Macroeconomic Monitor

2022

A Christmas tale for the new generation in the European Union

(The Agitation for Happiness or How the Federation of Servile States Came into Being)[1] Krasen Stanchev "Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." (Winston Churchill, 1941) "The more the state "plans," the more difficult it becomes for the individual to plan" (Friedrich von Hayek, 1944) The year 2022 is ...

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On the harm of education

Широко разпространено клише гласи, че образованието е универсално полезно, че който се учи, той ще сполучи, а „науката е слънце“. Икономическият превод на това твърдение намира израз в хипотезата на Нобеловия лауреат Гари Бекер, че образованието е инвестиция, която дава високи доходи, защото увеличава производителността. Здравият разум предполага общоприетите истини …

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Harm Reduction: Differentiated Regulation in the Tobacco Debate in Bulgaria and in Brussels

|Full text of the report| English version | An important moment is approaching for consumers of tobacco and tobacco products in the European Union. It is expected that in December this year the European Commission will present a draft for the renewal of the Tobacco Excise Duty Directive 2011/64/EU. In the coming months, the European institutions, represented by the Council …

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Who is afraid of an expert debate about the euro?

At a parliamentary hearing last week, we witnessed yet another shameful circus regarding the issue of the future of Bulgaria’s currency regime. The Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, Dimitar Radev, attempted to evade responsibility for providing an analysis of the consequences of Bulgaria’s potential accession to the eurozone. In …

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The fiscal mistakes that the new parliament must fix

In last week's article, I presented an analysis of the state of the Bulgarian economy and public finances according to the most recent data from the National Statistical Institute and the Ministry of Finance. The situation, as we have seen, is not at all rosy. Long-term investments have collapsed, private consumption is also starting to weaken, and the negative contribution of net exports to …

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The Bulgarian economy is heading towards a crisis for which the state budget is not prepared

As the winter season approaches, the economic outlook is becoming increasingly bleak, both for Bulgaria and for the whole of Europe. Data shows that gas storage facilities in the European Union are filled to relatively satisfactory levels and natural gas prices have started to decline. However, recession seems inevitable in a number of key European economies, led by …

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Joe in Pennsylvania milks milk and extracts shale gas from under the cow. He exports both to Europe – are we stupid?

Author: Boyan Nikolaev A few weeks after Mike Pompeo's visit to Bulgaria, we talked about his figure and messages with colleagues from the American university where I work. Most of them are lecturers and professors of arts and logically with more left-wing and more liberal views, naturally sympathetic to the Democrats. Accordingly, the mood towards …

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The price of "free"

There are hardly many people who would not accept free consumption of goods or services. However, free should be in quotes, because someone always pays the price in some form. It does not have to be paid in money, it is possible that those who consume do not realize that they are paying, it is possible …

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Privatize this: the right to access water and water supply concessions

I dedicate this article to my friend Vladimir Karolev, with whom we have repeatedly discussed the concessioning of water, district heating, resorts, beaches and services. [i] “Bath” or “shower”: vital signs of the problem This question did not, for example, face the residents of Sofia in 1994 and early 1995. The reason is very simple …

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