ABSTRACT

Economic and investment growth in the Polish ‘planned’ economy proceeded in a recurrent cyclical movement caused largely by an interaction between the variation in economic policies, systemic and technical factors (the indivisibility of investment, the time gap between investment outlays and output growth and the ‘echo effect’ of investment cycles). The lower economic turning points of 1955-6, 1970-1 and 1981-2 were accompanied by political crises (violent workers’ protests, changes in political leadership, etc.).