Damian bębnowski

About me

Historian and economist, graduate of the Faculties of Philosophy and History and Economics and Sociology of the University of Lodz, Poland. Student of leading Polish economic historians: prof. Kazimierz Badziak and prof. Janusz Skodlarski.

Assistant professor at the Department of History of Economics at the University of Lodz, Poland. Vice President of the Board of Janusz Kurtyka Foundation in Warsaw, Poland. Visiting scholar in Harriman Institute, Columbia University in the City of New York, USA (2025). 

Main research interests: contemporary history of Poland and global history (19th–21st centuries), economic history, institutional economics, political and socio-economic thought, theory and methodology of the humanities and social sciences.

Author of scintific publications in Polish and English, includng book: The Importance of Constitutional Rules and Property Rights: The German Economy in 1990–2015 (Peter Lang Verlag, Berlin 2022), awarded by the Rector of the University of Lodz (2023), distinguished by the Polish Association of Economic History in the Competition for the Franciszek Bujak Award for the best book on economic and social history (2024), and honored with the Fryderyk Skarbek Scientific Award of the Faculty I of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences in the Field of Economics (2025).

He has participated in numerous conferences and scientific seminars (including the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, MIT in Cambridge, Charles University in Prague, University of Regensburg, University of Tartu, L’École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris, Wissenschaftliches Zentrum der Polnischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Columbia University, Lund University).

He is a scholarship holder of the Minister of Science and Higher Education (2013–2014), the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD (2021), Kościuszko Foundation (2024–2025) and a laureate of several scholarships and awards for scientific achievements. He has implemented grants (including the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the National Institute of Freedom – Center for the Development of Civil Society (NIW – CRSO), the Museum of Polish History, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and scientific internships (including as part of the PROM program of the National Agency for Academic Exchange, NAWA).

He conducted research in the USA (Columbia, Harvard) and Germany (JLU Giessen, Humboldt, Regensburg, RUB Bochum).

He taught courses in Polish and English on economic history, history of economics, history of economic thought, economics, microeconomics, institutions in economy, German modern economy, major trends of contemporary economic theory, economic powers in history (China, USA, USSR), economic systems, threads from economic history in Nobel economic research. Lecturer in economic history at Zhengzhou University, China (2021/2022).

Former Vice President for promotion of the Łódź Branch of the Students for the Republic Association (2015). Member of the Polish Historical Society and the Polish Society of Economic History. He collaborates with the Ratzingerianum Scientific Center of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.

Responsible for the Community of Comunione e Liberazione in Lodz. Privately, he is a happy husband and father, and a lover of literature, art, nature and travel. Associated with an amateur theatre group (2023–2025). Also interested in theology, philosophy, and astronomy.

20180730_103128

Scholarships, awards

2023

“Pro Patria” Medal for special merits in cultivating the memory of the fight for the independence of the Republic of Poland

2015

Kraków, distinction Meritorious Member of the Students for the Republic Association, category For work for the organization (30.05.2015)

2015

Medal for Honorable Studies (Master’s Degree)

2014-2018

Four times doctoral scholarship (2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2017/2018), four times scholarship for the best doctoral students (2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2017/2018)

2013-2014

Scholarship of the Minister of Science and Higher Education for outstanding achievements (2013/2014)

2013

Medal for Honorable Studies (Bachelor’s degree)

2010-2014

Motivational scholarship for academic achievements (2010/2011), Rector’s scholarship (2011/2012), twice Rector’s scholarship for the best students (2012/2013, 2013/2014)

2011-2014

Five-fold Congratulatory Letter from the Rector of the University of Lodz for outstanding academic results (07.02.2011, 21.06.2012, 08.11.2012, 28.11.2013, 18.11.2014)

2008

Prime Minister’s Scholarship for post-secondary school students in the school year 2008/2009

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

CURRENTLY RESEARCH AREAS

Economic importance of constitutional and property rules in Germany after 1990

Functioning of the first Treuhandanstalt (UrTHA) in the GDR

Institution of property rights in historical and economic terms

Gradual evolution of the economic history’s normative methodology in communist Poland 

Polish home and exile economic historiography after 1945

History of Polish economic Thought

Thought of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI