THE REDISTRIBUTION FUNCTION IN POLAND’S AGRICULTURAL BUDGETS IN THE LONG TERM

Abstract

The study specifies the premises and purposes of the redistribution function of budget expenditures on agriculture. It determines the amount of expenditures fulfilling these purposes in Poland’s agricultural budgets in 1995–2018. An attempt was also made to assess their effects in the context of the dynamics of farmers’ income, the disparity between farmers’ income and the incomes of other social and professional groups, as well as intrasectoral disproportion in farm household income. It was demonstrated that the increase of budget expenditures on agriculture in 2004 contributed to a real increase of farmers’ income and a decrease in the disparity between the income of farm households and the income of households in general and of working households. However, the increase of redistribution expenditures did not reverse the progressing process of farm household income polarisation.