Polszakiewicz, Barbara

Ekonomia i Prawo

English

Akademicka Platforma Czasopism

ekonoMia	 i	Prawo.	econoMics	and	Law,	VoL.	14,	no.	2/2015QuarterlyISSN 1898–2255Vol. 14, No. 2/2015www.ekonomia.i.prawo.umk.plBarBara polszakiewicz*elżbieta mączyńSka, piotr pySz (edS.),  ordoliberalizm i Społeczna goSpodarka rynkoWa  Wobec WyzWań WSpółczeSności  polsKie towarzystwo eKonomiczne,  warszawa 2013The reviewed book is yet another publication on the Polish market deal-ing with the confrontation of German ordoliberal theory and problems of to-day’s market economy. The  fact that the  socio-economic system in  Poland is  characterised by a  sustained regression in  the construction of  the rule of  law, gives this publication additional weight.The formation of the theory and practical business experience have always remained in  a mutual relationship. The  way we perceive sets of  phenomena, relationships between them and the mechanisms triggering certain processes and conditions in the economy, depends largely on theory. On the other hand, whether a given theoretical concept of economic policy becomes the founda-tion of  its implementation is a matter not only of “quality” of the theory, but decisively depends on the  political and ideological position of  the same so-cial groups which have significant impact on the shape of introduced system-ic solutions.The studies the  book comprises are presented in  three parts, arranged in  a  logical order. They are preceded by an introduction, in  which scientific article details:Received: 13.05.2015Revised: 16.06.2015Accepted: 03.08.2015Polszakiewicz B., Elżbieta Mączyńska, Piotr Pysz (eds.), Ordoliberalizm i społeczna gospodarka rynkowa wobec wyzwań współczesności, „Ekonomia i Prawo. Economics and Law”, Polszakie-wicz B., Boehlke J. (ed.), Vol. 14, No. 2/2015, pp. 275–278. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/EiP.2015.017. * Barbara Polszakiewicz, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management, Department of  Economics, ul. Gagarina 13A, 87-100 Toruń, Poland, phone: +48 56 611 46 22, e-mail: bpolszak@econ.umk.pl.276	 BarBara	PoLszakiewiczekonoMia	 i	Prawo.	econoMics	and	Law,	VoL.	14,	no.	2/2015editors of the book focus on explaining why it is appropriate to deal with “... ideas (ordoliberalism) and the  concepts of  economic policies (social market economy) which have arose and developed many decades ago”.The first part entitled Ordoliberalism as a theoretical basis for shaping the so-cio-economic system, opens with two articles of  a very synthetic character and thus fundamental to the nature of work The first one, written by Piotr Pysz, justifies why ordoliberalism may provide a  basis for shaping economic poli-cy in  the twenty-first century. In the  article titled Systemic dysfunctions and dilemmas, Elżbieta Mączyńska competently contributes to the  discussion on the  construction of  proper model of  the economic system matching modern conditions.The authors of subsequent articles deal with more detailed, yet important phenomena. These include such significant issues as the  search of  normative basis for anti-crisis economic policy strategy (Grzegorz Szulczewski), or an explanation of  why in  the social market economy the  synthesis of  “scientific approach” and “engineering” can be noted. Wojciech Giza starts his paper with the  definition of  the above approaches introduced by G. Mankiw’a in  2006. The  author tries to analyse the  approach characteristic of  the representatives of the social market economy in categories proposed by Mankiw’a. The anal-ysis led to the conclusion that in  the case of a social market economy, based on the  ideas of German ordoliberalists and the experiences of L. Erhard era, the dichotomy between a  scientist and an engineer approach does not occur. Two remaining articles included in the first part of the work regard the con-cept of  the social market economy in  terms proposed by Alfred–Müller–Armak and the  development of  real economic systems within social market economy. Sylke Behrens attempts to find an answer to the question: How did it happen that the social market economy transformed from the original con-cept of  market economy oriented towards competitiveness into the  distribu-tional market economy with a high state involvement? Furthermore, she asks whether it is possible to reverse this process towards a social market economy in  line with its institutional governance?The second part of  the book is titled: Social market economy — a  contem-porary dimension. It opens with an article by Ludwig Erhard personal referee, Horst Friedrich Wünsche entitled Timeliness concept of  Ludwig Erhard social market economy. The  article starts with a  fundamental question: Is the  social market economy a guideline to be followed or a relic of the past? The answer to this question is clearly highlighted in  the title of  the closing paragraph, which includes a  conclusion suggesting that it is worth attempting to return to Ludwig Erhard social market economy.	 eLżBieta	Mączyńska,	Piotr	Pysz	 (eds.),	ordoLiBeraLizM	 i	 sPołeczna	gosPodarka	rynkowa...	 	 277ekonoMia	 i	Prawo.	econoMics	and	Law,	VoL.	14,	no.	2/2015Two further articles have also been devoted to the creator of the concept of  the social market economy in  its clash with contemporary times. Maciej Miszewski very carefully tries to track down the feature of validity in the re-nowned Ludwig Erhard work: Prosperity for all. Eugene Gostomski, in  turn, focuses on the analysis of Ludwig Erhard attitude towards economic integra-tion in  Europe. It is worth noting that in  the closing 6th paragraph, the  au-thor confronts the  economic and political ideas of  Ludwig Erhard to re-cent problems related to the  debt crisis in  the euro zone. Aloysius Czech in the next article of the the book deals with a lighter problem, but he it in a very interesting way. This issue is the  influence of  his first academic master Wiliam Rieger on Ludwig Erhard, while he was studying as an undergrad-uate in  Nuremberg. The  second part of  the book closes with the  article by Professor Peter Hampe from the  Technische Universität Dresden, in  which the attempt was made to synthetically confront the recent financial crisis with the basic principles of social market economy.The third part of the book entitled Shaping the socio-economic system in se-lected countries, starts with Michał Moszyński article devoted to systemic trans-formation of  East Germany, from the  perspective of  the so-called Ludwig Erhard “economic miracle”. This angle has forced the  author to pose ba-sic questions about the  sources of very high economic growth of  the Federal Republic of Germany in the days of Ludwig Erhard and the reasons for mea-ger results of  the economy of  eastern federal states so far, following reunifi-cation.In the  following two articles, the  problems of  socio-economic develop-ment of the c the European Union member states are analysed. The first one (Ewa Kudlińska-Sadłocha) focuses on the  confrontation of  strategy for sus-tainable development set out in the basic EU documents and reality. The sec-ond one (Gerhard Schüsselbauer) deals with the problems of socio-economic development of  the so-called new EU member states. Particular importance in  the formation of  future scenarios is attributed to the  fact that this devel-opment takes place in an era of  rising sovereign debt. The article finishes off with an interesting juxtaposition of five possible scenarios for the future. These include “Titanic” scenario, as well as “The internal de luxe market”.Although two last articles are of less general, they are very interesting, es-pecially for Polish readers. The first one by Roland Schariffa concerns the wel-fare state in  Kazakhstan, while the  second ( Justin Schulz) concerns Polish economic transformation from ordoliberalism perspective, with a  special at-tention paid to the relations of ownership with the economic development.The views of  economic theorists about the  desired economic model, its characteristics and mechanisms have been and continue to be subject to more 278	 BarBara	PoLszakiewiczor less radical changes. The functioning systems are judged to be, at best, on-ly partially corresponding to the  ideas of  an optimal model. Two contempo-rary business models: American (also called Anglo-Saxon) and German are certainly models, drawing the attention of both economic theorists and practi-tioners carrying out certain versions of economic policy. It should be immedi-ately emphasized that despite its many unquestionable successes, the German model of  a social market economy remains in  the shadow of  the American model. In this situation, the emergence of a book of a series of articles whose authors are trying to figure out how far the proposals of ordoliberalism the-orists retain their validity when confronted with the  challenges of  modern times, is to be welcomed and recommend for both students of economic fac-ulties and demiurges of Polish economic policy.

ELŻBIETA MĄCZYŃSKA, PIOTR PYSZ (EDS.), ORDOLIBERALIZM I SPOŁECZNA GOSPODARKA RYNKOWA WOBEC WYZWAŃ WSPÓŁCZESNOŚCI

Barbara Polszakiewicz

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ELŻBIETA MĄCZYŃSKA, PIOTR PYSZ (EDS.), ORDOLIBERALIZM I SPOŁECZNA GOSPODARKA RYNKOWA WOBEC WYZWAŃ WSPÓŁCZESNOŚCI

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