At the beginning of the 1990s, the Polish economy was less developed and relatively closed, in comparison to the economies of the Czech Republic and Hungary. High levels of protection of domestic market and inward orientation resulted in low share of trade in GDP, low EU market share and low levels of FDI stock. The quality of Polish exported goods was not only much lower than that of EU, but also than those of the Czech Republic and Hungary. This reflected lower levels of innovation and technology in Poland. The level of integration of the Polish economy into world economy was much lower, as compared to the Czech and Hungarian economies.