Stosunek polskich ekonomistów liberalnych okresu międzywojennego do interwencjonizmu państwowego

Abstract

In the inter-war period the traditions of the liberal economy were dominating in the Polish bourgeois economic thought. However, the Polish liberal concepts were considerably differentiated. This differentiation was directly expressed in postulates concerning the scope of the state intervention in the economic life. Adam Krzyżanowski and Adam Heydel voice their views conforming to the spirit of the 19th century liberalism that any state intervention distorts the market parameters providing a basis for allocation decisions, and consequently leads to disturbances in the free-competition mechanism, which ensures maximum profit and social welfare. Władysław Zawadzki and Edward Taylor, adherents of moderate liberalism, taking into account the monopolization process and perceiving complexity of economic processes, admit simultaneously the necessity of restricting the economic freedom and expanding the state intervention. On the other hand, Ferdynand Zweig's concept is of a pronounced neo-liberal character. Zweig represents a trend in liberalism often referred to as social or democratic liberalism and postulates quite radical social reforms admitting a considerable scope of the interventionist policy.