It is impossible to talk about the economic credibility of the state in isolation from specific economic actors. It is they who take certain decisions, directly or indirectly assessing the state’s economic credibility, and calculating the related risks (economic, political, regulatory or administrative). At the same time, low or high state credibility has an impact (either direct or indirect) on the conditions of their economic activity. Thus, the economic credibility of the state (ecs) should be considered both subjectively and objectively. These dimensions cannot be separated, especially as some of the economic conditions are determined (set) directly (e.g. tax rates). The majority, however, is the result of many influences, including social perceptions and expectations (e.g. the level of inflation as a consequence of inflation expectations). In general, the state’s economic credibility does not influence economic parameters through factors such as trust, information or knowledge. It can be said that ECS is a kind of public good, which is and must be instrumentalized in order to benefit from it. The point is that the ways of instrumentalizing this good should sustain and produce it rather than destroy it. Examples include the manipulation of statistical data or government propaganda instead of reliable information. Such instrumental exploitation of credibility leads to lowering trust and undermining credibility.

Low economic credibility of the state weakens the long-term and productive orientation of the economy, while it favours the strengthening of short-term, speculative and transactional orientation. This in particular is what should explain the very low level of private and productive investment in the Polish economy in recent years, despite the continued high economic growth rate from 2014-2019.

This session will present the research results of the team developing the index of economic credibility of the state, led by Professor Jerzy Hausner, PhD.