Economic growth and the standard of living. Social aspects of economic activity

The economic growth of development countries indicates that beside positive effects, manifesting themselves through the growth of material consumption and wealth of society, economic growth brings also negative effects. At some stage of economic growth those negative effects will equalize or exceed a positive effect, i.e. the growth of material wealth, and at that point economic development will lose its social sense. The growth of consumption and material well-being alone cannot be considered a sufficient measure of the social effect of the economic growth. An adequate, full expression of the social effect of the economic activity is the category of the standard of living The standard of living is the resultant of the level of needs and the level of real social consumption (understood widely, i.e. the consumption of the whole range of material and non-material goods and services, including the consumption of non-material services such as education, health protection, social security, etc.). The standard of living is determined by a set of economic, demographic and social factors. Of particular significance are economic determinants, among them the level and speed of the economic growth. The article presents in some detail the mothod of "translating" the direct effect of the economic growth, i.e. the GNP, into the social effect understood as the standard of living. There exists also a reverse correlation, i.e. the standard of living determines the level and speed of the economic growth. The higher the standard of living, the stronger its influence on the dynamics of economy. In the final part of the article the Author presents the way and conditions of that influence.Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201