Changes in Income Distribution in Poland between 1987-1992

In this paper, we present an approach towards empirical verification of a few hypotheses related to changes in income distribution in Poland during the crucial period of a systemic transformation: during the last three years of the old system (1987-1989) and the first three years of the shock market theory initiated by Balcerowicz's plan (1900-1992). We will attempt to answer a few detailed questions, namely: Has a crucial increase in income inequality explaining a common belief in this subject appeared after 1989 in Poland? To what extend have the changes in income distribution taken a form of changes in income position of large socio-economic groups, and did they bring to these groups a promotion or degradation on an income scale? How strong were stratification processes within the socio-economic groups of households and did they go towards an increase of income inequality? To what degree does a period of transformation find a reflection in an income mobility perceived from the perspective of individual households? In other words, was it a period of intensive translocations of households on a relative income scale, or a milder process of the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer?