The book takes an in-depth look at a hitherto unexplored part of the oeuvre of prominent Polish economist and historian of economic thought Tadeusz Kowalik: his thesis that the systemic transformation that took place in Poland in the late 1980s was a de facto "epigonic bourgeois revolution". Since Kowalik actually never extended his argument to support this thesis, the aim of the book is to answer the following question: If some important reflections on the revolutionary character of the Polish transformation scattered throughout Kowalik's works were to be found, would they together constitute a convincing justification for the thesis of the "epigonic bourgeois revolution"?

Poland has carried out two peaceful revolutions in the span of one generation: first, the self-limiting movement of Solidarity, which undermined the legitimacy of Communism and then a negotiated transfer of power from Communism to free market democracy. Today, while Poland is seen as a success story and is joining political and economic associations in the democratic West, Poles themselves seem downcast. They ask: is social anomie a price worth paying for a successful transformation? In making moral compromises with an outgoing tyranny, can one avoid cynicism and disappointment with democracy? Zbigniew Brzezinski, professor of American Foreign Policy at Johns Hopkins University has called Polish Transformation "a work that provides a comprehensive as well as incisive overview of the extraordinary difficult and historically unprecedented process of transforming an increasingly corrupt and decayed totalitarian system into a modern democracy." John Lenczowski, director of the Institute of World Politics, adds that "this extremely useful volume explains the essential elements of the post-communist political transition in Poland. Its authors convey...the cultural and ideological underpinnings that can be captured only by authorities who have developed over a lifetime that special sixth sense for detecting the elusive and unquantifiable soul of a country." Radek Sikorski, the executive director of the New Atlantic Initiative at the American Enterprise Institute, writes that "we should be grateful to the authors and editors of this thoughtful volume for asking questions which remain relevant for that uncomfortably large part of humanity that still lives under totalitarian or authoritarian regimes." Marek Jan Chodakiewicz holds the Kosciuszko chair in Polish Studies at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is the author of After the Holocaust: Polish-Jewish Conflict in the Wake of World War II and Between Nazis and Soviets: A Case Study of Occupation Politics in Politics, 1939-1947. John Radzilowski is author and editor of numerous works ranging from Polish to East European history. Darius Tolczyk is associate professor of Slavic Languages at the University of Virginia. He is the author of See No Evil: Literary Cover-Ups and Discoveries of the Soviet Camp Experience.

Poland has carried out two peaceful revolutions in the span of one generation: first, the self-limiting movement of Solidarity, which undermined the legitimacy of Communism and then a negotiated transfer of power from Communism to free market democracy. Today, while Poland is seen as a success story and is joining political and economic associations in the democratic West, Poles themselves seem downcast. They ask: is social anomie a price worth paying for a successful transformation? In making moral compromises with an outgoing tyranny, can one avoid cynicism and disappointment with democracy? Zbigniew Brzezinski, professor of American Foreign Policy at Johns Hopkins University has calledPolish Transformation"a work that provides a comprehensive as well as incisive overview of the extraordinary difficult and historically unprecedented process of transforming an increasingly corrupt and decayed totalitarian system into a modern democracy." John Lenczowski, director of the Institute of World Politics, adds that "this extremely useful volume explains the essential elements of the post-communist political transition in Poland. Its authors convey...the cultural and ideological underpinnings that can be captured only by authorities who have developed over a lifetime that special sixth sense for detecting the elusive and unquantifiable soul of a country." Radek Sikorski, the executive director of the New Atlantic Initiative at the American Enterprise Institute, writes that "we should be grateful to the authors and editors of this thoughtful volume for asking questions which remain relevant for that uncomfortably large part of humanity that still lives under totalitarian or authoritarian regimes."

