Migrationen und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung der polnischen Gebiete

Abstract

Migration and economic development in the Polish territories

Abstract

The article presents the role of migration for the economic development in the Polish territories located in the developmental periphery of Europe from the medieval ages to the present. In the preindustrial period, people mainly moved from the territories in the centre (Wes- tern Europe) in the direction of the sparsely populated and poorly developed peripheries. In the case of the Polish territories, this immigration became an essential mechanism for the transfer of technical and institutional improvements which then contributed to its economic development. In the ages of industrialisation and – despite some disruptions – progressive globalisation since the second half of the 19th century, the migratory flows changed their direction. People from the sparsely po-pulated peripheries moved to the higher developed centre (to Wes-tern Europe and the USA), a process that continues to the present day. These migration flows lift pressure from the limited resources in the peripheries, but cause brain drain at the same time. Yet, even in the age of industrialisation, entrepreneurs and specialists continued and still continue to migrate from the centre to the peripheries, searching for better opportunities than in their countries of origin, whilst at the same time contributing to the transfer of technology and know-how.

-----

Bibliographie: Kochanowicz, Jacek: Migrationen und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung der polnischen Gebiete, JB historie, 1-2013, S. 162-182. https://doi.org/10.3224/jbh.v7i1.10