A new book on Polands success, Europe's Growth Champion, by Marcin Piatkowski, highlights a paradox. What outsiders saw, and Poles bemoaned, in 1989 was indeed dreadful, a destitute country with dire infrastructure, pitiful wages, clapped-out industry and bankrupt public finances. But the deeper legacy of communism, the book argues, was a positive one. ... Mr Piatkowski's arguments deserve careful consideration. The question of why some countries get rich and others stay poor is the most important economic puzzle of our times, and one that economists themselves struggle to solve. Edward Lucas, The Times sakriti opis