadania obciążeń i błędów średniokwadratowych estymatorów kwantyli i miar nierówności opartych na kwantylach przeprowadzono eksperymenty Monte Carlo, rozważając różne liczebności prób i różne rozkłady. W pracy przedstawiono wyniki badań dla populacji o rozkładach lognormalnym i Daguma, które najczęściej charakteryzującą dochody gospodarstw domowych. Wyniki eksperymentów symulacyjnych wskazują, że spośród rozważanych estymatorów najlepsze własności ma estymator Bernsteina, dlatego został on wykorzystany do oszacowania miar nierówności dochodowych, ubóstwa i bogactwa w Polsce w 2014 r. z uwzględnieniem podziału kraju na makroregiony. Analizy przeprowadzono na podstawie danych pochodzących z badania budżetów gospodarstw domowych prowadzonego przez Główny Urząd Statystyczny.
W artykule omawia się antroponimy utworzone od apelatywów z zakresu pola pojęciowego wartości materialnych. Tekst składa się z dwóch części. Pierwsza ma charakter teoretyczny: przybliża poznawczą i ontologiczną funkcję nazw osobowych o charakterze przezwiskowym, a także status wartości materialnych w potocznym systemie pojęciowym. W tej partii tekstu przywołuje się również konteksty historyczne i biologiczne, uzasadniające konotacje wartościujące leksyki z pól pojęciowych BOGACTWO i BIEDA. W drugiej części artykułu omawia się antroponimy utworzone od wyrazów pospolitych, wybrane z trzech słowników nazw osobowych. Prezentację materiału onimicznego poprzedza omówienie semantyki leksemów wyznaczających centra pojęciowe wartości i antywartości materialnych. Wnioski z analizy leksyki pozwalają korelować określenia z zakresu wartości materialnych z określeniami z zakresu pola pojęciowego wartości witalnych i odczuciowych.
EN
The article discusses anthroponyms derived from appellatives in the semantic field of material values. The text consists of two parts. The first part is theoretical and introduces cognitive and ontological functions of nicknames, as well as the status of material values in the common conceptual system. This part also addresses historical and biological contexts that motivate evaluative connotations of the conceptual domains of WEALTH and POVERTY. The second part of the article presents a number of anthroponyms derived from common words which were selected from three dictionaries of proper names. The presentation of the onymic material is preceded by description of the semantics of lexemes that designate conceptual centres of material values and anti-values. Conclusions from the analysis of the lexical material allow one to corelate units related to the field of material values with those referring to the field of vital and emotional values.
This paper is an attempt to illuminate today’s economic science with the light of Aristotle’s philosophy of economics. The author first describes Aristotle’s thoughts about the economy. Then, he distinguishes and discusses three Aristotelian principles: (a) economics should be a classical practical or moral science, (b) economics should not look for an unlimited wealth, but for the wealth necessary for the good life, and (c) economics should be aimed at the common good.
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