History is a source of red flags. However, one must learn to read them and distinguish what is barely temporary in its nature from what can lasts for centuries. System reforms that support the efficiency of these systems cannot be carried out without the knowledge that institutions form a structure with a diversified horizon of action, and their modernization is possible, but the operation of new institutions decreed by reforms is conditioned, among others, by attachment of the rules of thinking and action to the historical trail. Without reliable historical knowledge, scholars' prescriptions easily become wishes, and reforms referring to them sooner or later turn to be disappointing.
The works of Professor Michał G. Woźniak always bring something new to our economic knowledge. It is no different this time. This ambitious work describes and explains the turbulent course of economic processes in Poland in the years 1918-2018. It is always easier to write about the first decades of the last century, since we are separated from them by a considerable historical distance than about the last decades, which we have witnessed and participated in. After all, the author accurately shows which links were not strong enough to make it a process of integrated development, which is still only an idea and theoretical concept that is so precious not only to him.
prof. Grzegorz W. Kołodko,
Kozminski University (Akademia Leona Koźmińskiego),
the four-time deputy prime minister
and minister of finance of the Republic of Poland in 1994-1997 and 2002-2003
The 100th anniversary of Poland regaining independence, gives the author an occasion to refer to history so as to show that we can draw instructions and inspirations that may be useful to us in today's reality. He states, rightly, that we should apply a holistic approach that will allow us to analyse the interconnections of the economic sphere with other areas of "human existence and action". (...) The book stands for a historical overview of economic policies implemented in Poland. It contains many very accurate insights that allow you to better understand today's economic reality. The publication is an important voice in the on-going discussion in Poland, on how to set the development direction to the economy and how to do it so that the implemented policy leads to the development of an integrated, innovative economy and modernized human capital. The book should be of interest to economists and sociologists – and, perhaps above all, to politicians.
Prof. Jerzy Żyżyński,
an economist associated with the University of Warsaw,
member of the Monetary Policy Council (Rada Polityki Pieniężnej, (RPP)