Economy

The work and ideas of the Polish astronomer, mathematician, and economist Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) are worth studying, not only for those who still believe that the Earth is flat but also for anyone interested in intellectual revolutions. Among his achievements is the identification of the real causes of inflation, which has been no less of an intellectual revolution. Copernicus challenged the prevailing idea that our planet was the center of the universe.

Who should be taxed, how should they be taxed and what purpose should it serve? These questions are as old as the world. To help answer them, in his 1776 work \"The Wealth of Nations\" the Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith formulated four principles of taxation. According to him, taxes should be proportional to the benefits that a person derives from belonging to society.

July 3 marked an important stage in implementing the EU’s new big tech regulations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The European Commission started thresholds checks for large internet platforms that are considered to have a strong economic position and a large user base to impact the internal market. 

Currently, Europe is focusing on other issues, particularly environmental protection and the fight against climate change. To this end, a broad investment strategy has been developed, which is detailed in the Green Deal and other related plans. A key component of these strategies is the energy sector, where the European Union has set ambitious targets for transitioning away from coal-fired energy sources and promoting the use of renewable sources.

In 2022, public expenditure per capita amounted to almost 36,000 PLN, and per one working person - 79,381 PLN. All public spending is financed either by taxes we pay or by government-issued debt (which means higher taxes in the future). Many people, demanding the implementation of further social programs by the state, do not realize that it is associated with higher taxation of the people (now or in the future).

The International Monetary Fund\'s mission carried out an assessment in Warsaw on 14-24 March under Art. IV of the of the IMF Articles of Agreement. The mission pointed to the most important problems of the Polish economy and presented related recommendations. The Fund\'s delegation pointed out that the most important challenge is to bring inflation down to the target (which upper band of deviations is 3.5%). Therefore, it becomes necessary to tighten fiscal policy this year.

Mateusz Morawiecki, during the recent press conference \"Stable public finances in unstable times\", bragged that under the rule of PiS’ government \"the [public] debt in relation to GDP will fall\" and it will be the case \"despite gigantic expenses during the pandemic, despite huge expenses on the anti-inflation shield.\" He stressed that \"there are no catches here, there are no special operations.\"

The ongoing election campaign has become an opportunity for political parties to present populist solutions to problems that are not always real. One theme are the seemingly high mortgage rates. In reality, however, rates are much lower than the current and projected increase in prices and wages, which means that the burden on debtors would decrease even if they would not pay their instalments and the interest would increase their debt.

We are slowly but surely approaching the mark of a year and a half since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. During this time the necessity to track direct and indirect damage caused by it has become both a priority and an enormous challenge for numerous Ukrainian and international organizations. One thing is already clear - we will be doing the math long after the war is over.

You might be familiar with a popular phrase often used jokingly «The patient is more dead than alive». However, when used as an economic diagnosis for Ukraine, it is no laughing matter. Today\'s destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) is making an already very tough situation a lot worse for a number of reasons.