This article has three objectives. The first one is to compare and interpret the exceptionally large social and economic costs of policy errors by central authorities in Greece 2000–2010, Poland 1970–1980 and the G7 countries 2000–2010. The second objective is to analyse the risks to the pace and stability of Poland’s economic growth and the state of public finances after 2020. The third objective is to propose policy adjustments in responses to these risks in the period 2023–2030.

The number 1 aim of the paper is to note theoretical explanations of three facts: the remarkably rapid acceleration of the rate of growth of the per capita domestic product (GDP) in a small part of the world economy in the early 19th century, a strong stability of the per capita GDP growth rates in countries of that part since then, and a very strong divergence in the per capita GDP growth among the less developed countries. The number 2 aim is to note the probable implications of these explanations for the likely rate of global economic growth during this and next centuries.

In the Accession Treaty of 16 April 2003, Poland agreed to adopt euro as its national currency, but the date of this adoption was not specified. The financial crisis in several countries of the Eurozone, in response to the world financial crisis in 2008, reduced drastically the public support in Poland for the replacement of the zloty by the euro. This article has two objectives. One is to assess the net costs, economic and political, for Poland remaining long outside the Eurozone. In this assessment the analysis includes also two official reports by National Bank of Poland, the country’s central bank, published in 2009 and 2014. The other objective is to note and assess the reforms which have been undertaken by member states of the Eurozone in response to this crisis, in order to maintain and enhance financial stability and economic effectiveness of the rules adopted at the start of the Eurozone on 1 January 1999. The author suggests to consider and adopt additional reforms. Discussed is also the USA experience with its own monetary union, and the potential influence on policy developments in the EU of increasing global competitive pressures from China and India.

The paper proposes a list of five „stylized facts”, regarded as the main trends with respect to the development of the global economy in the 20th c. The author’s main purpose is to answer the question whether, in the light of the contemporary growth theory and demographic forecasts, these trends are likely to continue unchanged also in the 21st c. Taking into account this theory and those forecasts, the paper offers forecasts of the average GDP per capita for both the countries of the Technology Frontier Area (TFA) and the catching-up countries. By these forecasts, the strong divergence trend of the last two centuries will be replaced by a strong convergence trend during the 21st c. Moreover, the global rate of growth of the per capita GDP will continue to be high in the first half of the current century, but strongly declining in the second half.

This paper studies path-breaking economic developments in Poland following the start of the systemic transformation in 1989. Three groups of countries are used for comparative analysis: those economically most advanced, those less developed but striving to catch up during the last 30–40 years, and as a subgroup of the latter, the transition economies. The paper has three objectives. The first is to show that many opinions regarding major aspects of the Polish transformation are at variance with the plain statistical facts. The second is to evaluate the pace and the extent of the progress so far in the effort to narrow the income and wealth gaps between Poland and most developed countries, particularly pre-2004 members of the European Union. The third consists of a discussion of factors which are likely to impede the pace of Poland’s economic development in the years to come.