The article presents a review of theoretical conceptions of the institutional economy relating to the performance of agricultural markets and the role of state and institutions filling the "economic space" left to them due to the imperfection of themarkets. The author argues that the ne.o-classical economy, with its theorem of market equilibrium, is not able to explain many new phenomena. The neo-classical economy puts the sign of equation between economy and the market, while in real life the market is an institution by itself. Due to the presence of public property, external effects, transaction costs and cost of obtaining information some markets do not exist at all, whereas some cannot be considered as even relatively competitive. The authorof the article also presents to the Polish leader some of the achievements of the Chicago School. He describes the principal assumptions and theorems of the economics of farming organisations stating that: 1) they are the result of insufficient information and imperfection of the markets; 2) markets are connected with each other not only by price-and-income channels; 3) markets are by their very nature imperfect which calls for more and more refined intervention policies; 4) the more imperfect the markets are the greater is the need for state intervention; 5) to make the intervention effective it is necessary to take into account the influence of local institutions and historically shaped social structures. In the conclusion of the article the author presents his remarks on the structural transformation of agriculture in the context of the readiness of the whole economy for this grand undertaking (which means that short-term and long-term goals are concordant).
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