PARTICIPANTS

Leszek Balcerowicz, Ewa Balcerowicz, Michael Boskin, Darrell Duffie, Bob Hall, Pete Klenow, Ed Lazear, Monika Piazzesi, Martin Schneider, Ken Scott, Maciej Siekierski, John Taylor, Johannes Stroebel, Mark Hafstead, Tim Landvoigt, Krishna Rao, Juliana Salomao, Edison Yu.

ISSUES DISCUSSED

Leszek Balcerowicz, former Finance Minister and Central Bank President of Poland, shared with the group his perspective on different paths for post-socialist transitions in Central and Eastern Europe. He began by outlining how economic outcomes as well as non-economic outcomes such as life-expectancy have diverged for different former Socialist countries since the fall of the Soviet Union. Balcerowicz explained these differentials by the interaction of three factors: (1) Differential initial conditions, (2) location and (3) differing degrees of market reform / privatization in the different countries. This last factor was most important to explain long-run differentials in economic growth.

Balcerowicz then discussed why Poland’s economy performed so much better than that of other countries during the recent financial crisis (Poland was the only country in Europe that did not have a recession). Firstly, Poland managed to avoid excessive credit build-up during the late 1990s and the early years of the new century. Secondly, with a relatively large domestic market, Poland was less dependent on international trade. Finally, Poland’s dependence on commodity exports was a lot lower than that of other countries in former Central and Eastern Europe.

Upcoming Events

Sunday, July 13, 2025 9:00 AM JST
Aloha Tower, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1930s, Dennis M. Ogawa Nippu Jiji Photograph Collection, Hoji Shinbun
Traversing The Socio-Economic Frontiers Of The Empire Of Japan And The Pacific World
Co-hosted by the Center for Modern Japanese Legal and Political Document, Faculty of Law, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, University of Tokyo… University of Tokyo
Sunday, July 13, 2025 9:00 AM JST
Aloha Tower, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1930s, Dennis M. Ogawa Nippu Jiji Photograph Collection, Hoji Shinbun
ヒト・モノ・カネの移動からみた日本帝国と環太平洋世界: 日本・アメリカ大陸関係史のフロンティア
共催:東京大学大学院法学政治学研究科 附属近代日本法政史料センター 明治新聞雑誌文庫 スタンフォード大学フーバー研究所 University of Tokyo
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