This study aims to determine whether, in the wake of recent economic and administrative reforms, Poland’s historically shaped cultural potential for economic development has allowed it to reduce the distance between itself and countries at the center of innovative development in Europe. A country’s cultural potential for development is created by quality of government, control of corruption, trust, individualism, and management style. Under imitative-elite rule, before 2015, Poland was closing the gap between itself and the center in terms of corruption control and quality of government. After 2015, corruption grew, social capital dwindled, and the quality of government declined. The current state of Poland’s cultural potential for development is a lasting relic of long-term historical processes, and thus rapid economic and administrative changes have had very limited impact on the country’s cultural potential for development. Patterns of behavior fostering a knowledge-based economy are poorly disseminated.