Economics - Poland

Analysis of the pre-1989 situation; Redefinition of the discipline since 1990; Core theoretical and methodological orientations; Thematic orientation and funding; Public space and academic debates; Views on further development

Can the Polish Capitalism Be Ethical?

It is the individualistic approach which prevails in previous analysis of the problem of ethics in economy. The problem of the ethical attitude concerns individuals, business people, managers, politicians and economists. The publications about business ethics lack analysis of system circumstances in which individuals and companies act. If capitalism is just the power of capital owners over workers and if, according to Schumpeter, it is “the civilization of inequality and of the family fortune”, than it can be easily judged as a system of predominantly unethical tendencies. Nevertheless, it is worth raising questions about ethical character of various types of capitalism. Participation capitalism is one which ensures (nearly) full employment, a social minimum wage for everyone and the real power of society including workers’ participation in decision processes. The structural conditions of such capitalism force and even encourage ethical behaviour. The capitalism of the protective state was founded by J.M. Keynes, W. Beveridge and Will Hutton with his stakeholder capitalism. Many European countries approach this standard of capitalism. Predacious capitalism (turbo-capitalism) is a maximum-profit-oriented capitalism with no regard to social costs. The nearest example is the post-Reagan American capitalism. Polish capitalism fails to pass muster even in regard to the liberal capitalism

Property Rights and Social Justice

There is already a rich literature on property transformations in Poland. However, in this literature, works considering them from the point of view of respecting principles of social justice if we leave out of consideration the calming statement that prii>atisation by its very nature could not be fair. These are rarely considered from the point of view that would seem obvious — of observing the principles of social justice. An exception here would be the appeasing statement, frequently expressed especially during the first years of transformation, that privatisation by its very nature could not have been fair. Indeed, perhaps it could not have been fully fair. But did it have to be so blatantly unfair? Taking up this theme, it is worth departing from a bipolar view (just or unjust) in favour of the concept of graded justice. Let’s try to look at some of the most promising (even programmatic) threads of privatisation in Poland (even if only provided by the programme) through the prism of the principles of social justice which are after all part of the Constitution. Analysing the problem of the relation between ownership transformation and the idea of social justice, the author examines in turn: ignoring of the idea of "democratic ownership" by the economic and political elites which had a direct impact on the processes of privatisation, the problem of employee-owned companies, the idea of mass privatisation programme implemented in the National Investment Fund Programme, the Pact on State-owned Enterprise (as interpreted by Jacek Kuroń). Finally, the author proposes a thesis that Polish privatisation is of an elitist character and large groups of society are excluded from participating in it

Auf dem Weg zu einer gemischten Okonomie

In dem Aufsatz wird die bisherige Entwicklung der Privatisierung in Polen, insbesondere die "Verbürgerlichung" der Nomenklatur beschrieben. Daran anschließend werden verschiedene in Polen diskutierte Konzepte der Privatisierung und deren theoretischen Grundlagen untersucht

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND NUTRITIVE VALUE OF MAIZE STEMS DEPENDING ON THE CUTTING HEIGHT OF PLANTS AT HARVEST

Studies were carried out in the two years in Trzcianka near Nowy Tomyśl, on brown soil, IIIa – IVa with pH 7.1 – 7.2. Plants of five maize cultivars were cut at the height of 15 cm and 55 cm. The lower parts of stems with leaves which remain on the field in case of high cutting, were characterized by a smaller content of protein and by a greater content of fibre, in comparison with the higher parts of plants. The energetic value of 1 kg of dry matter of the lower 40 cm part with leaves expressed in MJ NEL, in spite of significant differences in the chemical composition, was only insignificantly lower than the upper part. The content of dry matter, the chemical composition and the energetic value of both parts differed, depending on the cultivar

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND NUTRITIVE VALUE OF MAIZE STEMS DEPENDING ON THE CUTTING HEIGHT OF PLANTS AT HARVEST

Studies were carried out in the two years in Trzcianka near Nowy Tomyśl, on brown soil, IIIa – IVa with pH 7.1 – 7.2. Plants of five maize cultivars were cut at the height of 15 cm and 55 cm. The lower parts of stems with leaves which remain on the field in case of high cutting, were characterized by a smaller content of protein and by a greater content of fibre, in comparison with the higher parts of plants. The energetic value of 1 kg of dry matter of the lower 40 cm part with leaves expressed in MJ NEL, in spite of significant differences in the chemical composition, was only insignificantly lower than the upper part. The content of dry matter, the chemical composition and the energetic value of both parts differed, depending on the cultivar

Effect of Entodinium caudatum on starch intake and glycogen formation by Eudiplodinium maggii in the rumen and reticulum.

This study aimed to quantify the engulfed starch and reserve α-glucans (glycogen) in the cells of the ciliates Eudiplodinium maggii, as well the α-glucans in defaunated and selectively faunated sheep. The content of starch inside the cell of ciliates varied from 21 to 183 mg/g protozoal DM relative to the rumen fauna composition whereas, the glycogen fluctuated between 17 and 126 mg/g dry matter (DM) of this ciliate species. Establishment of the population Entodinium caudatum in the rumen of sheep already faunated with E. maggii caused a drop in both types of quantified carbohydrates. The content of α-glucans in the rumen of defaunated sheep varied from 4.4 to 19.9 mg/g DM and increased to 7.4–29.9 or 11.8–33.9 mg/g DM of rumen contents in the presence of only E. maggii or E. maggii and E. caudatum, respectively. The lowest content of the carbohydrates was always found just before feeding and the highest at 4 h thereafter. The α-glucans in the reticulum varied 7.5–40.1, 14.3–76.8 or 21.9–106.1 mg/g DM of reticulum content for defaunated, monofaunated or bifaunated sheep, respectively. The results indicated that both ciliate species engulf starch granules and convert the digestion products to the glycogen, diminishing the pool of starch available for amylolytic bacteria