The approach of a unilateral impact of the financial sector on economic growth was invalidated by the last financial crisis which very quickly changed into a global economic crisis.

The aim of the study is the analysis of the impact of the financial sector on economic growth in the context of the growing phenomenon of financialization, which was one of the significant reasons of the financial crisis. The study was focused on presenting the growing scale of this phenomenon and analysing the impact of money supply in USD and EUR on world GDP and the GDP of the USA and the Eurozone. The following hypothesis was postulated: the growing process of financialization causes the growth of the USD and EUR supply, influencing changes in the world GDP, the GDP of the USA and the Eurozone. The study confirmed the hypothesis of the relation of the money supply with changes in economic growth. However, influencing economic growth with the money supply causes the purchasing power of business entities to decrease and causes growing debt. Furthermore, it does not contribute to the strength of the real economy. A repair of the current “system“ should not be sought for in constantly increasing macroprudential regulations, but in a return to a country’s interventionism, leading to a change in the priorities of the actions of financial institutions; mainly banks, and the supply of money based on fixed parities (gold, energy).

The article addresses the issue of conditions that the borrower is obliged to fulfill during the crediting process. These terms, the so-called covenants are built into credit agreements and are aimed at limiting banks’ risk when financing business entities. However, at the same time, covenants constitute conditions limiting the scope of use of bank loans. Covenants are very diverse. The principle hypothesis of the study assumes that the covenants differ according to the type of credit and the characteristic of the industry and the financial situation of the enterprise. In order to examine the hypothesis, an analysis of 25 credit agreements in three corporations and their subsidiaries was undertaken. These entities belong to fuel, mining and metallurgical sectors. At the same time, we observe the extent to which these covenants were kept during four quarters of 2016 and two quarters of 2017. Due to the confidentiality of the data contained in the loan agreements, the names of groups and their companies were kept confidential at the request of their management. Studies have also shown that abiding by non-financial covenants has been more difficult than abiding by financial covenants. In covenants, several contracts stipulated that a company cannot freely dispose fixed assets, restructure them or use leased assets which hinders the use of those asset to repay debt. One major obstacle was the fact that the company could not undertake any additional business beyond the existing one. This hindered the diversification of companies’ activities, which would improve their competitive position on the market. The author intends to conduct further research on covenants to highlight their flexible use and to increase the availability of bank loans to business entities.

The selection of appropriate financial sources by enterprises is one of the key tasks faced by the management board. In the presented article, the Authors decided to verify the capital structure of companies from selected European economies and to compare this capital structure between developed and advanced developing markets. The research was conducted on 18 European economies, taking into consideration data for 2017 and five variables defining the structure of financing. The results of the analysis show that the economies in the basket of developed countries are characterised by a higher level of indebtedness, with the major difference in taking on interest-bearing liabilities.

The subject of the research presented in this paper were financial results of mining industry enterprises (PKD 5 – P olish C lassification of A ctivity – “Mining of coal and lignite”) in 2007–2019. The research was conducted using relative and absolute financial measures, forming an extensive and coherent set of features characterizing their financial condition. The purpose was to measure and evaluate the efficiency of examined enterprises operation, considered as an attribute of development as well as factors describing and determining it. This evaluation was made against the background of ongoing restructuring processes taking into account their potential effects.

The article presents the course of the process of adapting P olish hard coal mining to market economy conditions after 1989. The process can be conventionally divided into several periods. The scope and intensity of changes in the mining industry followed the subsequent government programs for mining industry restructuring.

The lignite mining has not implemented any specific restructuring programs. The remedy processes were mainly related to organizational and ownership changes.

In relation to operation efficiency and value creation three turning points in the development path of enterprises were highlighted – 2011, 2015 and 2017, while the period of strong deterioration of results occurred in 2011–2015. I t was proved that restructuring processes did not affect the operating return on sales. However, there was a strong relation between changes in economic conditions on the coal market (prices) and the accumulation rate.

The correlations and the influence of the monetary policy pursued by the central banks of developed countries, primarily by the Federal Reserve System (the central bank of the United States), on the economies of developing countries is a subject of research, especially since the outbreak of the last financial crisis. Decisions concerning shifts in attitudes in the monetary policy taken by the monetary authorities of the largest economies, influence investors’ behaviour. Due to globalization and financialization, short-term capital flows occur very quickly and on a significant scale. Argentina is an illustration of the consequences of monetary policy tapering by the FRS for the economy of a developing country. Argentina was supported during the period of disturbances by the International Monetary Fund. Nevertheless, it seems that this solution is insufficient in view of the globalization of the effects of the monetary policy pursued by the economically strongest countries.

The advancing degradation of the ecosystem and the occurring climate changes demand decisive action to be taken by citizens, aimed at levelling the results of the lack of balance between the natural environment and business operations. The growing importance of ecology is reflected on the international financial market in the form of green bonds. This article is devoted to green bonds which are a specific group of securities, namely ecological debt instruments. Despite the green debt being one of the most recent segments of the capital market, its very dynamic expansion can be observed year by year. The article is aimed at identifying the conditions for the development of the global environmental bonds market, specifically the factors stimulating and inhibiting the process. The article is a review in character and the following research methods were used in order to achieve the desired objective: analysis of subject literature and data analysis from the green bonds market, a case study, a descriptive and an inductive method.

