Post by carolgreen702 on Sept 27, 2012 3:34:50 GMT 1
Which was the only country in the 27-nation European Union to register economic growth without going through a recession last year? The surprising answer is Poland.
Over the past couple of weeks, Greece has been grabbing the headlines as a poster child for bad fiscal management. The Greek tragedy is threatening to undo the Eurozone and cause a pan-European financial crisis. There is no mystery as to why Greece is in the financial soup - its politicians have continued to spend far more than the government receives in taxes. The more interesting question is: What did Poland do right - and will Poland be better off or worse off if it joins the Eurozone?
Poland has been moving more toward economic freedom than Greece has and, as a result, is slowly catching up to Greece and the average of the other EU states in terms of per-capita income. Poland’s normally diffident, free-market prime minister, Donald Tusk, said last month: “Who would have thought we would see the day when the Polish economy is talked about with greater respect than the German economy? In fact, the Poles have a long way to go to reach Germany’s level of prosperity, but they clearly are learning from the mistakes of others, most notably keeping the growth in government spending under control.
The authors of the Index of Economic Freedom (produced by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal) note that Poland “has continued to enhance its entrepreneurial environment, achieving one of the 15 highest score improvements in the 2010 Index. Despite Poland’s having had growth averaging close to 5 percent for the past five years, improving its legal structure and reducing corruption, much more needs to be done. Poland, unlike Greece, still suffers from the legacy of four decades of communist rule.
Over the past couple of weeks, Greece has been grabbing the headlines as a poster child for bad fiscal management. The Greek tragedy is threatening to undo the Eurozone and cause a pan-European financial crisis. There is no mystery as to why Greece is in the financial soup - its politicians have continued to spend far more than the government receives in taxes. The more interesting question is: What did Poland do right - and will Poland be better off or worse off if it joins the Eurozone?
Poland has been moving more toward economic freedom than Greece has and, as a result, is slowly catching up to Greece and the average of the other EU states in terms of per-capita income. Poland’s normally diffident, free-market prime minister, Donald Tusk, said last month: “Who would have thought we would see the day when the Polish economy is talked about with greater respect than the German economy? In fact, the Poles have a long way to go to reach Germany’s level of prosperity, but they clearly are learning from the mistakes of others, most notably keeping the growth in government spending under control.
The authors of the Index of Economic Freedom (produced by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal) note that Poland “has continued to enhance its entrepreneurial environment, achieving one of the 15 highest score improvements in the 2010 Index. Despite Poland’s having had growth averaging close to 5 percent for the past five years, improving its legal structure and reducing corruption, much more needs to be done. Poland, unlike Greece, still suffers from the legacy of four decades of communist rule.