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Post by Bonobo on Dec 29, 2008 23:45:52 GMT 1
20 years of market economy in Poland
Polish Radio
23.12.2008
It's been 20 years today since the first free market law was
introduced in the then still communist Poland.
When the regime was at the brink of collapsing, a bill was passed to
the effect that every citizen was free to undertake and conduct
economic activity. For many economists and entrepreneurs, the 23rd of December 1988 is a day of birth of the Polish market economy and of the fall of communism as an economic doctrine. About two million private businesses were legally created as a result of the opening of the market.
Economists and experts emphasize that move on the part of the
communist government was their attempt at rescuing the falling
system, by means of what was later dubbed "the Chinese way", which is basically about creating free market economy, at the same time upholding state industry and political monopoly.
'It was not about changing the country's economic structure, the
communist state did not want to get rid of the property and pass it
onto private entities. It was about facilitating the individual
initiative and also about sanctioning what was already happening. You have to remember that streets were full of private vendors,' explains historian Andrzej Paczkowski.
Andrzej Sadowski of the Adam Smith Center says that first law was the best that has regulated economic activity in Poland. Thanks to the launch of market economy and political changes which ensued, Poland went through an economic miracle. However, further changes to the law, which added a lot more limitations and bureaucracy spoiled the effect and halted the good results of the initial law, adds the expert.
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tomek
Nursery kid
Posts: 256 
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Post by tomek on Dec 30, 2008 10:03:50 GMT 1
20 years of market economy in Poland
Polish Radio
23.12.2008
It's been 20 years today since the first free market law was
introduced in the then still communist Poland.
I don`t remember times of communist fall. Only my granpas and parents talk to me about it. Communists were crazy men - they shoot to people who didn`t want communism. I read about it in this thread Polish Resistance to Communism. |
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Post by Bonobo on May 22, 2009 21:35:40 GMT 1
I hope the Polish people will take the above paragraph to heart. Hmm, I will be working on it. Come on, euro is OK. If Germany could give up their beloved DM - Deutsche Mark, then certainly Poles can forget their zlotys. ;D ;D ;D ;D |
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Post by Bonobo on Oct 17, 2009 21:39:12 GMT 1
20 years after communism's collapse, Poland's economy is thriving
DW
10/15/09
In 1989, Poland's economy lay in tatters. Twenty years on, it now appears relatively untouched by the global downturn, and promises to be Europe's only economy to show positive growth this year.
Poland's international airports are doing a bustling trade, thanks to the planeloads of Polish holidaymakers booking charter flights to destinations such as the Egyptian Riviera, Crete, Morocco and Thailand. It seems that Poles' willingness to travel hasn't been impacted by the financial tremors that have hit Europe. In fact, the Polish middle class continues to spend like nobody's business, and foreign travel is high on its list.
Jacek Dabrowski, financial director of the travel agency Triada says that, until 2008, the Polish outbound tourist market grew by 40 percent each year, and this year's results promise to be better than the European average.
"According to statistics from Eurostat, the number of customers choosing foreign holidays is growing," said Dabrowski. "Organized outgoing travel in Poland has great potential for growth. The reason is the growing purchasing power of Poles since EU accession, which means that Poles are now choosing better hotels, more expensive destinations and generally spending more money abroad."
But how do Polish tour operators manage to keep their heads above water with competing large German travel companies treating Poland as a lucrative market? According to Dabrowski, the Polish companies' edge lies in their flexibility. Having to build up businesses from scratch and steer them through tough market transformations, Polish entrepreneurs have learned to take risks and adapt quickly.
But it's not just in the holiday market that evidence of economic success abounds in Poland. There's the growing number of foreign direct investments, which last year alone totalled a cool $16 billion (10.7 billion euros). Increasingly, investors are looking for more than just cheap labor; they're setting up service and R&D centers, for example.
Economic shock therapy
"Poland has become the only country in Europe where consumers are spending more than they used to spend a year ago, and where corporations are spending more," said Slawomir Majman, president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency in Warsaw. "Poland's exports are growing. And most importantly, Poland is delivering the product which is definitely in short supply in 2009: economic stability."
