V International Conference

“The ‘New Economy’
and Post—socialist Transition”

Main Sponsor

Sponsors:

The third edition of the international research project coordinated by TIGER economic institute, affiliated at the Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management (WSPiZ), follows into the footsteps of the two previous editions of the “new economy” project, which were held in 2001 (“The ‘New Economy’ and Its Implications For Long-term Growth in Post-socialist Countries”) and in 2002 (“The ‘New Economy’ and the Old Problems. Prospects for Fast Growth in Transition Economies”). Both editions resulted in publications in Polish and in English. Last year’s conference papers were published by the Leon Koźmiński Press in a Polish volume edited by Grzegorz W. Kolodko and Marcin Piatkowski. The English versions of the papers were published in EMERGO – The Journal of Transforming Economies and Societies.

The ‘new economy’ can be defined as a host of new economic phenomena resulting from two concurrent processes: globalization, that is on-going deregulation, integration of the global markets for capital, goods, and labor, and increased competition, and technological revolution based mostly on general-purpose information and communications technologies (ICT), utilization of which changes ways of doing business and thus has an impact on the whole economy. The technological revolution is spurred by a rapid increase in quality and productivity of ICT products and services coupled with their decreasing prices and convergence of information and communications technologies, most visibly embodied in the Internet.

The extraordinary performance of the US economy, marked by a substantial increase in productivity and growth rates coupled with low inflation and unemployment, along with a number of other developed and developing countries in the second part of the 1990’s has been offered as an evidence of this new economic phenomenon.  The “new economy” miracle however did not last. The market bubble burst, a large number of Internet companies collapsed, business cycle is alive and kicking, unemployment increased and share prices nosedived. The economic “nirvana” of the ‘new economy’ did not materialize. The quote marks will be still and always needed.

Nonetheless, the technological progress, which spurred the ‘new economy’, has not been arrested – it will be proceeding at a fast rate now and in the future. Hence, in spite of the lingering pessimism and the fact, that the impact of ICT of economic growth in transition economies has so far been minimal, in the long-term perspective ICT offers a substantial potential for faster economic growth, acceleration in productivity, and an increase in standards of living in transition countries.

The relatively low level of economic development coupled with technological backwardness paradoxically offers a chance for substantial acceleration in growth. Thanks to adoption of ideas, superior technologies, and organizational structures already developed in rich countries, transition countries should be able to ‘leapfrog’ stages of technological development and subsequently considerably increase rates of economic growth. The ‘knowledge-like’, weightless nature of the ‘new economy’, which -- as opposed to traditional factors of production -- can be copied and transferred at negligible costs, can further accelerate the absorption process.

However, how to tap this potential? What are the determinants of the successful adoption of ICT? What are the threats and opportunities? Does ICT indeed represent a chance for faster growth in transition countries? What is the size of this potential? Has the ICT had any impact so far on economic growth of these countries? Can this potential of the new technologies be utilized in spite of the lingering social, economic, infrastructural, institutional, and human capital shortcomings? What are the implications for economic policy?

In this context, the research project will analyze the following five research issues:

1. The Impact of ICT on Economic Growth in Transition Economies;
2. The Role of ICT in Economic Restructuring;
3. Determinants of Absorption of the ‘New Economy’;
4. The Role of the State and International Institutions in the ‘New Economy’;
5. E-government: Challenges, Opportunities, and Prospects.

The project will culminate in the conference held on April 10-11 2003 at the Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management, Warsaw, Poland.

As in the previous editions of the project, the conference will feature distinguished economists representing the OECD, IMF, Berkeley University, UNU/WIDER, London Business School, WSPiZ and other universities. Aside from the participants, the conference will welcome a broad spectrum of scholars, politicians, businessmen, students and mass media. The conference papers will be published in Polish and in English.

CONFERENCE TIMETABLE

Thursday, 10th April

Opening address — Prof. Andrzej K. Koźmiński, Rector of the Leon Koźmiński Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management (Leon Koźmiński Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management).

Special address by Prof. Grzegorz W. Kolodko, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

Addresses by the representatives of the sponsors.

11.00 — 11.30
Coffee break

11.30 — 13.30
1st Session: The Impact of ICT on Economic Growth

Dirk Pilat, Anita Woelfl (OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, France)
ICT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH — NEW EVIDENCE FROM INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS

Jukka Jalava (Helsinki School of Economics, Finland)
THE PRODUCTION AND USE OF ICT IN FINLAND, 1975—2001

Marcin Piatkowski (TIGER—Leon Koźmiński Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management, Poland)
THE CONTRIBUTION OF ICT INVESTMENT TO ECONOMIC GROWTH IN POLAND 1995 — 2000

Teet Rajasalu, Anton Laur (Estonian Institute of Economics, Tallin Technical University, Estonia)
THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE “NEW ECONOMY” TO ESTONIA’S ECONOMIC GROWTH AND CONVERGENCE WITH THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY

Andrea Szalavetz (Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary)
THE TERTIERIZATION OF MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY OR THE ROLE OF ICT IN THE SECOND PHASE OF RESTRUCTURING

Jacek Brdulak, Jakub J. Brdulak (Warsaw School of Economics, Poland)
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE “NEW TRANSPORT” ECONOMY ENTERPRISES IN POLAND

Branko Radulovic (World Bank, Beograd Office, Serbia and Montenegro)
ICT—BASED RESTRUCTURING AS AN ALL—INCLUSIVE APPROACH IN POST—SOCIALIST TRANSITION

Beata Swiecka (Szczecin University, Poland)
THE “NEW ECONOMY” AND TRANSFORMATION OF THE BANKING SECTOR IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES

Discussion

Friday, 11th April

Opening address — Marcin Piatkowski, Research Director, TIGER–Leon Koźmiński Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management, Poland.

Special Address by Prof. Michal Kleiber, Poland’s Minister of Science and Chairman of the State Committee for Scientific Research.

Discussion

10.30 — 11.00
Coffee Break

George R.G. Clarke (Development Research Group, World Bank, Washington D. C., USA)
THE EFFECT OF ENTERPRISE OWNERSHIP AND FOREIGN COMPETITION ON INTERNET DIFFUSION IN THE TRANSITION ECONOMIES

Jos Verbeek (World Bank, Warsaw Office, Poland)
INVESTMENT—ORIENTED REGULATION IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Patrick Muller (London Economics, UK)
INTERNET USE IN TRANSITION COUNTRIES — ECONOMIC AND INSTITUTIONAL DETERMINANTS

Richard Sanders, Chen Yang (Northampton Univestity, UK)
CHINA'S TRANSITION TO THE “NEW ECONOMY”: AN INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH.

Discussion

14.00 — 16.00
4th Session: The “New Economy”: Issues, Constraints, and Prospects

Anna Zorska (Leon Koźmiński Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management and Warsaw School of Economics, Poland)
GLOBALIZATION AND THE “NEW ECONOMY” — EXOGENOUS CONDITIONS FOR ECONOMIC LINKS BETWEEN THE COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Krzysztof Piech (School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, UK)
DIGITALISM AND THE FOURTH SECTOR

Lech W. Zacher (Leon Koźmiński Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management, Poland)
ON THE ROAD TO THE “NEW ECONOMY”: LABELS, PATTERNS, BLUEPRINTS, STRATEGIES AND POLICIES

Dariusz Dziuba (Warsaw University, Poland)
INFORMATION SECTOR IN NEW ECONOMY

Discussion

16.00
Closing