The failure of effective technological transfer in Polish industry

Central planners in Poland have continuously emphasized the importance of increasing factor productivity as a major goal of Polish development policy and have included this goal as an integral part of every economic reform proposal of the last two decades. In the decade of the 1970s a new development strategy was initiated which counted heavily on the import of more technologically advanced machinery and equipment and the purchase of licenses and production processes from the West. This paper documents the tremendous increase in Western imports and the purchase of licenses which took place in the 1970s, and which would then be expected to generate an increase in joint factor productivity due to technological change. Empirical analysis, however, indicates that there was no effective transfer of the technology. Joint factor productivity for total industry calculated as a residual in estimated production functions, which include imported inputs, has a zero rate of growth from 1970 to 1978 (using quarterly data). Disaggregating and using annual data over a longer sample period yields estimates of the rate of growth of joint factor productivity which increase slightly for total industry in the 1973–1977 period. For the electrical and mechanical branch which received large numbers of license and joint production agreements the rate of growth of joint factor productivity remained unchanged. The results indicate that systemic factors such as central planning, managerial inhibitions and supply bottlenecks out-weighed any potential increase in factor productivity as a result of technology transfer.     

Productivity,employment and labor demand in Polish industry in the 1980s: Some preliminary results from enterprise-level data

The paper uses annual data from a panel of 334 Polish industrial enterprises over the period 1983–1988 to test empirically a simple neoclassical approach to the socialist labor market. First, an enterprise production function is estimated. The paper finds that for most enterprises, the resulting estimated marginal product of labor exceeds the wage paid by the enterprise by a considerable margin, suggesting general excess demand for labor. The paper then looks at how the difference between the MPL and the wage is related to the rate of change of employment, and finds that firms where the MPL is higher than the wage — firms which in a neoclassical model would have a large excess demand for labor — do not shed labor any more slowly than other firms.     

Poles' evaluation of the benefits of the Polish economic transformation: A rectification of the misleading of Jeffrey Sachs

In his protracted dispute with Jan Adam over the early benefits of the Polish ‘shock therapy’ approach to economic reform, a key, and still intact, component of Jeffrey Sachs' case has been a relatively favourable 1991 opinion poll about Poles' perceptions of the benefits of economic reform. This reported that a substantial majority of Poles felt their standard of living had improved as a result of the first two years of economic reform. This was an apparently powerful argument in favour of Poland's particular shock therapy approach to economic reform, as residents of other East European countries, some subject to more gradualist reforms, responded much less positively to the identical question put as part of the same research programme. However, the cited result should be seen as posing a mystery that is at odds with other monthly polls in Poland and seems incompatible with the results of the 1991 Polish Parliamentary elections, which showed a return of support to post-communist parties. A deeper analysis of opinion polls which follows solves the mystery, when it is shown how the cited result was in error and was published in a form diametrically opposite to the true result.     

Old people in Polish cities in the late eighteenth century

The issue of old age as a period in life of a person in the cities of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was not widely discussed in historic literature of the past. This was due, to a large extent, to the beliefs of the researchers regarding the difficulty in capturing this phenomenon in light of rather Modest statistical sources. This study is, therefore, an attempt to scrutinise the mechanisms behind the functioning of city communities in the territories of central Poland in the late-feudal age on a basic level - the level of the smallest social unit and its economic base, i.e. the household, based on handwritten civil-military censuses from 1791-1792. The author is interested in the living situation of old people, their sizes and gender proportions in cities varying in size: from small to large ones in the second half of the 18th century. The article presents the dependencies between the age and position of men and women in the household and the proportions of old people being heads of households. Using the typology by Peter Laslett a model of a household ran by old people was shown against the background of a general structure of households in cities. The last part of the text concerns the size of households ran by old people, taking into account the social status, and their position within the family. The analysis of the censuses does not allow to determine any clear difference of living through old age in Polish cities in the 18th century in comparison to the regions which are attributed a ’unique’ model of European forms of family. The structural similarity of old age seen in Polish cities is closer to the model observed in cities of western than of eastern Europe.     

