COMMENTS ON DZIEWONSKI AND WROBEL

Abstract

I t gives me a great pleasure to discuss the papers of the two dist inguished Polish scientists, Professor Kazimierz Dziewonski and Dr. Andrzej Wrobel, on the fundamental concepts of region and regional s t ructure , a subject of mutual in teres t to geographers and regional scientists. Before discussing the main ideas presented in the two papers under discussion, I would like to comment briefly on the Polish post-war experience in the field of regional development and policy which is presented in the first pa r t of Professor Dziewonski 's paper. National experiences in regional developmen t are of special interest , since one of the most pressing problems which modern nations have to face today, i r respect ive of their political and institutional set-up, is to narrow down exist ing regional dispari t ies in income levels and production opportunities. In Poland, as in the case of the other central ly planned economies, the Sta te by v i r tue of i ts control on the use of pract ical ly all investible funds has a grea t power to influence the relat ive ra tes of increase in productive and employment capaci ty of different regions of the country. The post-war Polish longterm plans and par t icular ly the Six-Year Plan 1950-55, reflect a concrete policy to locate new industrial plants in a way leading to a more even dist r ibut ion by regions of industrial act ivi ty. According to Professor Dziewonski, however, the doctrine of equalization among the regions reflected in the first longterm plan had soon to be res t r ic ted in its application since it was recognized tha t the potential i ty for economic growth is not the same in all par ts of the count ry as natural resources are not evenly distr ibuted. Polish planners soon faced the di lemma whether to give preference to the national goal of achieving the most efficient use of the nat ion 's available resources or to regional goals of equalizing the levels of income and production among regions. The recognition of the fact that social costs of production are heavily dependent on the avantages of organization and urban location, joint location and size of operations, gradual ly led to the location of a large number of new industrial p lants-or ig inal ly earmarked for erection in the poorer regions-in a l ready industrialized districts. The problem of speeding up economic development in the poorer areas received new emphasis since 1955 when economic policy became more decentralized. As Professor Dziewonski points out, new natural resources were discovered in some of the poorer par ts of Poland and their exploitation benefited the country as a whole. A serious problem remains, however, in the case of regions which are par t icular ly poor in natural resources and other economic advantages . Here Professor Dziewonski raises questions which are, so to speak, of international