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Introduction
Incountrieswithatraditionofafreemarketeconomygoingbackmorethan
onehundredyears,bothpublicopinionandtheeconomicpolicyofsub-
sequentgovernmentsfocusonpragmaticcontinuity.Changesorcorrec-
tionsarereducedtothenecessaryminimum.Further,anysuchchange
ineconomicpolicyismainlytheresultofdemocraticelectionsandnotthat
ofunusualeventsoffar-reaching,unpredictableconsequences,suchaswars
orcrises.However,thisscenarioisrarelyfoundincountrieswithamuch
shortermarketeconomyhistory,asisthecaseofPoland.
In1918,Polandregaineditsindependenceafter123yearsofnothaving
haditsownstate.Twentyyearslater,in1939,thecountrywas,onceagain,
attackedandoccupiedbytwopowers:NaziGermanyandtheSovietUnion.
AsaresultofthesetwoinvasionstheyoungPolishstatewasplundered
ofitsmostvaluableresources,bothhumanandmaterial.Followingthe
SecondWorldWar,Poland’sfatewaswrittenintothenewglobalpolitical
orderandtheideologicaldivisionsofEurope.Theeffectsoftheinvasions
andpost-warpoliticaleventslastedforoverfortyyearsuntil1989,whenthe
processoftransformationtowardsamarketeconomybeganonceagain.This
eventconsequentlymarkedthebeginningofanewperiodofafree-market
economyinPoland.
ThisbookpresentsthehistoryofPoland’seconomicdevelopmentintwope-
riods:theinterwarperiodandtheperiodthatfollowedthecollapseofcom-
munism.Theperiodsunderstudycameintheaftermathofhistoricevents
characterisedbymassivehumanandmateriallosses,theFirstandtheSecond
WorldWar.Onlytwotwenty-yearperiodswhichcanbesaidtofeature
marketeconomymechanismsinPoland,aspriorto1918therehadbeen
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