The research on the economic development of voivodships is important in the context of the policy of levelling regional disparities and has been necessitated by the fact the disproportions in the level of the economic development of Polish voivodships have persisted for years. The main aim of this study was to determine the direction and scope of changes affecting the level of economic development of particular voivodships. To this end, the study used linear ordering methods in the dynamic approach. The additional aim, of the methodological nature, was to compare two methods of the normalisation of variables – the Strahl quotient transformation and the zero unitarisation method. The research was conducted on the basis of relevant data from Statistics Poland’s Local Data Bank database for the years 2010–2020. The results of the study include the calculation of the synthetic measure of the level of development of Polish voivodships in the studied period, the compilation of the relevant ranking of the voivodships, and the comparison of changes thereof. The performed analysis demonstrated that all the voivodships developed economically in the examined period, but the changes took place at a different pace and the disparities between them remained. The indicator of economic development grew to the largest extent in the voivodships which were already the most developed in economic terms, i.e. in the Mazowieckie, Dolnośląskie, Wielkopolskie and Małopolskie voivodships. Both of the applied methods of the variable normalisation led to similar conclusions. The differences between them concerned the value of the development level indicator, and affected to some degree the assessment of the scope and direction of changes, along with the assessment of the distance between the objects.

Measures taken by the public administration to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to drastic consequences for the economy. The full identification of its effects is hindered due to the delay in publishing the results of public statistics. The use of financial reports prepared by self-government authorities of all municipalities in Poland made it possible to obtain preemptive information in relation to the public statistics regarding the impact of COVID-19-related limitations on the energy expenditures incurred by local government units (LGUs), as well as an assessment of to what extent the LGUs had rationalized the energy consumption. By contrast, data from reports of energy companies made it possible to determine the impact of restrictions arising from the pandemic on the amount of energy sold and revenues from sales made by these companies. The analyses use indexes of the dynamics of changes in energy prices as well as indexes of the dynamics of changes in energy expenditures incurred by LGUs. Additionally, distributions of these indexes for the populations of municipalities are analyzed. To assess the effect of economic activity on energy expenditures incurred by LGUs, classification trees are utilized. It is established that the total production and sales of energy in Poland, in volume, in each quarter of 2020 were lower than in the corresponding period of the preceding year. However, as a result of an increase in energy prices by approximately 25%, the sales of electric power generating companies, in amounts, were higher in 2020 than in 2019. The increase in energy prices was also a cause of slightly increased total expenditures for purchasing energy in LGUs in Poland, which increased by 2.15% in 2020 compared to 2019. However, a substantial diversity in expenditure indexes was observed. That concerned both total expenditures and expenditures within individual sections of the budgets of municipalities.

Changes in the agrarian structure are among the indicators of Polish agriculture’s adaptation to competition with the EU agriculture and therefore require a thorough examination. The purpose of this paper is to determine the scale, direction and level of diversification of Polish agricultural farm size structures in 2010–2020 by typological groups of voivodeships. The research was carried out on the basis of Statistics Poland (GUS) data on the number of farms by size groups for the years 2010 and 2020. The following farm size groups were analysed: up to 2 ha of agricultural land (AL), 2–5 ha, 5–10 ha, 10–20 ha, 20–50 ha and over 50 ha. Based on fuzzy classification, four typological groups were distinguished, comprising voivodeships with similar farm size structure. Then, changes in the structure of the typological groups and changes in the number of farms in absolute terms were presented. The structure of the typological groups changed only marginally, while changes in the number of farms in absolute terms were very significant. In all groups, a decrease in the total number of farms was observed, notably farms of up to 10 ha in size, as well as an increase in the number of farms larger than 20 ha, with the rate and scale of those changes varying regionally. The largest decrease in the number of farms was recorded for voivodeships with the most fragmented agrarian structure.

The aim of this research is to analyze the drivers of young urban residents’ readiness to actively participate in agro living lab (ALL) projects, contributing to sustainable and resilient urban systems. This study is based on a literature review and a survey conducted among students from selected universities in Kraków. Using factor analysis and regression trees, the profiles of the individuals most inclined to participate in ALL projects were identified. The analysis included a wide range of variables, such as education, proximity to agriculture, perception of urban agriculture, and various sociodemographic characteristics. These findings indicate that readiness to engage in ALL projects is strongly associated with respondents’ field of study, interests, and individual experiences. Moreover, participants with positive attitudes toward urban agriculture and personal relationships with farmers were more likely to express a readiness to participate in ALLs. These results provide new insights into the social conditions influencing ALL participation and offer valuable guidance for developing strategies to promote the active engagement of urban populations in sustainable food initiatives.

Subject and purpose of work: This paper seeks to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the financial standing of companies classified according to the type of their business activity. Materials and methods: This paper is based on aggregate data on businesses operating in Poland in the period 2017–2021, grouped according to the type of business activity. The data was published by the Central Statistical Office GUS in Poland. The company status was investigated using the calculated values of diagnostic indicators (return on assets, current financial liquidity, level of debt, stock rotation, and growth in sales). These indicators were normalized with the zero unitarization method to construct a synthetic indicator. The synthetic indicator was then used to generate business rankings. Results: The vast majority of the examined companies proved to be profitable. In 2020, the profitability and sales revenue of the businesses concerned were found to deteriorate slightly. There has been a downward trend in the rankings for companies operating in the accommodation and catering sector and the manufacturers of petroleum products. Pharmaceutical companies were the businesses that improved and topped the rankings. Conclusions: The pandemic had a strong negative impact on businesses operating in the market sector of accommodation and catering. The producers of refined petroleum products were also affected. The producers of pharmaceuticals benefited most during the pandemic. There are no clear indicators as to the impact of the pandemic on other types of businesses.

Celem badań jest ocena skali zmian poziomu rozwoju gospodarczego województw w czasie pandemii COVID-19, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem województwa wielkopolskiego, które zajmuje w całym badanym okresie stosunkowo wysokie miejsce w rankingu. Badania przeprowadzono na podstawie danych GUS. Zastosowano metodę porządkowania liniowego obiektów wielowymiarowych przy normowaniu zmiennych metodą Strahl w ujęciu dynamicznym. Wyznaczono syntetyczny wskaźnik poziomu rozwoju obejmujący 13 zmiennych diagnostycznych i porównano poziom rozwoju gospodarczego województw w latach 2019–2021 oraz w 2010 i 2015 r. Analiza wykazała niewielkie obniżenie wskaźnika w 2020 r., ale w 2021 r. we wszystkich województwach osiągnął on wartość wyższą niż przed pandemią. Dynamika wzrostu była nierównomierna – zmiany w województwach bardziej rozwiniętych były szybsze niż w pozostałych, co spowodowało pogłębienie regionalnych różnic rozwojowych.