Acta Oeconomica 1. (1966)
1966 / 3-4. szám - Lengyel László: Living Standard: Facts and Opinions
328 L. LENGYEL: THE LIVING-STANDARD several years. Thus all the objective data relating to a considerable part of the households under survey at present are available to the Office and on their basis the changes over relatively longer periods (several years) as well as the direction and extent of the changes in the income and consumption conditions of the households can be traced back accurately. The subjective data reflecting the opinions on the development of the living standard were gathered from the households subsequently, in the frames of a separate data collection [2]. I have to stress the tentative character of the whole research. Still, it is perhaps not too exaggerated to say that the carrying out of similar researches may supply useful data not only in Hungary but also in any other country to solve the concrete problems of the living standard and income policies, to improve the wage policy and the system of incentives. I The connection between the opinions on the changes in the living standard and the actual changes in the income level. The requirement of the research targets outlined above can be met in several ways by using the methodological apparatus of statistics, with the aid of proper data collections. It should be taken into account, however, — and this fact should be borne in mind also when evaluating the results -— that the results may differ depending on the method chosen. I want to stress two alternatives only: 1. questions can be put as to how people judge the development of the living standard of the population, or of the individual strata of society in general ; 2. it can be questioned how people judge the concrete development of their own living standard or that of their family. If the scope of the survey is extensive enough, if the degree of representation is sufficient, the two types of approach have to yield, theoretically, more or less identical results. It can easily be admitted, however, that this is not always the case. For other factors play a role in the replies of the persons interviewed if they are questioned about the general situation and other factors are important if the persons are asked about the development of their own living standard. Since the research in question has also set itself the aim to compare by families the objective data with the subjective replies, and assuming also that the data obtained make it possible to make generalizations for the society as a whole (since a relatively large sample is available) we decided to choose the second alternative when drawing up the program of the survey. In the course of the research described in the paper the persons were first questioned if there had been a change in the living standard of their household in 1964 as compared to the level of the previous year, and if so, what direction ( improvement, deterioration) and what extent (smaller-greater) it had revealed. The same questions were asked also relating to the situation of 5 years before. The distribution of the households by the replies given to the questions mentioned is shown in Table 1. Acta Oeconomica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 1, 1966