Wage and Price Inflation in Poland in the Period of Transition: The Cointegration Analysis

The paper focuses on the long run relationships between wages, prices and labour productivity in the Polish economy by applying recent developments in the field of multivariate cointegration analysis. We followed modeling strategy which is suggested by Greenslade et al. (1999) and present all stages of the analysis which leads to the fully economically identified system of equations representing long run relationships. The investigation is based on the quarterly data from 1992.1 to 1999.2 which covers the period of transition of the Polish economy from the centrally planned system towards the market one. Basing on the empirical results we can argue that wages (costs) were one of the main forces driving inflation in Poland during that period. Also labor productivity proved to be stimulated by the increase of the real wages. On the other hand the hypothesis concerning the relationship between wages and unemployment was rejected by the data.     

Bureaupreneurs in China: we did it our way

This article explores the different and sometimes conflicting explanations of the success of the collective enterprises (town–village-enterprise) in China during the first phase of transition (1979–1995). It is argued that explanations, relying on cultural variables are not sustainable and this for two reasons. First, the importance of the collective enterprise is shrinking while the private sector is clearly on the rise. Second, other factors, referring to characteristics of the local and central political, administrative and economic environment, in which the Chinese enterprise has to (had to?) operate, provide for a sufficient explanation of the peculiar structure of the Chinese collective enterprises. These enterprises are seen as the result of ?bureau-preneurship’ because local bureaucrats were integrated in their management in order to pre-empt predatory behaviour and to facilitate the relationships with the central institutions. The article contributes to the property rights’ theory of the firm as it analyses an empirically very important case in which firms with unclear property rights and structures, apparently not conducive for incentives, might still be the most efficient option.     

Further evidence of in vitro production of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) in urine samples

This study was designed to supplement previous studies that documented in vitro production of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) in urine samples. Urine samples were provided by subjects who reported that they had never used GHB (n=31). The specimens were stored under standard conditions of refrigeration (5 degrees C) without any preservatives added. All specimens were repeatedly analyzed for the presence of endogenous GHB over a 6-month period using a previously reported headspace GC-MS method. Significant elevations in GHB were observed in many of the urine samples as storage time increased. As a result, the in vitro production of GHB may increase the apparent GHB concentrations in urine during storage. This potential for an artificial increase in GHB concentration must be appreciated when establishing the threshold between endogenous and exogenous concentrations of GHB.     

Legal Problems Involved in the Convergence of Collective and State Farms and the Emergence of a Single Type of Publicly-Owned Agricultural Enterprise

The Party Program adopted by the 22nd CPSU Congress, representing a creative advance of Marxism-Leninism, has defined scientifically the perspectives and courses to be followed to achieve a further sharp rise in agriculture as a prerequisite for the building of a communist society in our country. The CPSU Program points out: "The further advance of the village toward communism will follow the course of development and improvement of both forms of socialist enterprise — collective and state farms." They are both becoming transformed into highly productive and highly profitable forms of enterprise. The economic basis for their development is the continuous growth of the productive forces and improvement in their utilization, improved organization of production and methods of management, a steady rise in labor productivity, and rigorous adherence to the principle that good work and superior results lead to higher pay. On this basis, the collective and state farms will increasingly become enterprises of a communist type in their production relations, the character of the work involved, the living and cultural standards of their personnel. As the building of communism progresses, and as production is improved and increased in volume, "the collective farms will," says the CPSU Program, "come to be agricultural enterprises under general public ownership, by virtue of their economic condition."     

A Stochastic Frontier Analysis of Output Level and Growth in Poland and Western Economies

This paper uses Bayesian stochastic frontier methods to measure the productivity gap between Poland and Western countries that existed before the beginning of the main Polish economic reform. Using data for 20 Western economies, Poland and Yugoslavia (1980–1990) we estimate a translog stochastic frontier and make inference about individual efficiencies. Following the methodology proposed in our earlier work, we also decompose output growth into technical, efficiency and input changes and examine patterns of growth in the period under consideration.     

The impact of foreign and state ownership on post-transition industrial concentration: the case of Polish manufacturing

This paper reports an analysis of the determinants of the level and changes in Polish industrial concentration in the early post-transition era. In particular, the relative effects of foreign and state ownership are examined. The empirical evidence is based on a panel of 144 Polish manufacturing industries over the period 1989–1993. The results suggest that both state and foreign ownership have a significant impact on industry concentration and this relationship is U-shaped. Minimum efficient scale is found to be the only other factor to impact on industry concentration.     

