As an enthusiast of the Kraków School of Economics, I can't not talk of it with pride, but besides with regret – the pride that Poland has released so pervasive economical thinkers, and the regret that they are inactive besides small known in their own country. This school is more than just an intellectual trend. It is an attitude towards freedom, the state and the man. This proves that economics can be moral and freedom can be effective.
The Kraków School of Economics, operating mainly during the interwar period, was the most consistent typical of the economical liberalism in Poland. Its centre was the Chair of Political Economics of the Jagiellonian University. The most crucial characters are Adam Heydel – a brilliant, uncompromising defender of the free marketplace who died in Auschwitz – and Ferdinand Zweig and my perfect master, endek Prof. Roman Rybarski. Earlier they had been paved by specified classical liberals as Julian Dunajewski or Adam Krzyżanowski. Each had its own perspective, but they shared 1 thing: the belief that the economy works best erstwhile man acts freely.
For Heydla, the marketplace is simply a natural order that arises bottom-up, without coercion, from the human request to exchange. Economics was not a mathematical puzzle for him, it was a discipline of human action. Representatives of the Kraków school rejected statism, central planning and story of the sovereign state. They have seen how easy the state, even with good intentions, suppresses entrepreneurship and destroys responsibility. Heydel emphasized that economical freedom is inseparable from individual freedom – a state that regulates everything, yet regulates consciences.
Julian Dunajewski, although he had lived before, was the foundation of this tradition. He was not only the Minister of Finance of Austro-Hungarian, but besides a student who understood the request to reduce the deficit and budgetary balance. In its view, public finances were not a tool for redistribution but a means of maintaining governance. In turn, the prof. of the Jagiellonian University and the large advocate of classical economics defended thesis that all permanent wealth is based on work, savings and the regulation of law, not on decrees or reforms "from above".
Importantly, the Cracow school was not only theoretical. Her ideas were a consequence to real problems of the Second Republic – hyperinflation, economical crisis, unemployment. They argued that sustainable improvement can only be based on a healthy currency, respect for ownership and limitation of state interference. Their voice was courageous, though unpopular—at a time erstwhile most of the political community turned towards centralism, they followed the rules. Therefore, they were frequently marginalized, even though their analyses were above mainstream approaches at the time.
From today's perspective, you can see how right they were. If their ideas were more widely applied, Poland could avoid many economical errors. Moreover, the thought of the Cracow school naturally corresponds to the later achievements of the Austrian school – Mises, Hayek, Rothbard. Besides, Heydel read Mises before he became an icon of free environments. It is besides worth mentioning that modern ideas of this school are experiencing a Renaissance among young economists, think tanks and free organizations.
One paradox of Polish intellectual life is that specified a mature economical tradition was almost forgotten after the war. The Polish People's Republic cleared all traces of economical liberalism from textbooks, and Heydel, Rybarski or Krzyżanowski were marginalized at best. After 1989, marketplace reforms returned, but neither intellectual continuity nor deeper reflection on the heritage of specified characters were restored. It was only late that their works began to be published and their achievements restored.
Today we see not only an increase in interest in the ideas of freedom, but besides a greater knowing of the request for them to be rooted in national traditions. The Cracow School of Economics is not just a curiosity from the interwar. It is an inspiration for today's debates on inflation, public debt, deregulation or the function of the state. This is besides an alternate to superficial, media analyses, which frequently ignore deeper mechanisms governing the economy.
In a planet where the temptation of "fast solutions" is becoming easier and where politicians are eager to go to populist measures, we request to return to reasoning in terms of causes and effects – not just in terms of the effects of polls. Heydel and his students teach humility to the economy. They remind us that economics is not magic – it is logic, choices and responsibility.
Why is this crucial to me? due to the fact that it shows that Polish economical thought does not request to be imported. We have our own classics who understood marketplace mechanisms better than many Western authors. The Cracow School of Economics is simply a manifestation of freedom, work and respect for reason. It's a brave, independent, hard thought – but it's the real thing.
Whoever seeks not only numbers but besides rules in economics should learn about this school. Not for nostalgia, but for the future – especially in a planet where freedom needs defence again.
Arthur Szczepek
