Transforming centrally-planned economies: the case of Poland

Abstract

The thesis analyzes the Polish experiences in the 1990s of the stabilization 'shock therapy' implemented simultaneously with the set of system- transforming reforms. The primary research question was: is Poland on the right track to a market economy? The main thrust of the study is the critical evaluation of the efforts made by reformers of the Polish economy to lessen the gap between Poland and Western Europe. It presents the areas of success and failure, so that any reader could learn more about the significance and difficulties of economic transformation in Poland. The thesis starts with the analysis of the failure of the Soviet-type economy. However, the basic focus of the research is limited to evaluation of the period between 1989 and 1995 and to presentation of possible strategies for the last five years of the century. The thesis argues that the Polish experience of the first half of the 1990s has proved that traditional tools of macroeconomic stabilization can be a success in a largely socialist economy. Despite man problems and difficulties, today Poland enjoys the fastest economic growth in all of Europe. The Polish economy entered the 1990s as the weakest in Eastern Europe; it is heading for the new century with a good chance of emerging as the strongest.