Regeneration – an integrated process of activities undertaken in the spatial, social and economic dimensions – should lead to the improvement of the living conditions of inhabitants of degraded urban areas. The European Union in 2007- 2013 allocated financial resources for this purpose in the form of JESSICA initiative which is based on financial engineering mechanism. Experiences gained so far allow conclusions to be drawn that JESSICA is a highly fi nancially-effi cient instrument but, however, not always delivers the desired outcomes in the spatial and social sphere. The scope of projects often is limited to infrastructural investments and does not reflect the complexity of regeneration process. In the article the authors analyse experiences of the five Polish regions with the use of JESSICA, point out main problems and formulate recommendations for sustainable urban policy.

JESSICA initiative as a financial engineering instrument was introduced to enhance and accelerate investments in disadvantaged urban areas. The novel aspect of JESSICA is that this instrument should not only support and promote sustainable urban development but also provide incentives that lower risk capital investments and consequently allow to overcome existing market failures. Thus, the paper aims to identify whether JESSICA projects have contributed to generating positive market effects, as well as to indicate the factors that were most responsible for the occurrence of these phenomena. The results show that 75% out of all projects generated positive market effects in form of new jobs, services or products. The generation of revenues by particular project was the most influential factor determining the capacity of a given project to create positive markets effects.

The paper deals with the issue of financial efficiency, measured by the arithmetic rate of return, of indirect financial investments in the area of strategic raw materials (hard coal, copper, crude oil). Two forms of indirect investments were analyzed: shares of natural resources companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and futures contracts for strategic commodities: hard coal, copper and crude oil.

The time of the analysis is the first 6 months of 2019 and 2020. The year 2019 was regarded as an analysis of the period of economic growth, and the year 2020 was the analysis of the period of economic crisis. The comparisons were made in two dimensions. Firstly, it whether indirect commodity investments show the characteristics of efficiency resilience to the time of the economic crisis was checked (by comparing the achieved rates of return in the two analyzed periods). Secondly, which of the analyzed forms of investment (stocks, contracts) gives better investment results during economic growth and economic crisis was compared.

As it was shown in the paper, indirect commodity investments do not show an above-average rate of return neither during economic growth nor economic crisis. The achieved rates of return on shares compared to changes in the WIG20 index in the analyzed first half of 2019 were negative. Only one company showed a positive and significantly higher than the market rate of return. Very similar results were achieved by the analyzed companies in 2020.

On the other hand, the analysis of prices and rates of return on commodity futures contracts showed that in the period of economic growth it is effective to take a long position on crude oil contracts and a short position on hard coal contracts. In a period of economic crisis, the opposite position is profitable due to the observed growth in hard coal prices and a significant drop in crude oil prices.

The answers to the research questions posed in the paper do not provide indications for recommending indirect forms of investment in commodities as an alternative to analogous forms of other sectors of the economy. The analysis shows that the impact of the economic situation on the efficiency of commodity investment is most noticeable for crude oil, and the least (among the analyzed commodities) for indirect copper-based investments.

Semi-structured individual in-depth interviews were conducted to explore and compare which social norms with regard to the debt-incurring process are important to Poles with various experiences of indebtedness. Thematic analysis within a constructionist framework identified the social norms important in the borrowing process for Poles and revealed, as expected, a number of differences between people with various indebtedness experiences. Model borrowers have a significantly different approach to debt than unreliable debtors and non-borrowers. Model borrowers seem to be oblivious to the negative sides of loans as well as indicate fewer reasons for justifying not repaying obligations than others. For unreliable debtors, loans are a quick way to solve financial problems. They borrow money out of necessity rather than to finance any larger, long-term investments and have their own private rules for borrowing. Non-borrowers, although aware of borrowers’ higher standard of living, emphasize that debt is associated with permanent stress and psychological burden. Model borrowers, unlike the others, declare that in their immediate vicinity are only those who use and pay their loans in a timely manner.

Geological and Mining Law enforced in Poland does not provide adequate regulations assuring financial means for a mine closure and mined land rehabilitation. The gradual accumulation of funds within a framework of a mine rehabilitation fund may not provide the full coverage of costs of all the necessary works in the event the exploitation is terminated before lifting all minable resources.

Regulations defining the duties of mining enterprises lack specific preclusions related to assurance of financial means for mine closures in the event a mining license is issued by a staroste (prefect). To address this problem a simplified estimation method for establishing closing costs is put forward in the first stage. This is based on unified indicators related to deposits’ reserves or acreage used for mining activities.

The equivalent of the closure costs established in this manner shall be paid to an escrow account on a similar basis as means of rehabilitation funds are put aside. However, paying the entire amount either in one (preferably) or two instalments is recommended. The introduction of this recommendation requires an amendment to the Geological and Mining Law as well as securing appropriate competences in staroste’s offices along with a convincing communication campaign.