Economy

"Taxes are theft." You may have heard similar statements made or shared by your libertarian (or classical liberal) acquaintances. Is there any logic behind this statement, though, or is it just another hollow political slogan? Let's start with a thought experiment. If a robber threatened you with a gun...

Healthcare is a cornerstone in the election promises of political parties in Bulgaria. It is one of the most speculated topics when it comes to reforms, development and improvement of the current situation. It is no coincidence that the post of Minister of Health can be compared to an electric chair. …

As we have already understood, the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) grows annually and unjustifiably. On the other hand, mortality is increasing, while diseases are showing a constant trend. Theft through referrals has been a known fact for years and is easily noticeable in regional statistics. Since we have begun to dismantle the healthcare system, we must …

The following article aims to examine the programs of the two main parties in the next parliamentary elections - BSP and GERB. The basis for this is a debate organized by "Nova TV", as well as the programs published on their websites. The article focuses on their economic aspects and, even more so, their consequences for the fiscal system. The first …

Recently, Bulgaria's possible entry into the EU's monetary union, the so-called Eurozone, has become a hot topic. Over the past week, a number of experts, led by the former economic team of the NMSV and Ivan Kostov, took turns explaining in various media why Bulgaria should abolish the currency board as soon as possible and …

At the end of 2016, the "patriotic" idea of imposing Bulgarian food in stores became fashionable again, as the state had to introduce corresponding repressive requirements on businesses along the lines of "buy only Bulgarian". According to the draft law submitted by the BSP, "for part of the quantities of products offered, the production of which is traditional for Bulgaria...it is mandatory...

Ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, we are witnessing one of the strangest election campaigns in recent years. This is a campaign in which political parties are falling into heavy populism, promising us a flood of absurdities - economic growth of 6-7% per year, doubling pensions, huge increases in the average and minimum wage...

A specter has been haunting the Bulgarian political space lately. The specter of the supposedly suspended Belene NPP project. Although it was suspended in 2012, as anyone who has followed the developments in recent months knows, some of the equipment needed for the construction of the new nuclear power plant is already on its way to Bulgaria, …

The article talks about a real Bulgarian municipality and the incident is based on real and public data. We will call it “municipality X”, due to the fact that neither the name of the municipality nor the medical team working on its territory should be discredited. The article will present the state of …

Six years ago, a study by Alberto Alesina, Dorian Carloni, and Giampaolo Lecce was published entitled “Electoral Consequences of Large Fiscal Adjustments.” In it, the authors dispute the thesis that large reductions in budget deficits (for which the term “fiscal adjustments” is used) lead to worse electoral results for political parties that …