Assessing the performance of public enterprises: A public-choice approach

Recent advances in the theory of public enterprises have led to the development of criteria for assessing their performance. The underlying idea is to determine the best practice of a particular enterprise and assess other public enterprises in the same industry against that best practice. This article is critical of the best-practice-approach and offers an alternative public-choice-based procedure.The objectives assigned to the operation of public enterprises in the best-practice approach do not reflect the specific functions of public enterprises. On the contrary, they are general economic policy objectives derived from a general theory of economic policy based on normative welfare economics. The efficiency of public enterprises is then considered a policy objective. In terms of a public-choice perspective, however, efficiency is almost never in itself a policy objective of a public enterprise. It is unlikely (but not impossible) that we may find a public enterprise with essentially the same production function as an efficiently operated private enterprise. By their very nature, public enterprises are diverse and suited for the most diverse policy objectives. Therefore, performance indicators of a general kind (based on welfare economics) do not reflect the purpose of running a particular public enterprise. The best-practice approach is based on the attribution of policy objectives. A more satisfying analytical approach derives the policy objectives of a particular enterpise by means of a public-choice analysis of its observable behavior. This positive and empirical analysis can then yield those policy objectives against which the performance of the public institution can be assessed.The article has three main sections. The first offers a critical discussion of the existing literature on performance measurements, in particular the best-practice approach. The second suggests an alternative public choice theory of public enterprise behavior, and the third develops a stepwise procedure for assessing the performance of public enterprises in a public-choice analytical framework.     

法人理论之社会基础的更新:从社团到企业

传统法人理论以社团与合伙的二分为依据,以社团作为理论建模的基础,无法回应市民社会中发挥组织社会生产功能的企业的法律交往需求。德国学者针对合手合伙的群体理论和美国学者提出的资产区隔理论,均旨在将企业的独立财产作为企业独立性的核心构造,符合财产与自由关系的一般原理。企业的独立财产不仅有利于企业确立独立于企业所有者的企业目标,而且能够促成企业秩序和文化的形成。经济意义上的企业所有者仅是企业这种组织中不可或缺的一类成员,与企业依其财产获得的独立性并不矛盾。企业的所有权安排可能达成的数种均衡,在企业组织结构的稳定程度和企业独立性的程度上存在量的区分。以企业作为法人的社会基础和法学建构的原型,降低企业独立性的门槛、区分企业独立性的不同程度,能够为市场经济注入更多的财富、自治空间和活力,符合市民社会的基本要求和历史发展的进程,在世界范围内获得了实定法的认同和推动。     

The Political Sociology of Private Armies in Colombia and the United States

This paper provides a comparative sociological analysis of private armies in Colombia and the United States. Private armies in both nations have economic and political underpinnings. An ethic of economic inequality pervaded Colombian life and institutions since colonialism, creating a milieu for private armies to develop. The cocaine industry seized a historic moment in the weakness of the Colombian state, and private armies in their employ helped to manage the risks of cocaine production. Occasionally the armies were used for counterinsurgent purposes. Beyond this, a remarkable diversity of roles played by private armies was noted. In the United States, an ethic of equality provided the social milieu for legitimate private armies to appear. Militias enjoyed social status early on, but later were viewed as antidemocratic and authoritarian. Militia groups since 1865 focused attention upon internal threats first and later external ones. They did not get involved in an illegal business enterprise, and thus overall their social network was less complicated than their Colombian counterparts. Moreover, state power has limited their effectiveness and ability to gain mass appeal in the United States. In the 1990s, armies in both countries underwent change, and their situations became more complex. Diversity of roles played by the Colombian militias is highlighted during this period, while in the United States, militia ideologies were a complex mix of Constitutionalism and Christian Identity.     

中国民法典集体所有权的理解与适用

集体所有权在中国法学界一直是个解释和理解起来较为复杂和困难的问题.因为,它不仅涉及到民法,还涉及到作为社会主义经济制度基础的公有制和作为上位法的宪法的规定等.理解集体所有权,我们可以"集体企业"与"集体土地"作切入点.集体企业定位上属于企业法人,如今《民法典》更是进一步将其规定为营利法人.但集体土地不能像集体企业一样,...     

Speculators: Culture,economy and the legitimation of deviance

This article is a continuation and development of the author's thesis regarding deviant activity in the financial markets of the City of London. The thesis proposes that deviant activity in financial institutions has become legitimated in the sense of the failure of external regulatory controls to enforce order against the internally generated subcultural codes of practice which have developed consequent upon the forces of economic imperative (the ideology of excellence in the enterprise culture) and globalisation (the technological revolution). The thesis originally dealt with the period between 1984–1989 which was one characterised as “Casino Capitalism”. The current development of the thesis examines its continued relevance and proposes number of additional supporting elements and examples in its deployment as a critique of deviant financial activity.     

