average earnings in Poland reached 23.5 percent of the EU average, while in 2016 it was as much as 34.4 percent. Nevertheless, assuming that the current trends are maintained, in 2023, earnings in Poland will be higher than in Portugal and a year later they will be higher than in Greece. In 2027 they will reach the level of Malta, and in 2030, the level of Spain. In 2053, Poland will reach the average level in the eurozone, if economic trends remain unchanged. And finally, in 2077, earnings in Poland will overtake Germany. The calculations are based on the assumption that salaries will continue to grow at the same pace – 4.53 percent in Poland and 2.65 percent in the EU. One disadvantage of this model is that economists take into consideration average data from the past, while the future remains invariably unknown. To some extent, Poland’s economic pursuit of the West can be compared to the famous paradox of the Greek philosopher Zeno, who described the race of Achilles and the tortoise. Achilles, being the fastest among runners, gives the tortoise a head start and begins the race a few meters behind it. In order to overtake the tortoise, the runner must first reach the place from which the tortoise started. By this time, however, the tortoise will have moved ahead. Achilles will cover this distance again, but the tortoise will be able to move a few centimeters forward at the same time... and so on and so forth. According to that train of thought, Achilles’ pursuit of the tortoise will last forever. Achilles will never catch up with the tortoise, even though he is running two or ten times faster – and there will always be an ever declining distance between them. It is worth noting, however, that Aristotle, to whom we owe the depiction of Zeno’s paradox, formulated it with the intention of disproving it.
is an ideal to which the “Germany Polish economy aspires, on the other hand, in a certain sense, it looks like Poles have a German hang-up
According to economic theory, when fiscalism and state participation in income increase and the free market becomes more limited, economic growth slows down. By that token alone, in order to accelerate the catching-up process, the country would have to consistently focus on economic freedom, and not on building a welfare state. Nonetheless, Joseph Schumpeter, one of the greatest economists of the 20th century, claimed that it is unrealistic, because all countries, as they become rich, abandon some of their economic freedom in favor of greater security and a fairer income distribution, at the cost of lower economic growth. Regardless of whether Poland will catch up with Germany or not, Poles already earn as much as Germans, provided they work in the West. Employers all over the world values professionals, regardless of their nationality. Perhaps this is the work-valuing, meaningful system of thinking that Nisbett wrote about – a system that can convince people from both the East and the West to take a critical look and verify their own beliefs.
QUANTITY OVER QUALITY? Again, chasing German GDP levels does not directly translate into raising the quality of life for Polish citizens. In particular, it can be seen that these differences become smaller when we pay attention to other indicators. For example, according to Better Life Index, Poland is ahead of some of more affluent countries, e.g. South Korea and Portugal, almost catching up with Italy. It is important, because in recent years the government declared that GDP growth is not the most important criterion that the country’s policies will be guided by. And this is visible in the increased social transfers such as the additional 13th pension payment, or the extended 500+ program. The most powerful economies in the world have built their power on the wealth of society, basing their systems on free market solutions with a low share of government expenditure in GDP.
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