It all seems light years away from the autumn of 1989, when it became clear that the outgoing communist regime had not only mismanaged Poland's economy on a shocking scale, but also run up billions of US dollars in foreign debt. Then, food queues, chronic shortages and rampant inflation earned Poland the reputation of being the sick man of Europe.
At the Warsaw School of Economics, Professor Leszek Balcerowicz put together a "shock therapy" plan to invigorate the country's economy. He's now known as the father of Poland's market reforms, but looking back, he admits that the challenges facing the country two decades ago were daunting.
"Poland was burdened by the troubles of communism - huge waste, inefficiency, declining production," said Balcerowicz. "In addition, there was huge foreign debt incurred in the 1970s, and a runaway inflation of 50 percent a month. It was an economic catastrophe. "
Balcerowicz' s bitter pill was a strict monetarist approach, coupled with fast-paced market reforms, which quickly put Poland's house in order. Even though Polish governments have changed frequently since then, Balcerowicz is happy that politicians have consistently kept the country's finances in check, and made the most of Poland's natural advantage: its size.
New generation untouched by communism
"We are a much larger economy than the Baltics, or the Czech Republic, or Slovakia, or Hungary," he said. "As a result, we suffer less from external shocks. Until 2007, monetary policy in Poland was pretty conservative. The rate of credit growth was not very rapid, so we didn't develop a housing bubble. I'm happy that, as a governor of the National Bank of Poland until 2007, I managed to bring inflation down from around 10 to 2 percent."
As a new academic year starts at Balcerowicz' s School of Economics in Warsaw, this year's 19-year-old freshmen are the first generation to have been born in a democratic Poland. Never having known communism, their entire lives have been punctuated by the growth of Poland's market economy. Now that solid foundations have been laid, it will be their job to continue the process of catching up with the world's most developed economies.
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Post by valpomike on Oct 17, 2009 22:08:41 GMT 1
My great uncle Jacek of Triada, a good man. With his last name, how could he be anything but good.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Nov 3, 2009 23:35:56 GMT 1
Poland 1989-2009: From sick man of Europe to fastest growing economy
Polish Market
2009-10-21
On the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we start a series on the spectacular market transformations that have made a once bankrupt Poland the envy of the outside world.
In 1989 Poland's economy lay in tatters. The outgoing communist regime had not only mismanaged it on a shocking scale, but it had also run up billions of US dollars in foreign debt. Food queues, chronic shortages and runaway inflation earned Poland the reputation of being the sick man of Europe. But perhaps because of the dire straits it was in, the country was quick to adopt a shock therapy that brought down inflation and created one of the continent's fastest growth rates. Economists say that Poland has learnt its lesson well. Twenty years on, it now appears relatively untouched by the world downturn – in fact it promises to be Europe's only economy to show positive growth this year, as Polish Market's Rafa³ Kiepuszewski reports.
Another planeload of Polish holidaymakers is back from the Egyptian Riviera, one of the most popular destinations among the country's growing middle class. Warsaw airport, and Poland's eight other international airports, are just as busy handling charter flights to Crete, Morocco and Thailand as they were before the financial tremors hit Europe. In fact, the Polish middle class keeps spending like nobody's business, and foreign travel is high on its list. `I can't believe that before 1989 there was no way I could afford to visit a place like Egypt. Now it probably costs not more than a summer holiday at the Polish seaside, where the weather is quite unpredictable. I go on a package tour abroad tour every year, if not more often' a tanned teacher in her early fifties tells Polish Market.
Tunisian traders learn Polish
A TV commercial for one of the tour operators shows a Tunisian market seller singing a popular Polish tune in Polish. Two million travellers out of Poland's population of thirty eight million regularly spend their holidays abroad, so it probably makes sense to learn the language to handle the trade. Until 2008 the Polish outbound tourist market grew by forty per cent each year, and this year's results promise to be better than the European average. Jacek Dabrowski, financial director of the travel agency Triada outlines the latest trends: `According to statistics from Eurostat, the number of customers choosing foreign holidays is growing. Organised outgoing travel in Poland has great potential for growth. The reason is the growing purchasing power of Poles since EU accession, Poles choosing better hotels, more expensive destinations and spending more money abroad.'
