Possibilities of Evaluation of Economic Situation on the Basis of Researches of Consumers Opinion

Consumers' behavior reflects changes in the business situation in the country and has a reverse impact on it — it can strengthen or weaken it. These are the consumers who evaluate the business situation of the country either to see consumer impulses and prospects for satisfying their expectations and aspirations or to assess that: things are going in the wrong direction and conseąuently to weaken their behavior. The latter results in worsening consumers' sentiments, raising concerns about the future or declining willingness to make purchases. Consumer surveys which permit actually to answer the question: How is the State of a household formed and how does it change? Are quite new in Poland: tliey started after 1990 when the market economy was introduced in this country. Thanks to those changes the customers became sovereign, free but also more rational in making their choice. The purpose of the surveys which started in the Research Institute of Economic Development in the l'st quarter of 1990 was not to study the links between consumers' opinions and the generał economic situation of Poland, though since the very beginning such links have been evident