One of the characteristic facts concerning the “catching-up countries” is the exceptionally large variation in their per capita annual rate of growth, from about zero to about 10%. The papers published in this monograph show that this rate is strongly dependent on the rate of investment, the quality of the labour force and the quality of institutions. The rate of investment is, in turn, dependent on the rate of domestic savings. In Poland, domestic savings are shown to have been and continue to be very low by international standards. The trend rate of growth of about 3.7% has been about 2 pp. higher than that of the most developed economies, mainly thanks to the development of modern market institutions and a new private sector, and partly thanks to foreign direct investments and a significant inflow of finance from the European Union (EU). The data also show that by far the least successful transformation in Eastern Europe has taken place in Ukraine. (Author’s Introduction) *** Our discussion is limited to the Technology Frontier Area (TFA) of the world. The central question is how the area’s innovation rate changes over time in the course of centuries. The analysis indicates that the pattern of change of the innovation rate over time may be eventually hat-shaped. This Hate-Shape Relationship is an empirical law that is given a theoretical interpretation. It is in part a prediction based on the author’s model of innovation and growth. Its acceleration and steady growth segments correspond well to the past reality. Its slowdown part is the central thesis of the book.

This paper reviews the experience of 1990, the first year of Poland’s program of stabilization and reform. The background is described, including previous reform efforts and the crisis of the late 1980s. Then the various elements of the program are discussed, including fiscal adjustment, wage controls, the possibility of an initial liquidity overhang, the exchange rate anchor, and structural reforms. The initial results of the program are assessed, and alternative explanations of the decline in output are considered.

First published in 1999, this volume features articles from specialists in finance on the economic transformation of Poland from a planned approach to a market-based system after the advent of Post-Communist Europe. Despite apparent exemplary progress in the Polish experience, the transitional process has revealed numerous deep, divisive and complex problems. These include rising disparity of incomes, growing unemployment and disillusionment with the early reform process. This book takes the opportunity of being ten years on from the point of transition to reflect upon its effects. It offers a unique dual approach: first a selection of articles on the transition, followed by a case study.

When Poland and Ukraine introduced their political, social and economic system reforms at the beginning of the 1990s, both economies were at a similar level of economic development (GDP $9,500 per capita). However, in 2018, Ukrainian GDP per capita had remained at the same levels since 1991, while in Poland, it had increased significantly, to more than $27,000 per capita. This book assesses the reasons for the growing gap between the level of economic development in Ukraine and Poland. It examines the course of events and evaluates the effectiveness of the system transformations, both in the context of the economy, as a whole, and in individual regions (Polish ‘voivodeships’ (provinces) and Ukrainian ‘oblasts’). It also analyzes the consequences of the 2008–2009 Ukrainian-Russian gas conflict and 2013–2014 Euromaidan events for the Ukrainian economy. Additionally, the authors offer an insight into the migration movements, which have recently been observed in Poland and Ukraine. This is the first comprehensive, comparative analysis concerning the spatial diversification of economic development in these two countries, and the authors highlight the ways in which these reforms have proved effective in Poland and hardly effective in Ukraine. This analysis helps to identify the basic interrelations between the core macroeconomic variables at the regional level and the impact of political events from both a national and regional perspective. The book will appeal to academics, researchers and policy makers interested in the economic and political changes in these two countries, in a comparative setting and on national and regional levels, as well as those working on issues of EU integration.

The images of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and of the Silent Revolution in Eastern Europe have become symbols of political transformation. Over the end of the 20th century, attempts were also made in other regions of the world to transform authoritarian regimes and planned economies into market-based democracies. Managing this change is one of the greatest political challenges of our time. The experiences since 1980, however, constitute a vast body of knowledge for leaders who will confront similar challenges in the future. This text presents criteria for the evaluation of the transformation processes toward democracy and a market economy, with comparative country surveys of Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, South Korea, Taiwan and Uruguay. The authors also provide criteria for evaluating development processes such as overcoming structural underdevelopment, strengthening the rule of law and creating a civil society, with related surveys of Bolivia, Mali and Mauritius.

A historical perspective on the social changes in Poland.