But how do Polish operators manage to keep their heads above water with competing large German travel companies treating Poland as a lucrative market? According to Jacek Dabrowski the Polish companies' edge lies in their flexibility. Having to build up businesses from scratch and steer them through tough market transformations, Polish entrepreneurs have learnt to take risks and to adapt quickly – he explains: `In the times of crisis, two segments least affected are the luxurious and the least expensive one. The segments which we have chosen for the times of crisis are the ones that should be least hit. We have three companies: Triada, which sells charter packages, Sky Club, which was introduced dedicated to all inclusive packages. They were profitable in the first year. Terra Mare, the third brand introduced this year, is dedicated to more demanding customers. We're aiming to perform as well as the market or a little better than the market. We also want to become leaders among companies in CEE countries.'
More to Poland than low wages
Other evidence of economic success abounds in Poland, like the growing number of foreign direct investments, which last year alone fetched a cool 16 billion US dollars. Increasingly, investors are not just after cheaper labour, but they set up service and R&D centres. At the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency in Warsaw, its president Slawomir Majman proudly lists the country's strengths: `Poland turned out to be the only country in Europe with a positive GDP growth, with a sound and operational financial system. It became the only country in Europe where consumers are spending more than what they used to spend a year ago and corporations are spending more. Poland's export is growing. And most importantly, Poland is delivering the product which is definitely in short supply in 2009: economic stability.`
Bitter pill
It all seems light years away from the autumn of 1989, when at the Warsaw School of Economics Professor Leszek Balcerowicz, now known as the father of Poland's market reforms, was putting finishing touches to his shock therapy plan launched the following year. Balcerowicz, now back at the college, admits that the task was daunting: `Poland was burdened by the troubles of communism: huge waste, inefficiency, declining production, but in addition, a huge foreign debt incurred in the 1970s, a runaway inflation of 50 per cent a month. This was an economic catastrophe. '
Balcerowicz' s bitter pill was a strict monetarist approach, coupled with fast-paced market reforms, which quickly put the house in order. Even though Polish governments have changed frequently since then, Professor Balcerowicz is happy that politicians consistently kept finances in check, adding to Poland's natural advantage, its size. `We are a much larger economy than the Baltics, or the Czech Republic, or Slovakia, or Hungary. As a result, we suffer less. External shocks are relatively speaking weaker. Until 2007 monetary policy in Poland was pretty conservative. The rate of credit growth was not very rapid, so we did not developed a housing bubble. Monetary policy depends on policymakers. I'm happy that as a governor of the National Bank of Poland until 2007 I managed to bring inflation down from around 10% to 2% and in this process we avoided the housing bubble.'
As a new academic year starts at Balcerowicz' s college in Warsaw, this year's 19 year old freshmen are the first of a new generation born in 1990 in democratic Poland. They never knew communism. Their entire lives were punctuated by the growth of Poland's market economy. Now that its solid foundations have been laid, it will be their job to keep catching up with the world's most developed economies.
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Post by valpomike on Dec 28, 2009 16:37:06 GMT 1
A great place getting better each day, beginning to look a lot like Chicago, another great place, full of Polish.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Jan 17, 2010 0:25:42 GMT 1
Better now than under communism
13.01.2010 08:25
Poles are more happy nowadays than under communism, shows a CBOS poll.
In 1988, just before the fall of communism in Poland, every fifth Pole considered themselves happy and almost the same amount felt that they lacked luck in life. Ten years after the democratic transformation in Poland, in 1999, the number of people who were satisfied with themselves and their life increased by 13 percentage points to 31 percent.
Since then Poles who are optimistic about life in Poland outnumber those who have opposite views.
In 2009, every third Pole (33 percent) claimed they were lucky (15-percentage-point growth) and every sixth (16 percent) unlucky (the same amount as in 1988). Most respondents (51 percent) said they feel happy or unhappy depending on circumstances.
Poles’ disposition also depends on their financial resources and family life. Among those who feel unhappy are: divorcees (38 percent), people whose living conditions are bad (36 percent), the poor (28 percent), uneducated people and pensioners (26 percent), the unemployed (24 percent) and farmers (22 percent). On the other hand, most parents are satisfied with their children (91 percent) and most spouses of their marriage (81 percent) – husbands more often than wives.
