A unique publication on the Polish economy is ahead of us

On December 15, the “Almanac of Polish Economic Thought of the 20th Century”, a special publication created by experts from the Academy of Zamość on the initiative of the Institute of Finance, will have its premiere. The InFin’s partnership with the Academy, as part of this unique project, was aimed at commemorating the profiles and ideas of the most outstanding Polish economists over the decades.

The Institute of Finance, in cooperation with the Academy of Zamość, decided to gather knowledge about the most important Polish economists of the 20th century in one place. The premiere of the almanac will take place on December 15, 2022 in Zamość, but today we are starting a series in which we will systematically present the profiles of twenty outstanding Polish specialists in the field of economics, whose ideas and achievements are presented in the study.

Leon Bilinski, source: National State Archives

Bilinski Leon

Leon Biliński was born on June 15, 1846 in Zaleszczyki and died on June 15, 1923 in Vienna. He was a Polish politician, economist, professor and rector of the University of Lviv, dr. honoris causa of the law of Jagiellonian University from 1900 and the Minister of Treasury of Austria-Hungary and Poland. After Poland regained independence, he briefly served as Minister of the Treasury in the government of Prime Minister Paderewski (1919). Being the president of the newly established Polish-Austrian Bank, he led activities aimed at establishing Polish-Austrian economic relations. As a politician, he represented conservative views, despite his interest in socialism, he strongly opposed socialist economics.

State economic policy, social policy, finance and agrarian policy were the subject of his scientific work. He provided a scientific justification for the right of the state to manage the economic affairs of the country; he also considered it an obligation of the state to improve the living and working conditions of the workers. He replaced foreign trade using gold in the Austro-Hungarian currency system with the gold-plated currency.

Leopold Caro, source: Electronic Newsletter of the Main Library of  Cracow University of Economics

Cara Leopold

He was born on May 27, 1864 in Lviv and died on February 8, 1939 in Lviv. He was a Polish economist, lawyer and professor at the Lviv Polytechnic. As a supporter and precursor of the so-called Catholic solidarity, he created a piece of work entitled “Solidarity”.

Leopold Caro greatly influenced the formation and development of the movement of Polish economists. The paper on cartels and cartel legislation turned out to be an important starting point for taking the legislative initiative.