Economic and fiscal policy

The months of March and April are a time for frequent meetings with the state administration, especially for those of us who have businesses, have founded non-governmental organizations, work on civil contracts, or even just have to fill out a tax return. Regardless of which tax/fee/document collecting institution we encounter, the common denominator is that we will …

About 10 days ago, it became clear to the general public that the government would issue new external debt worth 8.1 billion euros (16 billion leva) in the form of bonds within the period 2015-2017. This news polarized commentators and the public into two camps: defenders of the debt (mainly "right-wing" analysts and ...

The following text is a continuation of the debate between Petar Volgin and Petar Ganev "FOR and AGAINST the social state", organized by the Bulgarian Libertarian Society. The audience at the Studio 5 club, where the clash of ideas took place, had many more questions than time allowed, so both participants agreed to …

Undoubtedly the most important event on the European political scene at the end of January was the decisive victory of the far-left party SYRIZA in the early parliamentary elections in Greece. Although it fell two seats short of an outright majority, the equally extremist (but at the other end of the spectrum) Independents came to the rescue.

In the last months of his life, US President John F. Kennedy pushed the idea of a massive political campaign – a war on poverty in the country – through his cabinet. His successor in the White House – Lyndon B. Johnson – further developed the plan and presented his vision of the “Great Society” to the US Congress. As …

The topic of state railways has been a favorite political chewing gum since the very beginning of the transition. Especially considering the fact that the railway company (as a classic state enterprise) in its slow death has become a black hole for taxpayers' money. The annual state subsidy for passenger transportation with discounted tickets alone amounts to …

At the beginning of December, I traditionally groan under piles of final economics and philosophy tests and essays from my students at Northwood University in Michigan. This year, I decided to take a break by listening to a recording of an event organized by my friends at BLO – a debate between Petar Ganev from IME and comrade …

Despite the unstable political situation over the past year, public procurement in the Republic of Bulgaria has maintained relatively stable levels in terms of the number of launched procurements and the amount of their financing. On the other hand, in anticipation of the start of the new programming period 2014-2020, the number of …

After analyzing in our previous article what public projects were funded during the summer, here we will focus exclusively on the projects launched, financed with money from European grants during the months of June, July and August. Overview During the months of June, July and August, 311 projects were launched with …

The state likes to redistribute funds acquired from tax revenues to areas it calls “priority”. This process is usually opaque and manipulated to benefit one or another interest. There is no other area of public administration where this is more visible than the allocation of public procurement. In the structure of the Bulgarian …