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W kontekście rosnącego wykorzystania Specjalnych Stref Ekonomicznych w Polsce, które niesie za sobą koszty dla sektora finansów publicznych, istotne jest pytanie o efektywność tego narzędzia polityki gospodarczej. Dotychczasowe badania empiryczne nie udzielają odpowiedzi na to pytanie. Niniejszy artykuł ma na celu uzupełnienie tej luki i przeprowadzenie analizy wpływu SSE na wyniki gospodarcze powiatów w oparciu o unikatowy zbiór danych dotyczący działających działalności poszczególnych firm funkcjonujących w SSE w latach 20032012. Przeprowadzona analiza empiryczna wskazuje na pozytywny wpływ SSE na aktywność ekonomiczną powiatów. Wyniki analizy difference-in-difference sugerują, że działanie SSE mogło przyczyniać się do poprawy warunków gospodarczych powiatów, w których funkcjonowały. Równocześnie analiza statystyk opisowych sugeruje, że wpływ funkcjonowania SSE na sytuację gospodarczą powiatów nie jest liniowy. Na pozytywny wpływ SSE wskazują również wyniki estymacji modeli panelowych: zatrudnienie i kapitał ulokowany w SSE przyczynia się do bardziej niż proporcjonalnego wzrostu liczby pracujących i środków trwałych w powiecie. In the context of increasing reliance on Special Economic Zones (SSE) in Poland the question of the efficiency of SSEs’ operations becomes vital, especially considering the costs of their functioning. This study evaluates the efficiency of SSE as a regional policy tool in Poland with the use of unique, firm-level dataset. The empirical analysis – based both on difference-indifference analysis as well as panel data models points to positive impact of SSE on employment and capital in hosting poviats. Praca została sfinansowana przez Narodowe Centrum Nauki w ramach grantu DEC-2013/11/B/HS4/02124.

We contribute to the new, albeit fast-growing empirical literature on the determinants of trust in central banks. Like in most other studies we use panel data models based on the Eurobarometer survey on trust in the European Central Bank. Firstly, we confirm the main conclusion from previous studies that the trust in the ECB has suffered from the crisis’ outburst. Moreover, households perceive the ECB’s responsibility for the occurrence of the crisis to go beyond the responsibility of other institutions. This finding casts some doubt on the central bank’s ability to manage expectations in a country having been hit by a severe negative demand shock, while this ability is precondition of the central banks’ power to boost aggregate demand when its interest rates are at the zero lower bound. Secondly (and most importantly), in addition to previous studies, we examine the links between the trust in the ECB and its policy. Our main result is that when households have pessimistic expectations, aggressive cuts in interest rates have an adverse effect on their trust in central bank. This result is in accordance with the ‘lack-of-confidence shock’ hypothesis developed by Schmitt-Grohé and Uribe (2012) and go against the ‘fundamental shock’ hypothesis which would imply positive effects of aggressive cuts for trust in the ECB. These findings are robust to changes in the estimation method, the definition of the lack of confidence shock, control variables and countries under consideration. We also show that it cannot be easily rejected as spurious

We identify fiscal impulses in the EU New Member States using four different methods and apply econometric panel data techniques to determine what is the response of output and its components to those impulses. We also directly test the effects of fiscal impulses on labor costs and households’ expectations. The results confirm that the composition of impulses matters for output and its components response. Notably we find evidence that investment and export growth accelerates after fiscal adjustment and decelerates after fiscal stimulus when the impulses are expenditure based. In turn, private consumption seems not to respond to fiscal impulses regardless of their size. The analysis confirms that expenditure based fiscal adjustments enhance wage moderation and thereby competitiveness of domestic enterprises, while expenditure-based fiscal stimuli weaken it. By contrast, we do not find evidence that fiscal impulses have an effect on households’ confidence.

Celem niniejszego artykułu jest podsumowanie najnowszych wyników badań analizujących rolę systemu podatkowego w kolejnych fazach kryzysu zapoczątkowanego w 2008 r. Przeprowadzona w opracowaniu analiza wskazuje, że jego rola ulegała istotnym zmianom: 1) przed wybuchem kryzysu stwarzał bodźce do takich zachowań podmiotów gospodarczych, które przyczyniały się do narastania nierównowagi leżącej u podstaw kryzysu; 2) po jego wybuchu wzrosło znaczenie stabilizacyjne systemu podatkowego: zarówno w obszarze oddziaływania tak zwanych automatycznych stabilizatorów, jak i dyskrecjonalnych zmian obciążeń podatkowych; 3) obecnie zmiany systemu podatkowego zmierzają w kierunku wsparcia procesu konsolidacji fiskalnej oczekiwanej w najbliższych latach w wielu gospodarkach rozwiniętych i w części krajów rozwijających się. The aim of this paper is to sum up the most recent results of a survey carried out to analyse the role which the system of taxation played in subsequent phases of the financial crisis that started in 2008. As can be seen from the obtained data that role has been substantially changing: (1) prior to the crisis the tax incentives that the system made available to business entities gave rise to even greater economic imbalance which later became one of the elements that laid the basis for the crisis; (2) when the crisis started, the stabilisation role of the taxation system prevailed and operated through the working of so called automatic stabilisers as well as through discretionary changes of tax burdens; and (3) currently, the taxation system is being modified to support the process of fiscal consolidation expected to be implemented in the coming years in the economies of developed and some developing countries.

