Ucieczka od zacofania? Polska transformacja jako projekt modernizacyjny

An escape from backwardness? The Polish transformation as a modernization project (Summary)The authors discuss the late professor Jacek Kochanowicz’s views on Poland’s backwardness and its modernization in the period of the country’s transformation after 1989. The main purpose of the article is to reconstruct Kochanowicz’s interpretation of the process of the systemic transformation, understood as a modernization project. In the paper the authors begin by presenting Kochanowicz’s opinions on the causes of Poland’s backwardness, especially those originating in Polish history. The discussion of the way Kochanowicz saw the causes of Poland’s backwardness is followed by the exposition of the way in which he interpreted the process of Poland’s transformation. In conclusion, the authors attempt to outline Kochanowicz’s view of Poland’s development in the following decades, stressing his skepticism as to the country’s chances of a rapid and successful modernization.An escape from backwardness? The Polish transformation as a modernization project (Summary)The authors discuss the late professor Jacek Kochanowicz’s views on Poland’s backwardness and its modernization in the period of the country’s transformation after 1989. The main purpose of the article is to reconstruct Kochanowicz’s interpretation of the process of the systemic transformation, understood as a modernization project. In the paper the authors begin by presenting Kochanowicz’s opinions on the causes of Poland’s backwardness, especially those originating in Polish history. The discussion of the way Kochanowicz saw the causes of Poland’s backwardness is followed by the exposition of the way in which he interpreted the process of Poland’s transformation. In conclusion, the authors attempt to outline Kochanowicz’s view of Poland’s development in the following decades, stressing his skepticism as to the country’s chances of a rapid and successful modernization

Rozwój regionalny w warunkach centralnego planowania. Przypadek Polski w latach 1960–1973

The article focuses on the impact of investment policy on regional convergence in Poland between 1960 and 1973. On the basis of official statistics on the regional net, gross material product, and occupational structure (material/non-material sector), the author reconstructs the level of GDP for individual Polish regions. The analysis revealed a lack of regional convergence of both sigma and beta types. As a result, the study confirmed that the spatial allocation of investment in Poland during the rule of the Gomułka and Gierek governments was not conducive to the convergence policy, and – due to other characteristics of the centrally planned economy – the spontaneously emerging polarised development model also proved ineffective.Artykuł koncentruje się na wpływie polityki inwestycyjnej na konwergencję regionalną w Polsce w latach 1960–1973. Na podstawie oficjalnych statystyk dotyczących regionalnego produktu materialnego netto i brutto oraz struktury zawodowej (sektor materialny/niematerialny) zrekonstruowano poziom PKB dla poszczególnych regionów Polski. Przeprowadzona analiza wykazała brak konwergencji regionalnej zarówno typu sigma, jak i beta. W rezultacie przeprowadzone badanie potwierdziło, że przestrzenna alokacja inwestycji w Polsce okresu rządów Gomułki i Gierka nie sprzyjała polityce konwergencji, a ze względu na inne cechy gospodarki centralnie planowanej spontanicznie wyłaniający się polaryzacyjny model rozwoju również okazał się nieefektywny

Rozwój regionalny ziem polskich pod zaborami. Porównanie poziomu produktu brutto per capita na dzisiejszych terenach Polski na przełomie XIX i XX w. (wyniki pierwszych estymacji)

Przedmiotem artykułu jest rekonstrukcja historycznego produktu krajowego (PKB) ziem polskich na przełomie XIX i XX w. Jest to pierwszy w polskiej historiografii gospodarczej spójny szacunek PKB dla poszczególnych dzielnic zaborczych oraz całości ziem polskich w latach 1900 i 1910, w podwójnym ujęciu – w granicach z przełomu XIX i XX w. oraz w granicach współczesnych. Badanie oparto na szerokiej bazie statystycznej, w obliczeniach dochodów na poziomie dzielnic i PKB ogółem zastosowano metodę produktową oraz bottom-up, część obliczeń przeprowadzono z wykorzystaniem regresji liniowej. Artykuł składa się z pięciu podrozdziałów: omówienie stanu badań, zakres terytorialny badania, źródła, metoda, wyniki i ich interpretacja. W zakończeniu przedstawiono wnioski i dezyderaty dotyczące dalszych prac w tej dziedzinie. Regional development of the Polish lands under partitions. A comparison of the level of gross product per capita in the territories of modern Poland at the turn of the twentieth century (results of first estimations)The article presents a reconstruction of historic gross domestic product (GDP) in the Polish lands at the turn of the twentieth century. This is the first in the Polish economic historiography comprehensive GDP estimate for individual partitions and the whole Polish territory in 1900 and 1910, in a double approach: within the frontiers at the turn of the nineteenth century and within the present ones. The study has been based on a broad statistical basis, the calculations of income on the level of partitions and total GDP have been performed with the output method and bottom-up method, part of the computations has been made with the use of simple linear regression. The article is divided into five parts: 1) a description of the present state of research, 2) a territorial scope of the study, 3) sources, 4) methods, 5) results and their interpretation. The closing part contains conclusions and proposition for further research in the field

