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FOR Communication 34/2018: The amendment to the Act on the Supreme Court does not restore the rule of law | 2018-12-18
moreAt the end of November, the Polish Parliament adopted another, seventh amendment to the Act on the Supreme Court, which "reinstates" the judges of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court.
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Marcin Zieliński: “Business Constitution” in Poland: Government Propaganda Instead of Reforms, 4Liberty | 2018-12-04
moreThe Law and Justice (PiS) government claims that the so-called “Business Constitution” is “the most important reform of Polish economic law for almost 30 years”.
The key goal of this document is to be the planned increase in the quality of making of business law and to improve the relations between public administration and entrepreneurs. There are five reasons why this is pure propaganda. -
Rafał Trzeciakowski: Poland’s Independence and Standard of Living in Poland, 4Liberty | 2018-12-04
more100 years ago, Poland regained independence, but its economic success started only 30 years ago. Neither the Second Polish Republic after World War I, nor the socialist People’s Republic of Poland after World War II managed to significantly increase standard of living compared to the United States.
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Leszek Balcerowicz: Globalization and Its Critics, 4liberty.eu | 2018-11-14
moreThere is a massive literature on globalization (see, e.g., Bordo 2017). Therefore, I limit my comments on this fundamentally important process to a bare minimum (sect. 1). Instead I focus on the criticisms of globalization. Sect. II distinguishes three points of view of this process: economic, political economy and moral. In sect. III I briefly discuss crude anti – globalism of the nationalistic and utopian variety. Then I move to more sophisticated versions of the discussions of globalizations focusing on what I perceive to be lack of clarity, misconceptions or outright fallacies. Sect. IV deals with trade globalization and sect. V – wi th financial globalization. In sect VI I formulate some final observations and recommendations.
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FOR Communication 32/2018: The 100th anniversary of regaining independence and the standard of living in Poland | 2018-11-08
moreOn the eve of World War I in 1913, at the end of the Second Polish Republic in 1938, and at the end of the Polish People's Republic in 1988, the standard of living in Poland was about 20% of that in the USA. Due to the development during the Third Republic, it stands at around 50% now.
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Aleksander Łaszek: Is Poland Really Developed?, 4Liberty | 2018-11-07
moreTransition of a country from the category of developing countries to developed one is a process that takes years. The change of category is a byproduct of institutional changes and accompanying increase in the level of living. Poland has been implementing reforms moving us toward market economy and democratic society since 1989.
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FOR Communication 31/2018: Misunderstandings about the upgrade of Poland’s rating by Standard & Poor's | 2018-10-29
moreThe upgraded rating of Poland by Standard & Poor's led to many different interpretations, some of them erroneous or exaggerated. Many observers perceived it as an improvement in the assessment of Poland's long-term economic prospects, while in fact it is only a reversal of the cut from January 2016, the beginning of the Law and Justice government. Poland’s rating was already on the current level earlier, in 2007-2015, even though these were the years of the global financial crisis and the solvency crisis in the euro area.
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FOR Communication 30/2018: Polish Aviation Group: a twofold mystification paid for by the Reprivatisation Fund | 2018-10-26
moreWhen the public opinion focuses on yet another strike of employees of LOT Polish Airlines, few commentators analyze the state funded transformations of the carrier. On 10 October, LOT became officially part of the state-owned Polska Grupa Lotnicza (PGL, Polish Aviation Group), a holding to which assets of three other aviation companies were also transferred (LOT Aircraft Maintenance Services, LS Airport Services, and LS Technics).
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FOR Communication 29/2018: An expensive gift of PiS: citizens' plans turned upside down | 2018-10-25
moreThree weeks before November 12, some MPs from PiS (The Law and Order Party) submitted a draft bill to make this day a public holiday. Late in the evening on the next day, 23 October, the project was adopted.
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Communication 28/2018: The budget for 2019: new taxes | 2018-10-04
moreThe fast economic growth, in place since 2014 due to the good economic situation in the global economy, leads to an increased state's income. Combined with the limited growth rate of some expenditures, it gives the government more room for maneuver.