Leszek Balcerowicz

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Leszek Balcerowicz (2008)

Leszek Henryk Balcerowicz ( [ˈlɛʂɛk balt͡sɛˈrɔvit͡ʂ] listen ? / I ) (born January 19, 1947 in Lipno ) is a Polish professor of economics and liberal politician . He became famous mainly due to the eponymous Balcerowicz Plan , with whom he central planned economy of Poland radically to the market economy Ground surrounded. Audio file / audio sample

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Leszek Balcerowicz studied foreign trade at the College of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw. He joined the Polish United Workers' Party ( PZPR ) and was thus able to receive a scholarship for the USA in the 1970s . He completed his studies there with a Master of Business Administration , a specialty for a Pole under the political conditions of the time.

As early as the 1980s he published a plan for the market economy reform of the People's Republic of Poland that he had worked out together with friends , which brought him the offer to participate in the Solidarność program . But he did not join Solidarność. When martial law was imposed in 1981 , he was in Brussels. He returned to Poland and resigned from the PZPR. In the 1980s Balcerowicz completed his habilitation , studied in Marburg and gave lectures in various countries. In 1989, he received a call to England, but decided to accept the post of finance minister of Poland.

From 1989 to 1991 he was deputy prime minister and finance minister in the first non-communist governments under Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Jan Krzysztof Bielecki . On December 30, 1989, the laws necessary for the first part of the Balcerowicz Plan were passed. The plan, supported among other things by a stabilization loan from the International Monetary Fund , included the complete release of prices and the reduction of inflationary wage increases. This sudden transition to a market economy is referred to as “ shock therapy ”.

From 1995 to 2000 he held the position of party leader in the liberal Unia Wolności . Mostly celebrated by western countries, it lost its popularity domestically, as the economic restructuring also caused an increase in unemployment and cuts in social benefits.

1997 to 2000 Balcerowicz held the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister in the government under Jerzy Buzek . The so-called Second Balcerowicz Plan (which included radical tax cuts and a reduction in the budget gap) failed because of insufficient political preparation and the objection of then President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność (former coalition partner of the UW).

From 2001 to 2007 Balcerowicz was President of the National Bank of Poland . During his tenure, he was attacked several times by politicians who blamed the National Bank for the economic problems. In 2004, The Banker named him the best central bank governor in Europe who managed to make the zloty a stable currency.

From June 2008 to April 2012 he was chairman of the supervisory board of the Brussels think tank BRUEGEL .

In 2016 he advised the Ukrainian government.

Balcerowicz is a member of the Mont Pèlerin Society .

Orders and honors

literature

  • Sebastian Płociennik: Leszek Balcerowicz. In: Dieter Bingen, Krzysztof Ruchniewicz (ed.): Country report Poland. Bonn 2009, ISBN 978-3-89339-060-1 , pp. 258-262.

Web links

Commons : Leszek Balcerowicz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Sebastian Płociennik: Leszek Balcerowicz. In: Dieter Bingen, Krzysztof Ruchniewicz (ed.): Country report Poland. Bonn 2009, ISBN 978-3-89339-060-1 , pp. 258-262.
  2. ^ Elisabeth Zoll: From pioneer to latecomer? The system transformation in Poland from 1989 to 1993. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1994, p. 83.
  3. ^ Dirck Suss: Privatization and Public Finances. On the political economy of transformation. Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart 2001, p. 98.
  4. ^ Klaus Ziemer : Poland. In: From the Eastern Bloc to the EU. System transformations 1990–2012 in comparison. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2014, p. 141.
  5. ↑ Trichet becomes head of the Bruegel think tank. In: The Standard . Retrieved April 18, 2012 .
  6. ↑ “Our plan is Kiev's last chance for reforms” , NZZ, October 19, 2016
  7. ↑ See MPS Newsletter June / July 2014: Awards
  8. ↑ according to Manager Magazin (Polish), issue 12/2006, Wydawnictwo Infor Manager, Warsaw 2006
  9. ^ Stefan Kooths: Leszek Balcerowicz - thought leader and pioneer of transformation economics . In: ORDO . tape 69 , no. 1 , 2019, ISSN  2366-0481 , p. 385-391 , doi : 10.1515 / ordo-2019-0018 ( degruyter.com [accessed on November 8, 2019]).
personal data
SURNAME Balcerowicz, Leszek
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Balcerowicz, Leszek Henryk (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish economist and politician, member of the Sejm
DATE OF BIRTH January 19, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Lipno