The survey was conducted between 2 and 9 December from a sample of 1046.
Comments
* Karmenu of Malta 13.01.2010 10:09 There are many things in life which make for happiness or unhappiness. Certainly the monster of communism was one of mankind's worst scourges. So one would expect people to be happier now than then.
Yet one must be careful because happiness can easily be lost if one does not work to keep the situation in check and also improve it. Left to themselves, the conditions of life tend to gravitate down to threatening levels. Let us be intelligent enough to preserve what is good in our society and to shut out whatever is ugly or paves the way to dictatorship. Karmenu of Malta
* Zbig 13.01.2010 15:45 In 1978 fertility rate in Poland was 2.2 children per woman.Now it is 1.1, so Poland joined the western European camp of demografic siuciders with no future.
Liberal capitalism is much worse than soviet-style socialism. Zbig
* Brad Zimmerman 13.01.2010 16:43 Zbig: The fertility rates in poor countries with very little hope for the future is always higher than in the west. Rates are higher because access to contraceptives is hard to come by and because there isn't much else to do when you're brutally oppressed and poor except to have sex and get drunk (not necessarily in that order). Brad Zimmerman
* Pioro 13.01.2010 18:04 I would think it would be higher than that by now, but Poles are notorious for not counting their blessings. Pioro
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Post by tufta on Jan 17, 2010 18:19:09 GMT 1
Better now than under communism
13.01.2010 08:25
Poles are more happy nowadays than under communism, shows a CBOS poll.
Incredible!!!!!! CBOS has too much money to spend or what? |
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Post by valpomike on Jan 17, 2010 20:40:37 GMT 1
They did not have to spend a cent on research, everyone knew this before hand.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Jan 23, 2010 22:30:14 GMT 1
Incredible!!!!!! CBOS has too much money to spend or what? Being better-off doesn`t nessesarily mean being happier. That is what the poll was for - to find it out. They did not have to spend a cent on research, everyone knew this before hand. Mike ;D |
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Post by valpomike on Nov 29, 2010 4:05:02 GMT 1
Show me the Cars, please. As many photo's as you can, and price in American money, and where can I buy one.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Dec 1, 2010 22:56:25 GMT 1
Show me the Cars, please. As many photo's as you can, and price in American money, and where can I buy one. Mike         and a few others Check this site to know names of makes/models and prices in Polish currency. moto.onet.pl/124784,4991804,1,zdjecie.html?node=27 |
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Post by valpomike on Jan 20, 2011 0:33:42 GMT 1
You still did not show, the Polish cars, made in Poland for Poland. Please do so.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Feb 3, 2011 9:47:23 GMT 1
Over 20 years since the fall of communism, three out of four Poles consider democracy the best form of governance.
Seventy six percent interviewed by the TNS OBOP research office said that democracy was the best of all known forms of government.
Fourteen percent thought democracy a failure.
Comparing results from the same poll carried out 14 years ago, OBOP researchers found that the level of support for democracy has not altered much, in spite of changes of ruling parties and figures at the top.
In 1996, 78 percent of Poles were happy with democracy, 12 percent expressed critical opinions.
When asked whether democracy should be replaced by one strong figure of authority, or dictatorship, 71 percent said they disagree in 1996 and 73 percent now.
But support for democracy does not translate into support for politicians in general: in 1996 79 percent said they believed that “regardless of what most politicians say, they mostly care about their own careers”.
The survey was carried out between 7-10 October 2010 on a representative of 1000 inhabitants aged over 15.
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 11, 2011 23:25:36 GMT 1
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/04/poland-new-europe?intcmp=239
Poland: a country getting to grips with being normal at last
It still feels apart from 'the west' and is struggling with poverty, but it offers an optimistic example for Egypt and others
"Rutinoscorbin is like the sixth member of our family!" an implausibly gleaming model mother chirps from the television, in one of many American-style commercials for health products.
