IMPACT OF PENSION SYSTEM REFORMS ON PUBLIC FINANCE EXPENDITURES IN POLAND

The social security system in each country, if it exists, plays a crucial role in supporting citizens and specific expenditures of the public finance system. Its importance in public spending depends on many factors; in particular, on its source and on its form of financing benefits or pensions. The social security system in Poland is composed of a social insurance and welfare system, a health insurance system, unemployment and family benefits, from which are enumerated an old-age pension, invalidity pension, sickness and maternity insurance, insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases, and health insurance. The Polish social security system often changes due to implementation of improvements or limits on public spending. The most famous reform took place in 1999 and introduced the largest number of changes in the sphere of pension security. Because the scale of public funds that are passed on to the social security system is very large, pension reforms should are crucial for improving the state of public finances. The aim of the paper is to present changes that took place in the Polish pension system between 1999 and 2017 and how those changes influenced the amount of public expenditures. The study reviews the research hypothesis: frequent changes in the pension system have a negative impact on the state of Polish public finance. The study covers the years 1999-2017, as well as the previous four years before the implementation of the pension reform. Basic research materials used to conduct the research analysis were reports on implementation of the state budget, data prepared by the Social Insurance Institution and the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund as well as statistical data obtained from the Central Statistical Office.