Polish government introduced crucial changes concerning conditions of the pension funds functioning in the years 2011–2014. This article focuses on explaining the impact of these political decisions on efficiency of investment fund market in Poland. Therefore, the article aims (1) to find out if changing in functioning of pension funds also affected the efficiency of mutual funds which provide stable growth investment policy (i.e. similar investment strategy as pension funds) and (2) to check which type of investment funds, pension or mutual, were more efficient in the sense of returns and risks under new regulations. The analysis is provided for selected mutual funds using daily, weekly and monthly returns. The whole period of analysis, years 2009–2015, is divided into six sub-periods according to the three events, that essentially changed the functioning of the pension funds. Statistical tests for in pairs comparisons of returns and risks, and ratios for investment efficiency evaluation were applied. Findings show that pension funds performed better than mutual funds which are managed by the same company. More, the changes of the rules for pension funds’ functioning caused an increase of risk and a decrease of efficiency of the considered investment funds’ portfolios.

The situation of women in the labour market is subject to European Union policy. This is due to prevention of discrimination and promotion of sustainable growth and development. There is a large body of literature describing national and regional labour markets; however, research on the situation in post-communist countries is not provided so often. The goal and contribution to the existing literature is to fill the gap concerning investigation for the Polish labour market. The aim of the research is to identify determinants influencing wages in Poland and to find out if wages obtained by men and women depend on the same factors. Analysis is provided applying statistical analysis and ordered logit models based on the individual data from the Polish Labour Force Survey. The main determinants of wages in Poland are: gender, age or job seniority, level of education, size of firm and occupation. However, the influence of these factors in the following periods and samples (containing all, female and male employees) may be different. Women earn less than men in all education classes and in all NACE branches (NACE - Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community) branches and this disparity has increased over time. The most important factor of gender income inequality is female segregation into low-wage jobs.