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Fryderyk Skarbek
Fryderyk Florian Skarbek (1792–1866) was
a thinker with a variety of achievements,
remembered above all for his scientific work
in the field of economics. Nevertheless, his rich
creative output also includes novels, dramas,
poems, translations, historical works, and
landscape paintings.
Skarbek came from an old noble family which
possessed the Abdank coat-of-arms. As a young
man he was educated under the supervision
of Nicolas Chopin, the father of Frédéric
Chopin. In secondary school, he was taught
by the famous linguist Samuel Bogumił Linde,
whom he helped in the work on the dictionary
of the Polish language. Next, he went to study
in France and after two years he returned
to his homeland. For a dozen or so years he
lectured political economy at the University
of Warsaw. During his lifetime, the Polish
scholar held many public offices.
Skarbek gave economic science a national
hue, which is why he is also called the father
of Polish economics. In his works he brought
to the foreground the concept of the nation,
binding together all the phenomena related
to the national economy.
Skarbek saw the conditions for development
and social welfare in the existence of a broad
group of medium-sized owners. In turn, in
order to eliminate the poverty of peasants
and the misery of workers, he postulated
transforming them into a multitude of small
entrepreneurs. He rejected the concept of homo
oeconomicus, emphasising the individual’s
aspirations to achieve not only material goals,
but also spiritual and social ones.
Skarbek stressed the importance of private
property, which better serves the flourishing of
society than state interventionism and bureaucracy.
He postulated the development of industry, as well
as measures aimed at reducing the public debt and
a reduction of fiscal burdens. The scholar stressed
the need to raise capital through private savings
and stressed the indispensability of balanced
growth of all sectors of the economy. He also
conducted social activities and charity work – he
supported the establishment of savings banks
for workers and the construction of shelters for
the homeless and poor.
Among the major works of the Polish
economist, it is worth mentioning his
magnum opus “General Principles of
the Science of the National Economy”,
a two-volume textbook “The National
Economy”, a historical work “The History
of the Duchy of Warsaw”, as well as the novel
“The Memoirs of Seglas”.
Grzegorz Jeż