Adam Krzyżanowski (1873–1963) was a Polish economist, lawyer, politician and a long-time lecturer at the Jagiellonian University. He was associated with Kraków nearly all his life and took an active part in social, political and scientific life. In the Second Polish Republic, he was twice elected to the Sejm on the ticket of the Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government, which he ultimately left in protest against the arrest of Centrolew deputies. After the outbreak of World War II, Krzyżanowski was arrested by the Germans during the Sonderaktion Krakau operation and transported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was released in early 1940 and later was involved in underground teaching. In 1945, he became a member of the façade State National Council, and then a deputy of the Legislative Sejm on the ticket of the Alliance of Democrats. He was expelled from the university for several years, however he worked at the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. Krzyżanowski died in 1963.

Krzyżanowski was a leader of the ”Kraków school of economics”, combining economic liberalism with political conservatism. He dealt with a broad spectrum of economic issues, including, among others, economic policy issues, the history of economic doctrines, the role and importance of money, demographic analysis and the fundamentals of public finances. He was a thinker of great temperament and an avid and passionate writer. He was reserved about intricate theoretical disputes and reduced the art of economics to a few basic common-sense truths.

Krzyżanowski advocated a free market and the rights of the individual. He encouraged hard work and saving, seeing in the two a method of increasing Poland’s capital. He argued that capital was the foundation for Poland’s economic growth after the country regained independence in 1918.

Krzyżanowski’s other major works include: Pieniądz [Money], Założenia ekonomiki [Assumptions of Economics], Nauka skarbowości [The Science of Public Finances], Pauperyzacja Polski współczesnej [Pauperization of Contemporary Poland].

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