Theoretical models point at various channels of the impact of inflation on corporate investment. This article attempts to answer the question what are the direction and strength of this possible impact examining the relationship between corporate investment and inflation on the sample of 21 OECD countries in the years 1960-2005. The obtained negative relationship, statistically and economically significant, proves robust to changes in the specification of the estimated equation, estimators, frequency of variables used in the study and analysed period. Moreover, the results obtained suggest nonlinear character of this relationship: marginal effect on corporate investment is higher at inflation rates between 3 and 5.5 per cent. These results suggest that the impact of inflation on corporate investment dynamics may be the source of nonlinear nature of the relationship between GDP growth and inflation identified in previous empirical studies. Finally, taking into account the direct impact of inflation on investment, variables approximating the cost of capital utilisation prove to be statistically insignificant determinants of corporate investment.

There is growing evidence that fiscal consolidation may contribute to economic growth even in the short term. In this paper we review recent research on such non-Keynesian fiscal policy effects and apply panel data econometric techniques to examine the consequences of fiscal consolidation in the EU New Member States. We extend the analysis to test potential channels through which non-Keynesian effects may operate. The results confirm that composition of the consolidation determines the output response. Moreover, we find evidence that all types of fiscal consolidations stimulate private investments, while export acceleration is observed only when consolidations involve mostly expenditure curtailment. Private consumption reaction to fiscal policy shows signs of nonlinearity - in the case of minor adjustments Keynesian effects dominate, but they are cancelled out when sizable consolidations are considered.

Theoretical models point at various channels of the impact of inflation on corporate investment. This article attempts to answer the question what are the direction and strength of this possible impact examining the relationship between corporate investment and inflation on the sample of 21 OECD countries in the years 1960-2005. The obtained negative relationship, statistically and economically significant, proves robust to changes in the specification of the estimated equation, estimators, frequency of variables used in the study and analysed period. Moreover, the results obtained suggest nonlinear character of this relationship: marginal effect on corporate investment is higher at inflation rates between 3 and 5.5 per cent. These results suggest that the impact of inflation on corporate investment dynamics may be the source of nonlinear nature of the relationship between GDP growth and inflation identified in previous empirical studies. Finally, taking into account the direct impact of inflation on investment, variables approximating the cost of capital utilisation prove to be statistically insignificant determinants of corporate investment.

The paper aims to present directions for the growth‑enhancing reconstruction of the tax system in Poland. It presents a diagnosis of the main strengths and weaknesses of that system. Based on this diagnosis and a review of the literature, the authors propose a package of recommendations whose introduction would be conducive to economic growth. The recommendations include: shifting the burden of taxation from income, in particular low labour income, to consumption; exempting low earners from a part of social security contributions; the introduction of the possibility for local governments to increase the PIT-free allowance above the centrally set base amount; the unification of the basis for the PIT, National Health Fund and Social Insurance Institution contributions; the elimination of differences in contributions for different types of contracts on the basis of which work is performed; the extension of one‑off amortisation to all machine investments; and the elimination of sectoral taxes. Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie kierunków przebudowy systemu podatkowego w Polsce, która wzmacniałaby wzrost gospodarczy. Opracowanie zawiera diagnozę głównych silnych stron i słabości tego systemu. Na podstawie tej diagnozy oraz przeglądu literatury autorzy proponują rekomendacje, których uwzględnienie przy przebudowie podatków sprzyjałoby wzrostowi gospodarczemu. Obejmują one: przesunięcie ciężaru opodatkowania z dochodów, zwłaszcza z nisko płatnej pracy, na konsumpcję; objęcie części składek na ubezpieczenie społeczne kwotą wolną; umożliwienie samorządom podwyższenia kwoty wolnej od podatku PIT powyżej centralnie ustalonej kwoty bazowej; ujednolicenie podstawy wymiaru podatku PIT, składek NFZ i ZUS; usunięcie różnic w oskładkowaniu różnych typów umów, na podstawie których jest wykonywana praca; rozszerzenie możliwości jednorazowej amortyzacji na wszystkie inwestycje maszynowe; eliminację podatków sektorowych.