Professor, with good advice in mind for all students at the start of their careers, how does one become a renowned and recognised economist?

I graduated from Secondary School No.4 in Gdynia. When it came to my end-of-school exams and I started thinking about what my future career might be, I think two things proved decisive. Namely, the belief in what I wanted to do after my studies and a conviction that the skills I had had in secondary school  would allow me to study successfully. Maybe I should start with the first of these in that when I was 19 I absolutely and unconditionally wanted to become a teacher. It was an imperative. I was not considering any other profession and consequently you might think that I should have enrolled on a course of study where didactics is the main subject and which prepares you to become a teacher. But it happened that in amongst all the different methods of self-analysis, and 19-year-olds have a tendency to analyse themselves in various ways, I concluded that I should, after all, be studying at the Faculty of Economics (at the time the Faculty of Transport Economics) because I adored maths, was quite good at history and had managed to master a foreign language to a good enough level to take my entrance exams for this Faculty. Moreover, I live in Gdynia so I had had the chance to watch various means of transport come into contact, I mean of course maritime, rail and motor transport. And it seemed quite fascinating to me. As a result, I got it into my head that it would not be bad to be studying economics.  

However, when I came to the Faculty of Transport Economics, an extraordinary thing happened in that I found studying there extremely enjoyable. The atmosphere was very much in favour of students at the time, lots of people back then studied the new trends which the 1970s offered and, to be honest, perhaps nothing in my life has been as memorable as my studies. I was a happy student and again I was convinced that the combination of my passion for didactics, plus the studies, plus the conviction that I was doing what I wanted to do and making my dreams come true all meant that I can now see it was the right choice.

What happened later, when I was finishing my studies, was a series of coincidences. I must add, though, that during my studies, after my second year, I met Professor Jan Majewski who moulded me and my personality to such an extent that he became the master of masters for me and despite that fact that for many years I did not work at university because I was pursuing my original idea, that of becoming a teacher, at some point the drive towards science had become equally as important as my desire to teach, with science perhaps taking over didactics with time, although there must have been a perfect balance. At the time, there were many greatly skilled and talented people working in Jan Majewski’s department. Now, none of them are there anymore. I am here and I don’t know why but Jan Majewski handed the department over to me for reasons completely unknown to me. I don’t know why it happened that way but it gave me encouragement and the belief that what I had dreamt of and what I had wanted to be a continuation of my studies had finally come about. In the meantime I met many people who understood the economy in a different way from that in the 1960s, the 1970s, and especially the 1980s. My long, if I may say so, friendship with Professor Olgierd Wyszomirski resulted in us becoming involved in the early 1990s in the practical aspect of public transport or, to put it more simply, city transport. Great changes were introduced in this field, under the supervision of the late Franciszka Cegielska, who had given a framework to our novel (in inverted commas or not) ideas. We marketised this difficult domain, the better or worse effects of which can be seen across the entire area from Sopot to Rumia or part of Wejherowo. As a result, my further deliberation on whether the profession I had chosen in my life was the right one stopped being a question and became rhetorical. Yes, this was it!

Working at the University of Gdańsk I must have been proud of working here. So when I came here to work I looked at those who were already doctors or docents (as they were called back then) as some kind of models for me to follow. Later I became one of them, which was also a fulfilment of (maybe not early) desires of a still young man, though not a youth. And that had come true, meaning they had accepted me as one of them though I had some thoughts of my own, some aspirations, which I couldn’t see when I started studying and then working.

Then an unexpected thing happened when fate linked me to Dr Mirosław Krajewski, the late University of Gdańsk professor, and this transformed our thinking to “all kinds” of finance, with me going with quite a degree of determination towards something that was not too strong in my faculty. Here they were all into economics and organisation but not finance, as this was the domain of the neighbouring faculty. Dr Krajewski moved from the neighbouring faculty to join us and we started developing this quite rapidly. The unexpected result of this was that Mayor Wojciech Szczurek offered me a position.

I will ask you about this in a minute, Professor, but I would like to come back to your didactic affinities. I have acquainted myself with student opinions and you have an opinion of a very strict examiner but, and this is stressed even more, an excellent lecturer.