Outside, in the spring sunshine, BMWs and Mercedes glide past freshly painted facades and smart coffee shops. Young Poles send text messages using neo-Polish words such as trendi, seksi and kul. Half the old friends I want to meet up with are abroad: in the European parliament, in Paris, on the Canary Islands.
Being in Warsaw these days is like being in Madrid or Rome. It's normal. Except that for Poland, this normal is profoundly abnormal; the ordinary, extraordinary.
Less than a lifetime ago, the whole city centre was razed to the ground by Hitler's troops after the heroic, doomed Warsaw rising of 1944. Those handsome facades you see in the famous Old Town have all been reconstructed. A writer of my acquaintance used to say, with some poetic exaggeration, that the oldest things in Warsaw are the trees in the Lazienki park.
Less than 30 years ago, I stood on what was then called Victory Square (now Pilsudski Square) and watched angry protesters from the Solidarity movement defying the communist riot police. "Why are they chanting 'Gestapo'?" exclaimed an elderly bystander. "It should be 'SS'!" But now, incredibly, when teenage Poles want to text "Send me an SMS", they tap out "Send me an esesman".
This new Poland has just joined the "pact for the euro". If the euro survives, and things go on as they are, Poland will be in the eurozone long before Britain is. Its economy had a growth rate of 3.8% in 2010, one of the best in Europe. It takes the rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of this year. It is a member of Nato, and has troops in Afghanistan. On the surface, it looks more and more like a western consumer society, with mortgages, private insurance schemes, television celebrities and entertainment culture. The new cults of health and fitness – as propagated in all those TV commercials – increasingly supplant the old ones of church and nation.
Yet neither the Poles nor outsiders can quite believe the transformation is for real – and some don't like it even if it is. A few years ago, a British branding consultancy was asked by the Polish chamber of commerce to come up with a suggested new brand for Poland's national identity. This is itself a sign of the times. In the past, Poland created its brand by mounting an armed insurrection against Russian rule, and then having romantic poets such as Adam Mickiewicz immortalise the martrydom of this "Christ among nations". Now it hires a branding consultant.
I have Saffron Brand Consultants' 2005 report before me as I write. It suggests that the "core idea" of Poland's national brand should be "creative tension". Cognitive dissonance would be another way of putting it. There is the "normal" of contemporary Europe: the consumer society you see on the streets of central Warsaw and the TV screen. And there is the "normal" of most of modern Polish history: partition, occupation, unfreedom, ethnic conflict, economic distress, the blending of patriotism, romanticism and religion. As recently as 1983, Britain's leading historian of modern Poland, Norman Davies, could write that his second homeland was "back in its usual condition of political defeat and economic chaos".
Apart from historical unfamiliarity, there are several other reasons why many Poles can't quite accept that this new normal is really it. The most important is that for many of them, everyday life in today's Poland is light years away from the images conveyed in Polish TV commercials, or the prosperous scenes you see in central Warsaw. This is still a poor country by European standards. Income per head is about £11,600, less than in Barbados or the Seychelles, and only just above half the EU average. Unemployment last year was 11.8%, and youth unemployment is even higher. Most of my former Polish students say that they will not go back to Poland in the foreseeable future. There are so many better opportunities in what they still call "the west".
My friends from years back, members of what used to be known as the intelligentsia (a class that is rapidly ceasing to exist), may be doing well, but many Poles are not. They have had a tough time over the years of transition since the end of communism in 1989. Talk to the former shipyard workers in Gdansk, who started the Solidarity revolution in 1980, and some spit blood at what they see as the injustice and hardship of the last two decades. Among other scapegoats, they blame backroom deals between former communists and left-leaning leaders of the anti-communist opposition, corruption, conspiracy, and sinister outside powers.
The political scientist Richard Hofstadter famously wrote about The Paranoid Style in American Politics. Polish politics are no stranger to the paranoid style. In the last decade this was cultivated particularly by the Law and Justice party (PiS), led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his twin brother Lech – who was, until his death in a plane crash near Smolensk last April, the country's president. The paranoid style will be on full display next Sunday, when Poland marks the first anniversary of that crash, which killed not only Kaczynski and his wife, but also 94 others, including top commanders of the country's armed forces and the head of the national bank.