行政法治视野下的中央与地方权限冲突——以国有自然资源为考察视角

我国进入全面改革阶段后,中央与地方的矛盾和冲突几乎就没有停止过。目前我国处于向市场经济体制转型的过渡时期,权限冲突引发的问题阻碍了经济社会的进一步改革和发展,国有自然资源领域的中央与地方权限冲突就是一个缩影。调整中央与地方关系,需要有一套系统思维和制度框架。应在中央与地方关系中树立法律的权威,实行中央与地方之间的法律分权。同时完善其他相关制度,以实现中央与地方关系的和谐发展。     

Experimental studies on the mechanism of ethanol formation in corpses

Various in vitro experiments were performed for the purpose of clarifying the mechanism of ethanol production in corpses. Whereas a negligible quantity of ethanol was produced in the blood alone, which was left at room temperature, the quantity of ethanol was slightly increased by addition of glucose to the blood. When saprogens were further added, the quantity was markedly increased. Various materials were added to blood-liver homogenates as specimens, and the mixtures were stored in an incubator at 37 degrees C. As a result of the addition of an antibiotic to the mixture every day, there was hardly any production of ethanol. When alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) were added, ethanol production was slightly increased. When acetaldehyde was added first, ethanol production was inhibited the next day, but on and after day 2, the quantity of ethanol was more than that in the control material. When pyruvic acid was added first, the results were similar to the above. Pyrazole, cyanamide, and disulfiram completely inhibited the production of ethanol. Ethanol production in corpses is believed to take place through a pathway opposite to that of ethanol metabolism in the living body, under the influence of ADH, ALDH, etc., in saprogens using carbohydrates as substrates.     

我国家族企业内部纠纷的起因与规范——以家族企业内部的产权关系为视角

随着家族企业对社会经济发展作用的日益增强,我国家族企业内部纠纷已经不再是婚姻、家庭内部的事情,它关涉企业的发展与壮大甚至存活.本文认为,家庭财产与企业资产的混同,家庭生活与企业生产的重叠,个人投资与家庭投入的模糊,体力付出与脑力贡献的混淆等是家族企业内部纠纷产生的根源.因此,资产归属的事先明确是避免家族企业内部纠纷的关键.     

The price-wage inflationary spiral in Poland

In this paper the problem of price-wage relationship modelling in the case of a mixed economy is addressed. The empirical investigation was based on Polish annual data for the period of a centrally planned system (1964–1989) and on quarterly data for the period of transition towards a market economy (1990.1–1990.3). The traditional approach proved to be inappropriate because of the variables' nonstationarity. Identification of long-run behaviour was attempted by applying the two-step Engle-Granger's, or alternatively, Johansen's maximum likelihood (ML) procedures. The ML estimator provided better estimates of cointegration vectors and, even more important, allowed as many as three to be found. The main conclusion which can be drawn from the empirical findings is that three variables: price index, average wages and labour productivity, form a multi-dimensional equilibrium space. This property of the described phenomena needs to be taken into serious account when building macroeconometric models explaining the behaviour of the Polish economy. The existence of these three cointegration vectors is troublesome because of unusual problems of interpretation. However, if it is not as a result of misspecification and/or small sample bias, it proves that much remains to be learned about the price-wage mechanisms functioning in economies having a mixed character.     

Topics in macro-modelling of East European countries in the period of transition

Central and European former Centrally Planned Economies (CPEs) entered a period of transition towards market economies. The evolution is marked by a transition from shortage- to demand-determined economies, associated with the abandonment of price control and the introduction of tight wage control. Stabilization programmes (in Poland from 1990), implementing tough deflationary fiscal and monetary policies, brought about the suppression of hyperinflation. The high adjustment costs — deep recession, high rates of unemployment — are characteristics of the early '90s. The deregulation of the public sector and the building of the private one commenced, and will be a long-lasting process. To meet the changes in economic regimes and mechanisms, the existing models had to be adequately respecified and new models constructed. The large W-5 macromodel for Poland, which covers the final and intermediate demands, had to be extended to introduce the market adjustment mechanisms and, more broadly, the financial flows. To meet the needs of short-term financial policies, new quarterly models had to be built, as, for instance, the WK macromodel for the Polish economy. The paper discusses the major problems of the models' specification under the data constraints.