Social and economic potential in the economy is a very important category. Potential can be seen at varying degrees of aggregation in the economy, as well as to various entities, participants in economic life. Social and economic potential is a multidimensional category. It is difficult to clearly determine whether quantified. However, in the literature there are many publications relating to the measuring the potential or elements which form it.

The studies that refer to it are e.g. (Schumpeter 1960), (Łuniewska at all. 2001), Dwilińska 2005), (Młodak 2006), (Mackiewicz at all. 2006), (Nagiełło 2006), (Krawczyk 2007), (Lubińska at all. 2007), (Nermend 2008, 2009), (Dylewski at all. 2004, 2011), (Wiśniewski 2011), (Kopyściański i in. 2013), (Filipiak i in. 2016 (in print))

The main goal of the paper is analysis and assessment of socio-economic potential of the West Pomeranian poviats. The analysis included a group of factors that have an impact on the socio-economic potential. The shape of socio-economic potential (capacity) is determined by:

1. economic factors
2. socio-demographic factors
3. infrastructure factors
4. environmental factors (including eco factors).

The statistical analysis within groups of potential factors was conducted during the study, that allowed to refer to the similarities and/or differences between them. Moreover, based on the designated measures it was also possible to assess the factors in terms of their statistical quality. Knowledge of the potential factors is important from the analysis of socio-economic potential of local government units point of view. But in these scope arises many questions e.g.: how to measure the potential? what kind of factors are the most useful in these process? or what methods are the most useful in measurement process? The measurement of potential is not easy. But in these scope arises many questions e.g.: how to measure the potential? what  kind of factors are the most useful in these process? or what are the most useful methods in process of measurement the potential? The measurement of potential is not easy. In literature is leading a discussion in these scope. In the paper, in the process of measuring the potential were used selected measures from the field of multivariate analysis. The study was conducted in the following stages:

1. statistical analysis of the potential factors;
2. selection of the potential factor (variable) with the use of select multivariate analysis methods;
3. measurement of the poviats potential through the prism of socio-economic level of development – in this scope were used synthetic measures of development.

Adopted study design made it possible to know the socio-economic potential of the West Pomeranian Province from different perspectives:

1. at partial level - where analysis of factors concerned components of the potential for local government units (poviats) comprising the West Pomeranian Province. This made it possible to know the status and level of socio-economic development of local government units. The use of some multivariate measures enabled selection of factors that are crucial from the poviats potential point of view. In the end, measurement of the poviats level of socio-economic development was carried out by using synthetic measures of development.
2. at a general level, where the results of analyzes on the level of a partial were referenced to the potential of the West Pomeranian Province. The analysis was conducted for two selected periods: 2008 and 2014.

The analysis in this approach has allowed to observe changes over time in the analyzed period. In the study were used annual data for poviats from the Statistical Office.

References:

1. Dwilińska M., Potencjał innowacyjny gospodarki – pojęcie, determinanty, mierniki. Zeszyty Naukowe SGH, Warszawa 2005
2. Dylewski M., Filipiak B., Gorzałczyńska-Koczkodaj M., Analiza finansowa w jednostkach samorządu terytorialnego, Municipium, Warszawa 2004
3. Dylewski M., Filipiak B., Gorzałczyńska-Koczkodaj, Analiza finansowa budżetów jednostek samorządu terytorialnego, Municipium, Warszawa 2011
4. Filipiak B., Tarczyńska-Łuniewska M., Potencjał jednostki samorządu terytorialnego – próba systematyzacji pojęciowej i metodycznej, Finanse Komuinalne 2016, nr 1-2, w druku
5. Kopyściański T., Rólczyński T., Analiza porównawcza potencjału gospodarczego regionów w Polsce w latach 2006–2012, „Zarządzanie i Finanse” 2013, nr 11 (3, cz. 2)
6. Krawczyk G., Poziom rozwoju społeczno-gospodarczego gmin jako determinanta przyciągania bezpośrednich inwestycji zagranicznych, „Rocznik Żyradowski” 2007, t. 5
7. Lubińska T., Franek S., Będzieszak M., Potencjał dochodowy samorządu w Polsce. Difin, Warszawa 2007
8. Łuniewska M., Guzowska M. Zachodniopomorskie w liczbach w Metody Ilościowe w Ekonomii, Zeszyty Naukowe Nr 306, Prace Katedry Ekonometrii i Statystyki Nr 9, Uniwersytet Szczeciński, Szczecin 2001
9. Mackiewicz M., Malinowska-Misiąg E., Misiąg W., Tomalak M., Ramy finansowe strategii rozwoju województw na lata 2007–2014, Warszawa 2006
10. Młodak A  Analiza taksonomiczna w statystyce regionalnej. Difin, Warszawa 2006
11. Nagiełło, J, Zdolność kredytowa jako element potencjału finansowego jednostek samorządu terytorialnego „Studia Regionalne i Lokalne” 2006, Nr 3(25)
12. NermendK. Rachunek wektorowy w analizie rozwoju regionalnego. Szczecin, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego, Szczecin 2008
13. Nermend K. Vector Calculus in Regional Development Analysis, Series: Contributions to Economics, Springer, 2009
14. Schumpeter J.A., Teoria rozwoju gospodarczego, Warszawa 1960
15. Wiśniewski M.,  Ocena zdolności kredytowej jednostek samorządu terytorialnego w Polsce, „Studia BAS” 2011, nr 4 (48)

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