Executive Remuneration Policy at Banks in Poland After the Financial Crisis - Evolution or Revolution?

The executive remuneration policy of financial institutions has been indicated as one of the key factors that led to the recent financial crisis. As a consequence a number of legislative initiatives and best practices have been imposed,aimed at strengthening existing and creating new standards of good corporate governance at banks. The purpose of this article is to assess the effectiveness of Poland’s new regulations concerning banks' executive pay, which were introduced in the aftermath of the recent financial crisis. The research results indicate that the new legal rules have not been fully enforced. Public banks in Poland are not fulfilling the reporting obligations imposed by law and international principles. Given the crucial importance of executive remuneration policy in the financial sector to the stability of the banking sector, the inability to evaluate the progress made in the adjustment of executive remuneration practices to the new regulations may be perceived as one of the important risk factors that has not been effectively eliminated or even reduced in Poland yet.Polityka wynagradzania osób zarządzających instytucjami finansowymi została zidentyfikowana, jako jeden z kluczowych czynników, który doprowadził do ostatniego kryzysu finansowego. Reakcją na dysfunkcjonalności tej polityki są liczne inicjatywy legislacyjne i środowiskowe mające na celu wzmacnianie istniejących i tworzenie nowych standardów regulujących ten obszar nadzoru korporacyjnego. Celem artykułu jest ocena skuteczności nowych regulacji obowiązujących banki publiczne w Polsce wprowadzonych po ostatniego wybuchu kryzysu finansowego. Stosowane przez banki praktyki zostaną skonfrontowane ze standardami prawnymi i środowiskowymi

Augustine's argumentation against religious freedom

Augustine, the Bishop of Carthage participated in the Donatist conflict. In this dispute he was an advocate of involvement of Roman authorities, including their military and police forces, on the Catholic side and against the Donatists. On the basis of this decision he more broadly justified his view that the state had a duty to actively promote the true faith, that is, Catholicism. He believed that bringing a man on the path of truth and thus protecting him from perdition in hell is a great good. In his opinion a man without such a support from the state could easily get lost and could not learn the truth. His view was based on two pillars. On the one hand, Augustine was convinced that the original sin destroyed the free will of a man to such extent that it was no longer capable of choosing the good, and on the other hand, he saw the law of the Empire, the Christian state, as an important path of God’s grace. Therefore, he believed that the adoption of the principle of religious freedom, that is, being neutral in religious issues by the state authorities would constitute a major betrayal of the duties of the authorities

Sin in Origen's "Homilies on Leviticus"

W homiliach Orygenes koncentruje się na dwóch elementach człowieka, które określa zwykle jako rozum i dusza. Są one tożsame opisywanymi przez niego w innych dziełach dwiema częściami duszy: wyższą – rozumną i niższą. Zarówno rozum, jak i dusza mogą grzeszyć. Orygenes nie mówi w zasadzie o grzechach ciała. Grzechy rozumu są cięższe, bo powodują grzech całego człowieka, uniemożliwiają duszy spełnianie dobrych czynów. Polegają one na zbłądzeniu, odejściu od Boga, herezji, bezbożności. Dusza także może samodzielnie popełniać grzechy. Jej grzechy mogą być mimowolne, polegają na uleganiu pokusom złych pragnień i namiętności. Często grzechy duszy są przedstawiane jako choroby. Orygenes dokonuje kilku podziałów grzechów na dwie kategorie: cięższe i lżejsze. Najważniejszy z tych podziałów to grzechy odpuszczalne w tym życiu i nieodpuszczalne w tym życiu. Oprócz tego są wyróżnione grzechy przeciw Bogu i przeciw ludziom oraz grzechy, które wymagają pokuty kanonicznej i inne. Te podziały nie są konsekwentne i poszczególne kategorie grzechów mieszają się. Najpoważniejszym skutkiem grzechu jest zerwanie wspólnoty z Bogiem, a w efekcie i ze wspólnotą świętych. Kolejnym zaś jest karłowacenie człowieka i choroba duszy. Nie są one przedstawiane jako kara Boża. Natomiast oczyszczenie po śmierci jest już karą ognia wiecznego. Orygenes bardzo mało uwagi poświęca grzechowi w preezgzystencji

BANKING UNION AS AN INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION TO THE FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008–2009

