In countries with a tradition of more than one hundred years of a free market economy, both public opinion and the economic policy of subsequent governments focus on pragmatic continuity. Changes or corrections are reduced to the necessary minimum. Further, any such change in economic policy is mainly the result of democratic elections and not that of unusual events of far-reaching, unpredictable consequences, such as wars or crises. However, this scenario is rarely found in countries with a much shorter market economy history, as in the case of Poland.

This book presents the history of Poland's economic development in two periods: the interwar period and the period that followed the collapse of communism. The periods under study came in the aft ermath of historic events characterised by massive human and material losses, the First and the Second World War. Only two twenty-year periods can be said to feature market economy mechanisms in Poland, as prior to 1918 there had been no Polish state, and the period between 1950 and 1989 was marked by a socialist economy. Such a state of affairs was caused by both "bad geography" and the post-Yalta political "order". Both periods have also generated many heated discussions on issues related to the state's economic system and policy.

The publication is addressed to academics, doctoral candidates and students.