The paper analyzes the changing public-private dynamics in higher education in Poland in 1990-2016 and beyond, focusing on the processes of internal and external de-privatization of the system. De-privatization of higher education – viewed also as its republicization – is caused by declining demographics and may lead to the demise of the largely demand-absorbing private higher education. Poland is shown as moving against the two powerful global trends related to privatization: private sector growth and increasing reliance on cost-sharing. Data related to funding and provision in 1990-2005 (expansion) and 2006 and beyond (contraction) are analyzed in detail, and policy implications of ongoing and expected changes are discussed.

The public character of school has recently been called into question more often. I examine the question given in the title in terms of three different aspects (juridical, institutional and performative), each of which is linked with a number of disturbing transformations of public schools (privatization of that which is public, re-feudalization, and commodification of education). By virtue of such an analysis and with reference to research on the essence of what is public, I make an attempt to formulate the key meanings of the public character of school.

The study attempts to link the descriptive economics with the
theoretical model of permanent income and life cycle hypothesis (PILCH)
to shed some light on a low private savings rate for Polish households.
These may be explained by the households' belief that the public pension
are a collateral to borrow against, which could discourage the buffer
stock effect. The study comprises two research fields: 1) the estimation
of so called augmented wealth, and, 2) the marginal propensity to
consume (MPC) out of different types of wealth with the permanent income
model. The mean augmented wealth (i.e. net wealth plus public pension
wealth) per household in PLN amounted to 705 thousands, consisting of
public pension wealth of 388 thousands and net wealth of 415 thousands.
The model perfectly matches the augmented wealth Lorenz curve. The
average MPC out of all types of wealth reaches 10% on average, ranging
6-20%, with a negative MPC to wealth correlation, and 60% of
hand-to-mouth households. The explanation for this perfect match may
stem from a high wage growth (also public pension contributions wedge)
that that builds the public pension wealth. The Ricardian-type
households may then mentally account the future pensions as a collateral
(fiduciary money) for current high MPC, which may implicate crowding out
their propensity to save for retirement privately.

Present study examines nonfinancial support granted for older people in Poland and other European countries in order to understand the relationships between family structures and that support and to diagnose the challenges that the Polish population may face in this respect in the nearest future. The analysis is based on the data from the Survey on Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The study attempts also to answer the question about the need for informal support in future generations of older Poles. The study is focused on the population of individuals aged at least 50+, because they will decide about the situation of older people in the near future. The author considers, in addition to personal care, help in running a household and help with paper work. The most frequently received type of support is the help in running a household, received primarily from neighbors and family members, which reduces the need for institutional care. Personal care is provided to the minority of the examined population, even in the highest age group, and, apart from household members, it concerns usually biological children.

This is the first insight into effect of development of nonpublic and paid schools on social stratification in Poland. Logistic and multinomial regression of the Polish general Social Survey data 1998 is conducted to test hypotheses concerning effect of the fathers’s EGP category on access to various types of schools in secondary and tertiary education. Results confirm the hypotheses that respondents from intelligentsia families are overrepresented in both secondary and tertiary paid schools and have greater odds of entry in to public tertiary education in comparison to lower non-manual categories, owners, working class and peasants. Children of intelligentsia also have more opportunities to attend “better” stationary (than non-stationary) schools in comparison to other categories. This analysis provides support for the thesis about growing role of qualitative differentiation in education.

In this study we investigate why bequests are left using a life course approach. Planned post mortem wealth transfers to children are linked with inter vivos transfers and inheritances left by the parents of the plan-makers. Individual decisions concerning wealth accumulation and bequeathing can be understood better if adjacent generations are taken into account. Moreover, particular events from an individual life history (widowhood, divorce, disease, and others) affect bequest decisions. A life course perspective proved fruitful in better understanding bequest behavior.

The implementation of public-private partnerships has become one of the effective models of cooperation between the public and private sectors in the development of infrastructure in Vietnam. This model has been adopted in Vietnam for many years and is intended to help governments build infrastructure and provide an opportunity to reduce government debt profiles. This study aims to identify the most critical factors that could determine the success of these projects. A questionnaire was conducted based on the participants’ experience in the implementation of public-private partnerships projects and a total of 216 respondents were received. A regression analysis shows that six critical success factors, including factors relevant to public sector, factors relevant to private sector, factors relevant to selected process partnerships, factors relevant to risk management systems, factors relevant to project information, and factors relevant to natural environment. The findings indicated that the most effective development projects could be carried out via PPPs if the government could focus on these important factors in the implementation process. The results will influence political development towards PPP and guide partners in developing public-private partnerships projects.

The author outlines a basic framework for anarcho-capitalism, a stateless social order in which safety, law and adjudication of disputes are provided by private companies (private defense agencies) competing with each other in the free market. In the course of presentation, three fundamental problems of anarcho-capitalism are addressed. (1) Is a peaceful cooperation among agencies possible? (2) Would agencies respect the rights of their customers? (3) How would the law look like in an anarcho-capitalist society? The last problem is especially vexing, since anarcho-capitalists seem to be caught up in a contradiction here. On one hand they are proponents of a specific moral theory (based on non-aggression principle), on the other hand they do not allow for any central, monopolistic agency to impose that moral theory on society. Is it possible for the law in the anarcho-capitalist society to be simultaneously produced by competing agents and remain libertarian at the same time?

