What Determines State Capture in Poland?

In this paper we examine the determinants of ex-ante state capture analyzing all the legal acts that have been passed in the period 1990-2011 in Poland. We find that during this the majority of legal acts were passed with the aim to satisfy the interest of particular groups. Furthermore, the regression analysis shows that the likelihood of state capture increases during the period of economic growth and local elections. The likelihood of state capture, however, declines during presidential elections. The results we attribute to different interests of political parties in the period of local and presidential election. Finally, we find that the state capture increased over the years in Poland. Additionally, we show that the EU accession did not prevent state capture in Poland. In contrast, the financial crisis of 2007 resulted in a wake-up effect and the likelihood of state capture declined in Poland

Is it darker in a larger courtroom? On the relationship between the size of regional court and exercising the right to public information in Poland

Purpose: The purpose of the text is to analyze response letters from all Polish regional courts to requests submitted under the administrative procedure for accessing public information. Design/Methodology/Approach: Based on the data on response letters received from regional courts and the court-sized quartiles, we studied whether there were considerable differences in response quality. We tested the hypothesis using Chi-square. Findings: The outcomes show that larger courts that, as proven by other research, are in principle characterized by higher judiciary effectiveness, less often provide complete public information. That also means that courts, which are more focused on their primary functions' performance, show the lower performance of secondary administrative tasks such as public information disclosure. Practical Implications: This result has got many practical implications because courts are amongst the entities obliged to provide public information. Originality/Value: It is an article of its kind trying to shed light in an issue which is not very well examined so far.peer-reviewe