Bill Gates’ Guru: “I'm Not Impressed With Silicon Valley.” “I Don't Have a Cell Phone.” “I Never Blog.”

Bill Gates often invokes VACLAV SMIL as his “favorite thinker.” Indeed, Smil is one of the deeper, more original and independent big minds out there today. His book titles range from The Bad Earth and The Cycles of Life to Harvesting the Biosphere.     

I Told Steve Bannon: “We Are Not At War With Islam.” He Disagreed

I was the target of Islamist ire for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper. But a war against all Muslims is not the solution.     

A two-thirds of success. Poland's post-communist transformation 1989–2009

The progress toward institutional changes should be evaluated through the prism of their influence on a country's development abilities. In Poland, during the twenty years of comprehensive systemic shift, gross domestic product (GDP) has increased more than in any other post-communist country. While judging the transformation progress, not only the improvement of competitiveness and growth in terms of quantity must be taken into account, but also social and cultural aspects. There have been five distinct periods in Poland, from the viewpoint of economic growth. Had there been a better policy coordination of systemic change and socio-economic development, GDP over the periods considered could have increased by a half more. This opportunity has been missed due to the intermittent implementation of wrong economic policies based on wrong economic theories. Poland's transformation can be seen as a success, but only to the extent of two-thirds of its potential.