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Dr Łukasz Jurek
ORCID: 0000-0002-0078-471X

Dr Łukasz Jurek, PhD in economics. He is an economist, gerontologist and social politician. Works as an assistant professor at Wrocław University of Economics and Business (Department of Sociology and Social Policy). His scientific and research activity are related to the financing and organization of the social security system, and also to socio-economic aspects of the population aging. The main fields of interest are: financing of long-term care, determinants of retirement decisions, level and quality of life of older people, periodization of the life-cycle, generational differences, age-management, and demographics of the labour market.

 
DOI: 10.33226/0032-6186.2022.11.3
JEL: I38, J83, K31

The availability of social benefits is determined by the legal regulations operating in a given country. The actual scope of using these benefits depends, however, on cultural factor, including, in particular, the dominant moral norms. While some individuals (persons, households) abuse welfare benefits, others, on the contrary, do not use them despite appropriate entitlements to do so. This individual attitude to the solutions offered by the welfare state has been described as "welfare morality". This article attempts to conceptualize this term. Presents its essence and practical significance for the welfare system. Moreover, both "deviations" from the optimal usage were discussed: excessive (welfare fraud) and insufficient (welfare non-take-up).

Keywords: benefit morality; moral hazard; welfare fraud; welfare non-take-up
DOI: 10.33226/0032-6186.2021.11.3
JEL: I38, J83, K31

While illness and work-inability random events, independent from the human will, the sickness absence it a result of conscious decisions. Employees vary in its use. The subject of interest in the article is sickness absenteeism, so the phenomenon of the overuse of sickness leaves, that is medically unjustified. Basing on the literature and results of previous research the essence of this problem have been presented, as well as its types and determinants. Sickness absence, like any other social privilege, is a field of potential abuse. Excessive use of sick leaves may take two forms: moral hazard or welfare fraud. Intensity of these problems depends on the number of factors within individual characteristics of worker, features of working environment, and a broad social and institutional context. We investigated those factors and identified dozen of them.

Keywords: sickness absence; moral hazard; welfare fraud