Złote łany, ziemniaczane pola i zagony buraków. Roślinny krajobraz polskiej wsi w perspektywie historii gospodarczej

The article discusses the role of plants in Poland’s economic development over the last 500 years. The author presents the role of five plants in the history of Poland’s development: cereals (wheat and rye), potatoes, sugar beet and rape. The specificity of the economic development of modern Europe has made Poland one of Europe’s granaries and an important exporter of cereals. This shaped the civilization of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and contributed to its fall due to institutional specificity. In the 19th century, potatoes played an important role in the population development of Polish lands, as they helped feed the rapidly growing population. The spread of sugar beet cultivation created the conditions for the development of modern sugar industry in the second half of the 19th century. It became one of the first modern branches of the food industry in Poland and contributed to the modernization of the village. Quite recently, oilseed rape was to become a plant that would bring back the times of agricultural sheikhs – no longer the nobility would trade in cereals on the European markets, but entrepreneurs producing a vegetable substitute for diesel oil

Is it not too bad or not too good? Changes in the perception of the prevalence of corruption in Poland in the light of social studies

Artykuł podejmuje problem analizy zmian mierzonego w badaniach społecznych poziomu korupcji i jej postrzegania w Polsce w ciągu ostatnich kilkunastu lat. Autorzy przedstawiają i interpretują wiele miar poziomu korupcji i percepcji korupcji tworzonych na podstawie różnego rodzaju badań i analiz, próbując odpowiedzieć na pytania o powody zmienności wskazań, a także – na bazie danych – o skuteczność polityk antykorupcyjnych podejmowanych Polsce.The authors discuss the changes in the level of perception of corruption in Poland in the last 20 years. They present many measures of (perception of) corruption in order to explain their changeability in time and the differences between them. They also raise the problem of efficiency of anti-corruption policies with regard to measured levels of corruption

Zmarnowana dekada? Ekspansja inwestycyjna lat siedemdziesiątych XX wieku na tle polityki gospodarczej w okresie PRL

W pierwszej połowie lat siedemdziesiątych XX w. pod rządami Edwarda Gierka w Polsce wprowadzono jeden z największych programów inwestycyjnych po II wojnie światowej. W jego realizacji kluczową rolę odgrywały technologie importowane z krajów wysokorozwiniętych oraz projekty inwestycyjne finansowane z zachodnich kredytów. Rezultaty modernizacji kraju, chociaż spowodowały krótkotrwałe przyspieszenie rozwoju, nie przyniosły oczekiwanych efektów.In the first half of the 1970s, under First Secretary Edward Gierek, one of the most extensive investment programmes after World War II was introduced in Poland. Technologies imported from highly developed countries and investment projects financed from Western loans played a crucial role in its implementation. Although they caused a short-term acceleration of development, this modernisation of the country did not bring the expected results

Ucieczka od zacofania? Polska transformacja jako projekt modernizacyjny

The authors discuss the late professor Jacek Kochanowicz’s views on Poland’s backwardness and its modernization in the period of the country’s transformation after 1989. The main purpose of the article is to reconstruct Kochanowicz’s interpretation of the process of the systemic transformation, understood as a modernization project. In the paper the authors begin by presenting Kochanowicz’s opinions on the causes of Poland’s backwardness, especially those originating in Polish history. The discussion of the way Kochanowicz saw the causes of Poland’s backwardness is followed by the exposition of the way in which he interpreted the process of Poland’s transformation. In conclusion, the authors attempt to outline Kochanowicz’s view of Poland’s development in the following decades, stressing his skepticism as to the country’s chances of a rapid and successful modernization

Corruption. A Review of Selected Conceptions

The authors present theories of corruption taking into consideration the typology of Arnold J. Heidenheimer, who divided the corruption theories into those which concentrate on the public official and concern the breaking of the rules of the law and those according to which corruption is a particular kind of market phenomenon. In the first part of the text there are presented non-economical formulations of the problem of corruption and thus such which can be placed within the two first categories of Heidenheimer's typology. In accordance with the perspective adopted in the article it is an attempt to present non-economic, institutional conditions of corruption. In successive parts of the article corruption is defined as a contract referring to the works of Susan Rose-Ackerman, Edward Banfield, Gary Becker and Gary Stigler. The structure of the corruption contract and the conditions on which it is concluded were subjected to analysis. On the basis of this analysis the authors indicate that an essential influence on the scale and structure of corruption is exerted on the one hand by agency structures of the administration and on the other hand cultural conditions.