The book "Poles in the world of finance" won second prize in the "Economics" competition in the category "best book expanding economic knowledge". Prizes in the third edition of the competition, organized by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, were awarded during the first day of the Warsaw Book Fair.
The Economics prize is awarded every year by the editors of Dziennik Gazeta Prawna in three categories: best book expanding economic knowledge, best economics handbook and best translation of a foreign economics book. It aims to support authors and publishers whose publications on economics topics are of a high quality, both in terms of content and editing. The prize is under the patronage of the National Bank of Poland.
The book "Poles in the world of finance" is a valuable publication and I'm glad that it has won the recognition of the award committee of such a prestigious prize - says Krzysztof Kaczmar, President of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation, partner in the publication of this book. Its particular value is that it presents in an accessible manner economic issues present in our daily lives. It analyzes in a comprehensive way our financial behavior and relationship to money and finances generally, and also answers the question of what determines our perception of our material situation. This friendly approach to the topic is particularly close to us because of our Foundation's long-standing involvement in the financial education of Poles. We believe that this publication will contribute to the spread of financial literacy in our country" - he adds.
Prof. Dominika Maison's book "Poles in the world of finance" includes an analysis of a 2009 survey commissioned by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation on the state of Poles' financial knowledge. It is supplemented by the results of other surveys conducted in 2009-2011 on the financial attitudes and behavior of Poles regarding the use of banking services, savings, investments and household budget management.
The most interesting findings of the book:
- The perception of our material situation depends less on how much money we have than on how we look at life. If we see our current material situation in bright colors, we feel that it is better than that of others and probably also believe that it can be even better.
- Among the actions that Poles would be willing to take in order to get more money, playing the lottery is the choice of the largest number of people (57% of Poles). This result is all the more surprising given that the chances of a "six" in the big drawing are 1 in 13,983,816, while the chances of finding additional work are incomparably greater.
- The answer to the question of whether money brings happiness is: definitely not, provided that the basic needs of people are satisfied. On the other hand, does happiness bring more money? It seems yes - people who are more optimistic about life and the world often attain greater financial success than pessimists.
