ABSTRACT
This chapter examines macroeconomic picture of Polish-Ukrainian relations, to provide a picture of the broad context in which business ties between the two states are operating, but most importantly to underline the strategic importance of economic ties for the borderlands. The import of Ukrainian students for education in Poland at the expense of the Polish taxpayer is a generous and long-standing policy, and a good example of a government policy aimed at influencing informed public opinion in the longer term. The chapter suggests that the general Ukrainian admiration for Poland is rooted almost exclusively in its greater prosperity, and its relatively more ordered society, in which the rule of law appears to be enforced with greater vigour. Tourism is having a generally positive effect on Polish perceptions of Ukraine, precisely because it tends to break down the stereotypes that focus group participants themselves judged as harmful.
