Escape from middle income trap: an export structure approach to the case of Poland

Abstract

Poland, although a few years ago was indicated among the countries that were in danger of falling into the middle income trap, nowadays in most studies is counted among the rich countries. Poland was examined in this article as a successful case of “escaping from middle income trap”. This article searched for the keys to the success story of Poland among its trade patterns. In the analysis the author used the product space approach first developed by Hidalgo et al. (2007), and added to it market analysis, mainly using the growth-share matrix of the Boston Consulting Group, first formulated by Henderson (1970). The results show that Poland is achieving a healthy transformation towards medium technology automotive and engineering products and some high technology products. To improve its position in world markets, Poland should also carefully examine the market structure of its exports.