Economic Thought and Practice, , 2026.
Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.17818/EMIP/2026/36
HOW YOUNG PEOPLE IN CROATIA CONSTRUCT FINANCIAL SECURITY: AN INTERGENERATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Dina Dogan
; Zagreb School of Economics and Management, Department of Finance and Accounting
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* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Subjective financial security among young people is increasingly recognised as an experiential and relational construct shaped within an intergenerational framework, yet research in post-socialist contexts remains limited. This paper examines how young people in Croatia construct subjective financial security by comparing their financial prospects with their parents’ experiences. A qualitative study involving 25 economics and management students employed interpretative phenomenological analysis of semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that the parental generation functions as a normative and temporal benchmark: young people assess their financial position both anticipatorily and through temporal comparison, measuring their progress towards key life milestones against that of their parents. Perceived constraints on economic opportunities, particularly in employment and housing, encourage cautious financial strategies and contribute to an emotional dimension of insecurity integral to subjective financial security. The study identifies intergenerational comparative temporality as a mechanism that complements existing anticipatory and developmental conceptualisations of financial well-being.
Keywords
subjective financial security; financial socialization; intergenerational economic differences; interpretative phenomenological analysis
Hrčak ID:
349570
URI
Publication date:
18.5.2026.
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