Grzegorz Witold Kołodko (pronounced [ˈɡʐɛɡɔʂ kɔˈwɔtkɔ]; born 28 January 1949 in Tczew, Poland) is a distinguished professor of economics and a key architect of Polish economic reforms.[1] He is the author of New Pragmatism, an original and heterodox theory of economics. He has been a university lecturer, researcher, and author of numerous academic books and research papers. As Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance of Poland from 2002 to 2003, he played a leading role in Poland's entry into the European Union. During his earlier term from 1994 to 1997, Kołodko led Poland into the OECD.[citation needed]
After graduating from Main School of Planning and Statistics in 1972 and earning his Ph.D. in 1976, Kołodko lectured at the same university and was appointed to a chair in economics in 1984. In 1985-86, he was a Senior Fulbright Fellow at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. From 1982 to 1988, he was an advisor to the Governor of the National Bank of Poland. He participated in the historic ‘Round Table’ negotiations in 1989, which led to the formation of the first post-communist government in Eastern Europe. He was a member of the Economic Council of the Polish Government from 1989 to 1991.[citation needed]
He was a research fellow at the United Nations World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) in Helsinki in 1988, 1989, and 2002. From 1989 to 1994, he was the director of the Institute of Finance in Warsaw. He served as a consultant to the IMF Research Department in 1991 and 2000, and to the Fiscal Policy Department in 1992 and 1999. In 1994, he was a senior research fellow at the Institute of Finance and Monetary Policy in Tokyo. From 1997 to 1998, he held the Sasakawa Chair and was a distinguished research professor in development policy at WIDER. He was also a visiting fellow at the World Bank and a senior research fellow at Yale University in 1998.[citation needed]
Kołodko is the author and editor of 58 books and over 400 articles and research papers, published in 26 languages, with many in English. Notable books include “The Quest for Development Success: Bridging Theoretical Reasoning with Economic Practice” (Rowman & Littlefield - Lexington Books, 2021), “China and the Future of Globalization: The Political Economy of China's Rise” (Bloomsbury I.B. Tauris, 2020), and “Emerging Market Economies. Globalization and Development” (Routledge Revivals, 2018).[citation needed]
