Does a Sustainable Budget Exist in Hungary? – a Pilot Study of Measuring Overspending
| DOWNLOAD | DOI: 10.62897/COS2023.1-1.76 |
Tímea Vastag, Boglárka Eisinger-Balassa
Széchenyi István University, 9026 Győr, Egyetem tér 1
Abstract: This research is a pre-step of revealing if Hungarian households have a sustainable budget. It is analysed through the overspending behaviour of families. According to the literature review, Reference Budget was defined as the methodology that approaches household budgets from quantitative and qualitative perspectives. The Reference Budget was used in Belgium to describe the poverty line by simulating the needs of different family types and comparing it to their income. The correlation between income and expenditure gives the basic frame of a sustainable budget and overspending. In this pilot study, the different steps of Reference Budget calculations for Hungary will be presented with one family type as the test of methodology. First, the output of the available data from the Central Statistical Office (KSH) in Hungary will be presented by SPSS statistical software. The demographical overview and the statistical analysis of the spending structure of the family types specified by KSH will offer a general picture of Hungarian society. Given that this paper is pilot research, only couples without children were interviewed as the chosen family type, about their needs regarding services and products essential to reaching subsistence levels. The results of this methodological test will be the base for measuring sustainable budgets and overspending in further research.
REFERENCES
Abe A.K., Veit-Wilson J., 2020, Minimum income research in Japan: its development and political implications. In C. Deeming (Ed.), Minimum Income Standards and Reference Budgets: International and Comparative Policy Perspectives, Bristol University Press, Policy Press, Cambridge, UK, 67-82.
Ariely D., Kreisler J., 2017, Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter. Harper, USA.
Bradshaw J., Veit-Wilson J., 2020 From normative budget standards to consensual minimum income standards in the UK. In: Deeming C. (Ed.), Minimum Income Standards and Reference Budgets: International and Comparative Policy Perspectives, Bristol University Press. Policy Press, Cambridge, UK, 27-38.
Deeming C., 2020 Minimum Income Standards and Reference Budgets: International and Comparative Policy Perspectives, Chapter 1, In: An introduction to minimum income standards and reference budgets: international and comparative policy perspectives, Bristol University Press, Policy Press, Cambridge, UK, 3-24.
Dumitrescu B.A., Enciu A., Hândoreanu C.A., Obreja C., Blaga F., 2022, Macroeconomic Determinants of Household Debt in OECD Countries. Sustainability, 14, 3977.
Gasior K., Recchia P., 2020 The Use of Hypothetical Household Data for Policy Learning: Comparative Tax‒Benefit Indicators Using EUROMOD HHoT. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 22:2, 170-189.
Hegedűs P., Szívós P., 2023, Country Report, Hungary 2019-2022.
Hungarian Statistical Office, 2023, Household Budget Survey, 2023/Q3.
Hüttel A, Balderjahn I. 2022, The coronavirus pandemic: A window of opportunity for sustainable consumption or a time of turning away? Journal of Consumer Affairs, 56(1):68-96.
Leavy P. (Ed.), 2014, The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research, Oxford Library of Psychology Oxford Academic.
Mahon B.M., Thornton R., Veit-Wilson J., 2020, Minimum Essential Standards of Living research in Ireland. In Deeming C. (Ed.), Minimum Income Standards and Reference Budgets: International and Comparative Policy Perspectives, Bristol University Press. Policy Press, Cambridge, UK, 39-54.
Makarenko E., Nivorozhkina L., Tregubova A., Toropova T., Nazarova E., 2022, Risk of Increasing Income Inequality and Poverty: Analysis by Income Source. Sustainability, 14, 1610.
Munisamy A., Sahid S., Hussin M., 2022, Socioeconomic Sustainability for Low-Income Households: The Mediating Role of Financial Well-Being. Sustainability 14, 9752.
Penne T., Cornelis I., Storms B., 2020, All we need is…. Reference Budgets as an EU Policy Indicator to Assess the Adequacy of Minimum Income Protection. Social Indicators Research, 147, 991–1013.
Reis R., 2022, Debt Revenue and the Sustainability of Public Debt. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 36 (4), 103-124.
Statistics Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2018, Classification of Individual Consumption
According to Purpose (COICOP) 2018, New York, United States.
Storms B., Goedemé T., Van den Bosch K., Penne T., Schuerman N., Stockman S., 2014, Pilot project for the development of a common methodology on reference budgets in Europe, Review of current state of play on reference budget practices at national, regional, and local level, University of Antwerpen, The Netherlands.
Storms B., Cornelis I., Delanghe H., Frederick M., Penne T., Carrillo-Alvarez E., Cussó-Parcerisas I., Bernát A., Mäkinen L., Muñoz Martínez J., Szivos P., 2023, How can reference budgets contribute to the construction of social indicators to assess the adequacy of minimum income and the affordability of necessary goods and services? EuSocialCit Working Paper, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7629202.
Vastag T., Eisinger-Balassa B., 2023, A new validated method to research overspending in Hungary, ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference - ENTRENOVA - Dubrovnik, Croatia & Hybrid, 14-16 September 2023 (under publication).