THE WELFARE OF PENSIONERS DURING ECONOMIC TRANSITION - AN ANALYSIS OFHUNGARIAN SURVEY DATA

This paper examines the welfare of pensioners over the early transitio n period 1987-93 in Hungary. We describe the pension system in detail, and demonstrate the tendency towards compression of the pensioner inc ome distribution towards low income which is induced by the rules and indexation provisions of the pension system. We use the Hungarian Hous ehold Budget Surveys to analyse the growth of poverty among the pensio ner population and to compare their experience with two other distribu tionally sensitive groups: households with children and households aff ected by unemployment.