The fact that they died in the fog at a poorly equipped Russian airport, on their way to a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre of Polish officers by Stalin's thugs, has fed old-style patriotic-religious martyrology. And Russia's chronic inability to deliver a full, fair and frank account of the circumstances of the crash has also nourished conspiracy theories. A woman I know only slightly approached me in the cafe of the Hotel Bristol to ask if I thought the plane could have been downed in "artificial fog", deliberately created by the Russians. I received an email from someone saying he could prove that everyone on the plane had been killed before it even took off from Warsaw.
Of course, most Poles don't succumb to such craziness. A survey conducted for Polish Radio last month found that a large majority of those asked wanted the anniversary to be a day of national unity in shared grief. At the moment, though, it looks as if there will be rival commemorations and even demonstrations by different groups.
Beyond Sunday, however, and beyond this special case, there is a larger question about the story Poland wants to tell to itself and the world. For much of modern history, Poland's central narrative was a heroic-tragic story of struggles for freedom. The white eagle, pierced by Russian and German arrows, bled red blood – producing the national colours of red and white. Then, after the negotiated revolution of 1989, there was the "return to Europe". For 15 years, domestic arguments were subordinated to the overarching national purpose of returning to Europe and the west. But now Poland has got there, having joined Nato in 1999 and the EU in 2004, the question is: what next? Where now?
We don't know how Poland will answer, but it's a fair bet that somewhere in the mix will be stubbornness, enterprise, individualism, a distrust of authority and a love of freedom.
Already, Poland tries to apply its experience of struggles for freedom, and the transition to democracy, for the benefit of others. It is one of the strongest European supporters of freedom for Belarus and EU membership for Ukraine. Its calm, pragmatic prime minister, Donald Tusk, and energetic, Oxford-educated foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, want to use the Polish presidency of the EU, starting in July, to apply lessons learned from the EU's eastern neighbourhood to help the EU's southern neighbourhood, in the Arab lands across the Mediterranean.
The country's avuncular president, Bronislaw Komorowski, points out that they still have, in a side wing of the presidential palace where we met, the large, specially made round table at which Poland's transition from communist rule was negotiated. He would, he added half-jokingly, be happy to lend it to some Arab country struggling to emerge from the shadow of dictatorship.
Thirty years ago, few would have believed that Poland could be the "normal" country it is today. Egypt, take hope.
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Post by tufta on Mar 9, 2013 10:45:39 GMT 1
 Frank Poerschmann, the member of Deutsche Messe's Managing Board at the helm of CeBIT: "The Polish economy is on a growth trajectory. In fact, the country is a beacon of hope for Europe. We are therefore pleased that we could announce Poland as our Partner Country at CeBIT 2013. This is an opportunity for the country to present itself as an attractive and highly competent business location with an enormous potential due to the large number of qualified specialists in the digital industry." From CeBit information: files.messe.de/007/media/en/01informationenfraussteller/factsheets/2013_5/Factsheet_CeBIT_Partnerland-2013-Polen_Partner-Country-2013-Poland.pdfDid you know...? - Ten facts about Poland Poland is the second, next to Germany most attractive destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Europe in the next three years – survey by Ernst &Young . Penetration of mobile telephony services in the individual sectors of the Polish telecoms market has reached in 2012 – 135%. The world's largest ICT companies have their R&D center in Poland, employing 10.000 highly skilled specialists with good knowledge of technologies and English or German – There are 50.000 ICT companies in Poland, a lot of them specializing in mobile applications. Two polish companies Asseco Poland and Comarch – are among 100 biggest European software Companies based on Truffle 100. For the last 5 years ( crisis In Europe) Polish GDP is constantly growing. Poles are one of the most educated societies in Europe. Poland is a country of "young people" where 50% of the population is under 35 and over 10% of university graduates in the EU are Polish. Among them there are 40.000 of ICTspecialist graduates each year. Polish IT professionals every year rank in the highest positions in international competitions for developers, such as Microsoft Imagine Cup, Google Code Jam, TopCoder, Academic Championship Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM ICPC), the Central European Programming Contest (CEPC). Five of top video games come from Poland and a lot of mobile games as well. |
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