On 1 January 1999, four major reforms took effect in Poland in the areas of health, education, pensions and local administration. After 20 years, only in the last case does the original structural design remain essentially unchanged. We examine the implications of this reform from the perspective of the distance of municipalities from their regional administrative capital. We show that despite fears of negative consequences for peripheral regions, the reform did not result in slower socio‐economic development for those municipalities that found themselves further from the new administrative centres. We argue that regional inclusiveness in the process of development is likely to be an important factor behind the stability of Poland's administrative design.

中文翻译：

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波兰1999年行政改革对区域社会经济发展的影响

1999年1月1日，波兰在卫生，教育，养老金和地方行政管理领域进行了四项重大改革。20年后，只有在最后一种情况下，原始的结构设计才基本保持不变。我们从城市与区域行政首都之间的距离的角度考察了这项改革的含义。我们表明，尽管担心会给周边地区带来负面影响，但改革并未使那些远离新行政中心的城市的社会经济发展速度减慢。我们认为，发展过程中的区域包容性可能是波兰行政设计稳定的重要因素。