IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/u5qbd_v1.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Political connections and the super-rich in Poland

Author

Listed:
  • Sałach, Katarzyna
  • Brzezinski, Michal

Abstract

We use newly collected original panel data on the super-wealthy individuals in Poland (observed over 2002-2018) to study the impact of the rich’s political connections on their wealth level, mobility among the rich and the risk of dropping off the rich list. The multimillionaires are classified as politically connected if we find reliable news stories linking their wealth to political contacts or questionable licenses, or if a person was formerly an informant of communist Security Service or member of the communist party, or when the origins of wealth are connected to the privatization process. We find that political connections are not associated with the wealth level of Polish multimillionaires, but that they are linked to the 20-30% lower probability of upward mobility in the ranking of the rich. Moreover, being a former member of the communist party or secret police informant increases the risk of dropping off the Polish rich list by 79%. Taken together, our results show that, contrary to some other post-socialist countries such as Russia or Ukraine, there is little evidence that the Polish economy suffers from crony capitalism.

Suggested Citation

  • Sałach, Katarzyna & Brzezinski, Michal, 2020. "Political connections and the super-rich in Poland," SocArXiv u5qbd_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:u5qbd_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/u5qbd_v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/5ef4bc1902d64d003e6c3666/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/u5qbd_v1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anders Klevmarken, & Joseph P. Lupton & Frank P. Stafford, 2003. "Wealth Dynamics in the 1980s and 1990s: Sweden and the United States," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(2).
    2. Klass, Oren S. & Biham, Ofer & Levy, Moshe & Malcai, Ofer & Solomon, Sorin, 2006. "The Forbes 400 and the Pareto wealth distribution," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 290-295, February.
    3. Fidrmuc, Jarko & Gundacker, Lidwina, 2017. "Income inequality and oligarchs in Russian regions: A note," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 196-207.
    4. Stefan Bach & Andreas Thiemann & Aline Zucco, 2019. "Looking for the missing rich: tracing the top tail of the wealth distribution," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(6), pages 1234-1258, December.
    5. Philip Vermeulen, 2016. "Estimating the Top Tail of the Wealth Distribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 646-650, May.
    6. Sergei Guriev & Andrei Rachinsky, 2005. "The Role of Oligarchs in Russian Capitalism," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 131-150, Winter.
    7. Caroline Freund & Sarah Oliver, 2016. "Rich People Poor Countries: The Rise of Emerging-Market Tycoons and their Mega Firms," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 7038, April.
    8. Iain Hay & Jonathan V. Beaverstock (ed.), 2016. "Handbook on Wealth and the Super-Rich," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15737, March.
    9. Natalia Lamberova & Konstantin Sonin, 2018. "Economic transition and the rise of alternative institutions : Political connections in Putin's Russia," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 26(4), pages 615-648, October.
    10. Karla Hoff & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2004. "After the Big Bang? Obstacles to the Emergence of the Rule of Law in Post-Communist Societies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 753-763, June.
    11. Candau, Fabien & Gbandi, Tchapo, 2019. "Trade and institutions: explaining urban giants," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(6), pages 1017-1035, December.
    12. Serguey Braguinsky, 2009. "Postcommunist Oligarchs in Russia: Quantitative Analysis," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(2), pages 307-349, May.
    13. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1cu21pio6c90g9i5oedr5hnaa3 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Bagchi, Sutirtha & Svejnar, Jan, 2015. "Does wealth inequality matter for growth? The effect of billionaire wealth, income distribution, and poverty," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 505-530.
    15. Powdthavee, Nattavudh & Burkhauser, Richard V. & De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel, 2017. "Top incomes and human well-being: Evidence from the Gallup World Poll," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 246-257.
    16. John J. Siegfried & David K. Round, 1994. "How Did The Wealthiest Australians Get So Rich?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 40(2), pages 191-204, June.
    17. Tomson Ogwang, 2011. "Power laws in top wealth distributions: evidence from Canada," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 473-486, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sałach, Katarzyna & Brzeziński, Michał, 2022. "Political connections and the super-rich in Poland," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(4).
    2. Caroline Freund & Sarah Oliver, 2016. "The Origins of the Superrich: The Billionaire Characteristics Database," Working Paper Series WP16-1, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    3. Marandici, Ion, 2024. "Oligarchs, Political Ties and Nomenklatura Capitalism: Introducing a New Dataset," MPRA Paper 120709, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Daniel Treisman, 2016. "Russia's Billionaires," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 236-241, May.
    5. Arun Advani & George Bangham & Jack Leslie, 2021. "The UK's wealth distribution and characteristics of high‐wealth households," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 397-430, September.
    6. Sofie R. Waltl & Robin Chakraborty, 2022. "Missing the wealthy in the HFCS: micro problems with macro implications," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(1), pages 169-203, March.
    7. Michał Brzeziński & Katarzyna Sałach & Marcin Wroński, 2020. "Wealth inequality in Central and Eastern Europe: Evidence from household survey and rich lists’ data combined," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 637-660, October.
    8. Alexander Krenek & Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger, 2018. "A European Net Wealth Tax," WIFO Working Papers 561, WIFO.
    9. Aloys Prinz, 2016. "Do capitalistic institutions breed billionaires?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1319-1332, December.
    10. Michal Brzezinski & Katarzyna Sałach & Marcin Wroński, 2019. "Wealth inequality in Central and Eastern Europe: evidence from joined household survey and rich lists’ data," Working Papers 2019-09, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    11. Olivier Blanchard & Michael Kremer, 1997. "Disorganization," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1091-1126.
    12. Suman Banerjee & Saul Estrin & Sarmistha Pal, 2022. "Corporate disclosure, compliance and consequences: evidence from Russia," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(17), pages 1770-1802, November.
    13. Yannic Rehm & Lucas Chancel, 2022. "Measuring the Carbon Content of Wealth Evidence from France and Germany," PSE Working Papers halshs-03828939, HAL.
    14. Theine, Hendrik, 2019. "The media coverage of wealth and inheritance taxation in Germany," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 290, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    15. Goriaev, Alexei & Zabotkin, Alexei, 2006. "Risks of investing in the Russian stock market: Lessons of the first decade," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 380-397, December.
    16. Philip Vermeulen, 2018. "How Fat is the Top Tail of the Wealth Distribution?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(2), pages 357-387, June.
    17. Grégoire Rota-Graziosi & Islam Asif & Rabah Arezki, 2021. "Taming Private Leviathans : Regulation versus Taxation," Working Papers hal-03129746, HAL.
    18. Alexander Krenek & Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger & Klaus Grünberger & Andreas Thiemann, 2021. "INTAXMOD – Inheritance and Gift Taxation in the Context of Ageing," WIFO Working Papers 645, WIFO.
    19. Fidrmuc, Jarko & Gundacker, Lidwina, 2017. "Income inequality and oligarchs in Russian regions: A note," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 196-207.
    20. Krenek Alexander & Schratzenstaller Margit, 2022. "A Harmonized Net Wealth Tax in the European Union," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 242(5-6), pages 629-668, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:u5qbd_v1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.