Reflections in Twenty Years of Political and Economic Change in Poland

This article deals with a discussion of the policy perspectives on the past 20 years of economic change in Poland. The article looks at the range of areas (political and economic systems) subject to transition; the evolutionary nature of the change; and the sequence of change. The article calls upon more than 20 years of research into these areas and questions and discusses the nature of change in the stabilization, liberalization and privatization programs. It concludes by providing insights on lessons that may be learned from reform efforts. The authors conclude that the Polish experience proved conclusively that reducing the budget deficit through the elimination of state subsidies, controlling the money supply, and creating a stabilized rate of exchange and a fully convertible currency can be successful even in a state-controlled, state sector-dominated socialist economy as existed in Poland in 1989-1990. The article further asserts that it is also now apparent that only a radical stabilization-liberalization program is capable of abolishing the massive shortages which became the main characteristics of the failed socialist system. Further, the authors argue that the changes initiated in Poland as a result of the implementation of the Balcerowicz Plan fundamentally changed the mentality of economic activity from state-centered to private-centered. It is this change in the dynamic mentality that may be most important in Poland achieving success over the past 20 years.