Europe's Growth Champion

Poland has entered its true Golden Age, writes Marcin Piatowski in this lucid and stimulating account of Poland's transformation. * Tony Barber, Financial Times * Europe's Growth Champion is an in-depth analysis of why and how Poland has managed to build a competitive and inclusive market economy just within one generation. Marcin Piatowski's careful and theoretically sound analysis of what has and has not worked in Poland is a great guide for any reformer-and the reassurance that market reforms can deliver if correctly designed and implemented. * Sergei Guriev, Chief Economist, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development * A deep, surprising and cleverly written book about Europe's untold success story. * Tim Harford, author of Fifty Inventions That Shaped The Modern Economy and The Undercover Economist * This book is a tour de force on socio-economic changes in Poland a country that initiated the historic process of transition and became its most successful economy. Piatkowski persuasively explains how this happened and what is the likely future for Poland and Europe. * Grzegorz W. Kolodko, Kozminski University, former Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance of Poland * Most countries in the world are trapped in poverty or middle-income status. However, a country's destiny can change. Piatkowski analyses Poland's recent success of ascending from a relatively poor to a high-income country in a generations time. The book provides both inspiration and useful lessons for countries still struggling to change the fate of their nations. * Justin Yifu Lin, Peking University, China, former Chief Economist of the World Bank * An ambitious and successful effort at explaining the evolution of Poland from feudalism to communism and to today's success story. Full of insights, with deep lessons about development in general. A pleasure to read. * Olivier Blanchard, Peterson Institute, US, former Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund * No country did better than Poland after the fall of communism. This book dissects not just the specific policies that made this successful transition possible, but also its deeper roots in culture, institutions, and ideas providing some surprising answers along the way. Piatkowski has written a deeply hopeful book that shows the way forward for Poland and other similarly situated economies. * Dani Rodrik, Harvard University, US * Poland's economic success over the last three decades is nothing short of remarkable. This insightful book shows how Poland owes its success to its ability to build broadly inclusive economic institutions, and traces the roots of this institutional transformation to the countrys history, to its political transition driven by its middle class, to the anchor that the European Union provided, and to good political leadership. A must read for anybody who wants to understand the process of economic reform, especially today when we are witnessing the rise of an authoritarian government in Poland threatening to reverse some of these achievements. * Daron Acemoglu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US * A new book on Poland's success, Europe's Growth Champion, by Marcin Piatkowski, highlights a paradox. What outsiders saw, and Poles bemoaned, in 1989 was indeed dreadful, a destitute country with dire infrastructure, pitiful wages, clapped-out industry and bankrupt public finances. But the deeper legacy of communism, the book argues, was a positive one. ... Mr Piatkowski's arguments deserve careful consideration. The question of why some countries get rich and others stay poor is the most important economic puzzle of our times, and one that economists themselves struggle to solve. * Edward Lucas, The Times * Piatkowski's book provides the most thorough analysis so far of the reasons behind Poland's economic successes since it embarked on the transition to the market economy. Blending advanced economic analysis together with a deep historical perspective, this book is a great example of how contemporary economic methods can deliver very fruitful insights and enlighten policy debates. * Prof. Gerard Roland, E. Morris Cox Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley * One of the main reasons why countries in Central Eastern Europe are poorer than Western European countries is because frequently they reverse important reforms. Poland is no exception in this regard, this time around despite an enviable economic and social performance since transition started in the late 1980s and despite the historically unparalleled anchoring that the European Union provides. This book not only offers an excellent analysis of the fundamental factors that brought about this unprecedented growth spurt in Poland, but it also offers a strong hope that these factors will be robust enough to reverse the current major reform reversals and keep Poland on its current rapid convergence trajectory. I can only hope that the author is right about this. A must read for academics working on development economics, and I sincerely hope it will also be read by some politicians in the region. * Istvan Szekely, Director, European Commission DG ECFIN * Today, many take Poland's postcommunist economic success for granted, but that was never true. Piatkowski underscores how extractive Poland's old economic system was and how harmful its old elite. He shows convincingly that Poland's transformation proves that success is possible also where rent seeking is deeply entrenched. But it requires a real shock that breaks the old system and its ruling class. New institutions as well as a different culture are needed and they can be built. * Anders Aslund, Atlantic Council, Washington, DC *