Economy Archive

State-owned fuel stations are a recognition of regulatory failure

There are currently 3,200 fuel stations in Bulgaria and the country ranks ninth in the EU (excluding Croatia) according to the fuel stations’ number. However, in terms of the number of fuel stations per capita, our country is in second place, with 1 fuel station per 2188 people, ahead only of Greece. Source: Eurostat Of

What is the relationship between neoliberalism and the global financial crisis and can critical theory help us to understand this contemporary crisis?

In the core of the term “neoliberalism” stands the understanding that the economic and social problems can be resolved by means of competitive markets[i]. The competitive markets are considered to be superior in regard to efficiency, justice, freedom, or a combination of them[ii]. Neoliberalism promotes substitution of government functions with services offered by private profit-seeking

Economic challenges before Bulgaria in 2019

On November 8 the European Commission published it autumn economic forecast for the EU economy up to 2020. As it was expected the EC forecasts slowdown of the EU economy during the three-year period 2018 – 2020, in line with the forecasts of IMF and other international financial institutions. Economic development of EU 27 (without

Borisov Attempts to Bribe Bulgarian Voters

When in 2009 Simeon Dyankov took over the Ministry of Finance, the first thing he dealt with was to keep the budget deficit below the limit of 3% – the reference value, defined in the Stability and Growth Pact, which, if exceeded, would incur sanctions. Once he proved that the triple coalition has left budget

It’s the Economy, Stupid!*

Bulgaria is the poorest EU Member State and this fact no longer surprises anybody. Bulgarians got used to their place in the bottom of all rankings and revealing such information has even become an occasion of jokes and laughter. Of course, this is sad, but Bulgarians somehow manage to accept their destiny because all illusions

Fighting Crisis by Decision Avoidance

Most European Union member states entered recession at the very beginning of the second quarter of 2008. This made the government (the Triple Coalition at that time) think that Bulgaria would be left isolated from the world processes and it would become something like an island of stability amongst the ocean of sinking economies. Such

The Absurdity of Contemporary Bulgaria

It is impossible to have a normally-functioning society provided that half a million Bulgarians are illiterate, another half a million have as much as primary education and still another million and a half have left school at 15. All these people sum up to a two-third of the work force of the country and half