The Banking Union, which formally commenced its operations on 4th November 2014, is an institutional response of the European Union to the financial crisis of 2008–2009. From the institutional economics perspective it has been a breakthrough comparable to the decision on the establishment of economic and monetary union. The aim of the paper is to analyze some institutional change related to the process of integration of banking sector in the euro zone countries within the architecture of the Banking Union. The focus of the analysis is on the fit between existing institutions, to a large extent formal one meaning legal framework to a newly introduced regulations. We employ a descriptive analysis which is frequently used as the method within new institutional economics. Through scrutiny of institutional development we come to the conclusion that the banking union is not well-designed institutional scheme for potential crisis ahead. In particular, we argue about potential weaknesses of the process due to the adjustment of new framework to the existing institutional conditions. The major risks come from complexity of previous institutional settings and replaying them with the new harmonized set of regulation that are accompanied this diversity of informal institutions in different Member States as well as not harmonized set of sanction system. However, we envisage that such changes are necessary in order to avoid externalities caused by complicated and overlapping institutional design of the Banking Union

Krytyka żydów w najstarszych pismach chrześcijańskich w tradycji antiocheńskiej i azjatyckiej

The article deals with three Christian writings which originated in Antioch and Asia at the end of the 1st and the first half of the 2nd century, namely Didache, the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch and the Paschal Homily of Melito of Sardis. The first two include only short, marginal paragraphs criticising the Jews. The Paschal Homily, on the other hand, devotes a long, carefully composed passage to their criticism, or more precisely, accusation. It is placed in the text after the presentation of the history of sin, slavery and liberation offered to us by Christ through His death. The passage starts with an accusation against Israel for killing Jesus. The Jews killed Him because they had not recognised God, their Saviour. Then Melito revisits the history of Israel as described in the Old Testament, demonstrating that, from the very beginning, the Jews had been ungrateful and unable to recognise their God. As a result, they deserved their punishment. Though Melito does not mention it directly, it is highly probable that he regards the destruction of Jerusalem and the expulsion of the Jews in 135 AD as their punishment and the sign of their rejection by God. The entire Homily is based on the typological interpretation of the Scripture and demonstrates the author’s excellent knowledge of the Old Testament. The combination of such a violent accusation and such good knowledge of the Jewish tradition, in the context of what we know about the social relations in 2nd century Sardis, suggests that the church in Sardis was dominated by Christians who previously were proselytes

Historia duchowości : czas ojców Kościoła

History of Spirituality attempts to capture the basic elements constituting the spiritual life of Christians in the initial five centuries of the Church’s existence. Since Christianity was born at the intersection of two worlds, Jewish and Greek-Roman, it seems indispensable to first briefly characterize the spiritual life of the said two cultural areas. This very topic is the subject of Chapter One. The subsequent chapter, in turn, discusses foundations of Christians’ spiritual life: baptism, which defines the Christian identity, the Holy Eucharist, the place occupied by the Holy Bible in the life of Christians, as well as prayer and fasting. The chapter which follows outlines the two spiritual traditions developed in the early days of the Church. First of them was for the most part eschatologically-oriented, praising martyrdom, and treating what is earthly and worldly as a mere transition period unworthy of our undivided attention. The second tradition aims to edify human spirituality based on the promise of resurrection. It likewise sees the readiness for martyrdom as Christian responsibility, but at the same time underscores achieving perfection here on Earth. Besides, this tradition draws upon the Greek philosophy and values the state structures, thereby indicating that a Christian, exactly by virtue of adhering to his faith, is supposed to be a good citizen. Among the representatives of the foregoing tradition the book enumerates and particularly discusses Clement of Alexandria and Saint Ambrose of Milan. What is specific to Christian spirituality are the ideals of virginity and celibacy, the spiritual bases of which and the way it is enrooted in Christian life, are discussed in the subsequent chapter. Next, there are presented two spiritual doctrines of the Church Fathers who had the greatest impact on the forming of Christian spirituality, namely the ones of Origen and Augustin. From the beginnings of the fourth century onwards, the Christian spirituality becomes dominated by monasticism. Initially, it was an individual version thereof, the hermitic monasticism. Thus, in order to comprehensively discuss monastic spirituality, one has to begin with indicating the most important, specific features of anchorites’ spirituality. The spirituality of communal (coenobitic) monasticism is best described by its rules. Therefore, four representative monastic rules are discussed, arranged by two main lines:the first including Pachomian and Benedictine monastic rules, and the second the Rule of St Basil (Basilian) and the Augustinian rule. Each of the foregoing rules has its own, clearly distinguished spiritual characteristics.The book’s final chapter presents two of the many erroneous spiritual paths that can be found in the early ages of Christianity: Pelagianism and Manichaeism. They were selected as warnings, for the contemporary world abounds in spiritual “offers” which are quite similar