Transformations  in
Business & Economics

INSTITUTIONS IN PROCESSES OF TRANSFORMATION IN POLAND
Ewa Zeman-Miszewska

ABSTRACT. Changes are an inherent element of development. They determine the necessity of constant adjustment of all the institutions that control functioning of societies in all aspects. This usually happens in an evolutionary way. According to adopted constitutional assumptions, in the transforming countries, the changes are of radical that breaks off with formal regulations and numerous informal principles of behaviour that existed before. Formal institutions inherited from the previous system significantly influence the speed of adaptation of the countries to changing external and internal conditions of functioning. A growing interest in the role of institutions in economic processes of the systems in transformation results from: 1. ambiguities as for the reasons for differences between the countries that start with the same initial position (that is difficult to explain in categories of traditional models of growth); 2. differences in economic reforms, processes that accompany them and their consequences. In the transforming countries the awareness of the influence of institutions on economic development is common. However, the institutions are changed in a chaotic and slow way, and they are often politicised. In consequence they do not provide a significant support in development processes. They do not favour levelling the delays in development associated with malfunctions of the previous system.

KEYWORDS: institutions, transformation, market economy, decentralization, Poland.

JEL classification: B22, E02, O43, P2.