The Author discussed, explored, evaluated and diagnosed the disparities of economic activity on regional level. The study embraced five peripheral regions of Poland, namely five Eastern provinces (voivodships), i.e. Lublin Province, Podlasie Province, Subcarpathia Province, Świętokrzyskie Province and Warmia-Masuria Province. The aforementioned five voivodships were compared to Poland and Poland’s central region, i.e. Masovia Province. The following elements were taken into consideration: employment rate and employment by sectors, unemployment rate, GDP per capita, number of economic entities and number of natural persons conducting economic activity, investment outlays and gross expenditure on R&D activity, as well as net internal and external migration for permanent residence. In order to observe the possible changes over the time the situation in 2005 and 2017 was studied. Additionally, the total value of projects co-financed by the European Union through Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund within 2007–2013 period and 2014–2020 perspective was presented and analyzed. The research tools used in the article included literature studies, critical thinking, descriptive analysis and comparative analysis, in that the selected statistical method of multivariate comparative analysis, i.e. Hellwig’s taxonomic measure of development. Statistical material provided by Central Statistical Office (Warsaw, Poland) and taken from Statistical Yearbooks of the Regions 2006, 2007, 2017 and 2018 was used for the analysis. The obtained results indicate the persistence of huge regional disparities of economic activity, economic potential and socioeconomic development despite the implementation of EU Policy of Social, Economic and Territorial Cohesion. Hence, it was possible to positively verify the research hypotheses: both the first hypothesis assuming that the gap between the studied peripheral regions and the rest of Poland was not reduced and the second hypothesis assuming that the participation in the processes of regional economic integration, and in particular in EU Policy of Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion, had only limited impact on the reduction of disparities between Poland’s regions.
The paper concentrates on the international transfer of capital in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI). A relatively high level of investment attractiveness of an economy is required for the attraction of capital in the form of FDI. Inflow of capital in the form of FDI is perceived as a factor stimulating economic development of the so-called catching up economies, and the Visegrad 4 countries can be viewed as such economies. The crucial objective of the paper is to present investment attractiveness of the Visegrad 4 countries in the light of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / the World Bank reports and EY’s surveys. A parallel objective is to analyse the engagement of the Visegrad 4 countries in international capital transfer in the form of FDI in post-crisis period in order to identify inward and outward FDI flows and stock. The research tools used in the article included literature studies, descriptive analysis and comparative analysis. The undertaken research leads to a conclusion that foreign capital played an important role in the transformation of the V4 economies and their strong integration with the world economy. It contributed to supplementing capital shortages and increasing efficiency. The V4 countries remain net importers of capital in the form of FDI, though the positions of the V4 as investors in the world market have risen slightly over the last decade. It is of vital importance to introduce dynamic and effective actions aiming at promoting the V4 as a location of FDI and to undertake parallel activities directed at stimulating the V4 investment abroad.
Based on sixteen Polish provinces the author discusses, explores, evaluates and diagnoses the regional disparities in development of Poland’s provinces. First, four fields are studied, such as: demographic potential, social development, economic development and technical infrastructure. Next, the author compares sixteen Polish provinces in relation to the level of synthetic measure of socioeconomic development. Research covers the years 2006, 2010 and 2015 and has been conducted using statistical material provided by the Central Statistical Office. The research tools used in the article include literature studies, descriptive analysis and selected methods of multivariate comparative analysis. Multivariate comparative analysis has proved that Mazovia Province is a leader in terms of demographic potential and economic development, while Silesia Province takes the first position in both social development and technical infrastructure. The highest levels of synthetic measure of socioeconomic development have been observed in Mazovia Province and Silesia Province. In addition, the author presents theoretical aspects of socioeconomic development and discusses the relevance of regional policy.