Well, this was a dream from my youth and I might just put it down to genes. Namely, there were a few teachers in my family. I didn’t know them because they were people who had died long before I was born and these genes might have been passed down to me by my mum. But I do have to say something at this point which partly explains the fact that it does go around in my family. My uncle, my mum’s brother, was an employee of the University of Gdańsk, docent Dr Jan Winklewski, who taught geography. He had no influence on me and I didn’t even know what he was doing. But as soon as I understood the direction I should go in, his figure suddenly loomed large. It was books on didactics which made some kind of impression on me. However, what follows from the order in economics and in the economy itself is the fact that you should not in my opinion be lenient with students, you have to be absolutely honest and fair but also demanding. And this in turn has an impact on something else, a positive impact in my opinion, although I cannot speak about  myself  here. Namely, those who are attracted to this department are people with quite a high involvement “factor” i.e. those who come here are not random individuals. I have the opportunity and honour to head a department of individuals with high potential and quite a high level of understanding of what is happening and none of us are of the opinion that didactics should be run for its own benefit, that you should not be demanding but just do your job somehow. This has never been the case here and even if it was, I would instantly oppose it. I think that this is our profession. You mustn’t do it at all badly. What we should be able to do is conduct lectures, classes, tutorials at a high professional level and also expect the same involvement from our students.

Professor, in two weeks’ time you will have been involved with the city in which you live, Gdynia, for eleven years.  You are Treasurer in Gdynia’s Board of Directors. The responsibility for a budget of 1,300,000,000 zł must be enormous.

Yes, that’s true. I never thought it would end up this way. But it is undoubtedly a great craft of economics. To be able to shape the budget and use it in a way so as to build up the wealth of the residents and to direct it in the proper way. I don’t want to say that theory is difficult. But theory combined with such practice is exceptionally difficult and thankless. I mean some things don’t just work because of the way they are and because of their difficulty. You have to resort to some knowledge which you won’t find either in textbooks or in logical thinking. You simply have to step ahead of the problem in order to bring it to a successful conclusion. I am really very grateful to Mayor Wojciech Szczurek for giving me his trust. Eleven years is quite a long time. You just have to say to yourself that even if you lose, it will still be some sort of a victory, despite the fact that it is getting more and more difficult, with money being difficult and the easy European money having come to an end. What has begun is requirements which have as yet never had such qualitative dimension in the history of the Polish Republic.

Recently the Regional Accounting Chamber positively reviewed Gdynia’s budget. Doesn’t the Treasurer’s hand tremble as he signs a promissory note to the value of  67,000,000 zł? How does he sleep knowing that the city’s debt is 615,000,000 zł? I can guess what the answer might be, but the numbers are impressive.

The Regional Accounting Chamber does annual appraisals, so every year there is the issue of approval, or positive opinion from the Chamber. However, when it comes to Gdynia’s debt, although it does in fact stand at 516,000,000 zł, this is only 44% of the income. Bear in mind that 60% is the upper limit of income that you can borrow on. The debt of the majority of, if not all, big Polish cities is right at the same level. So Gdynia is still in a relatively good situation. I, by contrast, consider other things such as, most of all, liquidity, which in turn allows for investment and the everyday running of a city in a secure way.  So as long as these parameters are met, such a city is safe from danger. The debt of a vast majority of cities is at this level. Where does this come from? Mainly from the fact that we have joined the European Union and money appeared with which we had to finance this membership.  We couldn’t conduct an operating activity in a city and additionally use the European investment funds without taking out loans. This was not possible. And that’s the way it is, every treasurer will tell you that this is the only way forward. I think we have used it quite well in Gdynia and we are currently paying off more than we’re borrowing. So in other words, our debt is falling significantly every year. Of course, you cannot do it in the space of one year but the indicators show that this is a good pace.

Professor, how do you spend your free time?

I am in love with sport. I’m just a fan of ball games, two to be precise ‒ football and volleyball. And generally, with my outlook on life, these two sports have always been the most important. I simply play, play at any cost, which  means that my family are not always happy with me. But as long as I am fit enough, I will keep practising these two sports. I also love swimming.

You have mentioned your family. Could you tell us more about them?

Thank you for this question because I must say right at the beginning that I am very, very proud of my family. I met my wife, Grażyna, when she was studying, and at one point, having been in love for many years,  I asked for her hand and she accepted  and we have been together from then until now.  We have three children: Alicja, our eldest, and two sons Tomasz and Dariusz. My sons are both graduates of economics and my daughter is a graduate in Polish Philology. For this reason I can say that I am fully satisfied and fulfilled when it comes to family life.

Thank you for the conversation, Professor.

Thank you.

Sopot, 17 December 2015

Interview by Dr Tadeusz Zaleski
Photography: Piotr Pędziszewski