Dependency at a crossroads: Poland’s political economy since 2008 and in the context of the recent election 

12  December 2023    4:00 pm CET

with Maciej J. Grodzicki (Jagiellonian University)

Venue

wiiw Souterrain, Rahlgasse 3, 1060 Vienna, Austria

Description

Poland has been recently identified as an emblematic case of “conservative developmental statism”, pushing forward the so-called sovereign attempts in economic policy (Blum & Varga 2019). This marks a large shift for a country once labelled a Dependent Market Economy (Nölke & Vliegenthart 2009), meaning that its policies, largely in line with the Washington Consensus, had been oriented towards the attraction of FDI. Over the past few years, and in particular under the rule of the right-wing government of PiS, non-orthodox policies have been introduced, with fiscal and industrial policy being at the heart of this reorientation. This reorientation of policy has received even more attention thanks to being accompanied by clashes with the EU over the rule of law and liberal values. Now, the direction of policy could be set for another change. Recent parliamentary elections, won by a coalition of centre-left parties, mark an end to eight years of conservative rule.

At this event, Maciej J. Grodzicki will discuss the following questions:

  • What was the exact nature of the political and economic dynamics in Poland over the past 15 years?
  • How can the successful macroeconomic performance (Piątkowski 2018) be understood in the context of political tensions and shifts in the dominant policy narratives?
  • Was the PiS-led policy reorientation in Poland successful and does the 'dependent' characteristic no longer match the reality?
  • What does the recent election result mean for economic policy, class relations and macroeconomic developments?

The presentation will be based on an on-going research project on the political economy of dependent development in Poland by Maciej J. Grodzicki (Jagiellonian University) & Michał Możdżeń (Cracow University of Economics).

Speaker

Dr Maciej J. Grodzicki is an Economist, Assistant Professor at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, Board Member of the Polish Economic Network, and a laureate of the P.R.I.M.E. fellowship of German DAAD, conducted at the University of Bremen and the University of Sussex. In his research, he has analysed contemporary international inequalities, industrial policies, development and global value chains, in the evolutionary and neo-Kaleckian schools of economic thought. Currently, he is also involved in the Marxist ecological economics, investigating the political economy of commons, forestry and de-growth.

Moderator: Richard Grieveson (wiiw Deputy Director)

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