Piotr WALĄG
University of Agriculture in Krakow, Poland
Nominal convergence, which was set as a condition for new EU member states wishing to join the single currency (Euro) area, was also intended to strengthen and accelerate the equalisation of economic structures between member states. The structure of the economy, as it determines the average productivity achieved in a given economy, determines the level of international competitiveness of the production of each country. Catching up by the developing economies of highly developed countries is understood as equalizing their structures – equalling the level of development of the structure of advanced economies by catching up countries. Hence it is assumed that the level of economic development of a country is determined by changes in the structure of the economy. The structure of the economy as such is formed by 3 typical sectors: agriculture, industry and services.
The aim of this paper is to examine whether and to what extent, and in what direction, nominal convergence determined the processes of change in the structure of the Polish economy in 1995-2019, and at the same time whether and how this influenced the convergence of its economic structure with the structures of the economies of highly developed countries.
It is also hypothesised that the introduction of nominal convergence in the case of differences in the level of development between the economies of countries undergoing economic liberalisation leads to a deformation of the structure of employment, and the loss of a large part of the labour force.
To achieve the objective and to verify the hypothesis, a statistical analysis of factors prevailing in changes in the structure of the economy as such was applied, from the point of view of changes in the volume and pace of demand and the level of employment in sectors and sections of the Polish economy. Multivariate econometric analysis was used to identify factors and mechanisms (forces) driving (induced) nominal convergence.