Stanisław Hebanowski (1912–1983) was a well-known theatre director and translator of plays. At the age of 57 years, he moved to Gdansk, which marked the beginning of his most prolific artistic creativity and the period of some of his greatest achievements in the Polish theatre. Hebanowski’s collection of books, which, in the representative part of 4,000 volumes, made its way to the Gdansk Library, reflects its owner’s broad, not only theatrical, interests. Almost all the books are signed and provided with ordering numbers and letter markings indicating their belonging to a particular section – according to the author’s language or the topic of a given item. The provenance of the books is indicated by markings and annotations of their previous owners: apart from gifts and items purchased in second hand and ordinary bookshops in Gdansk, Krakow, Lwow, Poznan and Warsaw, the collection also includes books originating from theatres in Gdansk, Lodz and Poznan, and school libraries in Krakow and Tarnogora, university libraries from Krakow and Poznan, monastery libraries from Kolomyia and Stanislawow, and a public library in Rzeszow, along with ones previously belonging to various individuals. Some of the books from Hebanowski’s library – printed texts of theatre plays – include numerous annotations made by their owner – testimonies to the director’s preparation for the staging of the appropriate drama.

The display of affection in romantic relationships and its concomitants still require more scientific attention. Despite some studies addressing the topic of affection display, the literature does not provide a psychometrically reliable self-descriptive tool to measure this construct. Therefore, we conducted three studies among Polish adults to develop and validate a psychological tool for comprehensively identifying and measuring the display of emotional affection. Study 1 ( N = 894) aimed to develop and validate the Public and Private Romantic Display of Affection Scale (PPRDAS). It proved to be a valid psychological scale, as the theoretically assumed structure was supported by the results of the empirical analysis. Study 2 ( N = 343) confirmed the convergence validity of the PPRDAS using items of emotional expression from the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1989). In Study 3 ( N = 204 couples), we further verified the external validity of the PPRDAS using an assessment of affection displayed by one's partner in the relationship. Individuals’ self-estimates of their private and public displays of affection were confirmed by their romantic partners. In all studies, display of feelings was positively correlated with sexual and relationship satisfaction. Negative correlations with age and the duration of the romantic relationship were also observed.

The Polish Government’s proposal, submitted in autumn 2017, for a comprehensive reprivatisation bill revived the international discussion on the scope of Polish authorities’ obligations to return property taken during World War II and subsequently by the communist regime. However, many inaccurate and incorrect statements are cited in the discussions, e.g. the argument that the duty of the Polish authorities to carry out restitution is embedded in the European Convention on Human Rights and its Protocol No. 1. This article challenges that claim and analyses the jurisprudence of the Convention’s judicial oversight bodies in cases raising issues of restitution of property taken over in Poland before the accession to both of the above-mentioned international agreements. In the article I argue that there is no legal basis for claiming that there exists a legal obligation upon the Polish State stemming directly from international law – in particular human rights law – to return the property and that the only possibly successful legal claims in this regard are those that can already be derived from the provisions of the Polish law applicable to these kinds of cases. In its latest rulings, issued in 2017–2019, the European Court of Human Rights determined the scope of responsibility incumbent on Polish authorities in this respect.

This is a presentation of letters regarding Maria Konopnicka from the Maria Dulębianka Papers held at the Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv. After Maria Konopnicka's death in 1910 Dulębianka kept in touch with the poet's youngest sister Celina Świrska and her daughter Laura Pytlińska. Apart from tracing letters and notes written by Konopnicka's close relatives, the author of this presentation has gone through the letters of a wide circle of Maria Dulębianka's friends and acquaintances, among them Jan Baudoin de Courtenay, Stanisław Karol Lineburg (social activist from Suwałki) and Paulina Kuczalska-Reinschmitt (women's rights activist). Their correspondence gives a better insight into various facets of Dulębianka's life, her relations with Maria Konopnicka and the poet's close relatives. Some letters and notes contain information about behind-the-scenes arrangements to dispose of Konopnicka's country home at Żarnowiec and Dulębianka's collection of paintings (including her portraits of Maria Konopnicka).

Gottfried Schwartz (1716–1777), a Mayor of Gdansk, was a wealthy manufacturer of silver wire, interested in art and science. He gathered precious collections of paintings and scientific instruments. He also collected objects made from porcelain, ivory and bronze and owned one of the most substantial collections of numismatic items in the city. In his testament drawn up in 1776, Schwartz bequeathed to Academic Gymnasium of Gdansk and the Library of the City Council of Gdansk both his numismatic collection, consisting of 3000 coins and medals, and his numismatic book collection including 110 items. The catalogue of this book collection, which is currently kept by Gdansk Library, is reconstructed in this paper. Schwartz’s numismatic books were thematically connected with the contents of the owner’s numismatic collection – the interrelation between the book items and the coin and medal holdings is clearly noticeable. On the basis of information on the contents of the lost collection we may presume that each type of numismatic items corresponded to some studies from the book collection.