For the past 12 years, the Heritage Foundation, one of the leading and most renowned institutions in the field of economic freedom and policy research, has published its annual Index of Economic Freedom in countries around the world. 2016 is no exception, and Bulgaria reports better results compared to its performance last year, but …
More »What are the most dangerous economic promises that parties have made so far?
The most notable (and frightening!) part of the election campaign so far has been the unprecedented escalation of populist economic promises from parties that have already announced some of their economic programs. Almost all parties are pushing each other to propose "solidarity" economic policies, which would have very negative consequences for both the state budget and...
More »(Im)Possible reforms in the NHIF
The state in which the healthcare system was left by Dr. Petar Moskov is bordering on deplorable. The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) again ran a deficit of 50 million leva at the end of 2016, and by now it has grown to 72 million leva. The fingerprint system turned out to be …
More »Four questions in the inequality debate
A change in presidency will not reduce the amount of time and energy some people will spend debating the issue of growing inequality between rich and poor. In fact, I expect to see such debates become more frequent and more intense. I have written many articles and given many speeches on the issues, …
More »Prosperity is achieved not through protectionism, but through free trade
During the 2016 US presidential race, both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders emerged as advocates of protectionism and expressed clear support for expanding tariffs and other trade barriers imposed on imports, with both arguing that free trade policies lead to job losses...
More »Donald Trump – the visible and the invisible in trade
“In economics, every action, custom, institution, or law, produces not just one result, but a series of consequences. Of all of them, only one consequence is immediate; it appears simultaneously with the cause (and the action); it is visible. The other consequences appear later; they are invisible; we are lucky if we can foresee them.” …
More »12 recommendations from American students for their new president
We are publishing 12 recommendations for the new US president less than a month before his inauguration. They were sent to us specifically by the students of Professor Alexander Tokarev at Northwood University in Michigan, USA. Like Reagan, Trump has chosen crappy predecessors. With this clever move, he has significantly facilitated the task of …
More »The Fed's decision to raise interest rates: Causes and consequences
On December 14, the chair of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, officially announced the increase in the institution's key interest rate by 25 basis points, from 0.25% to 0.50%. This is the first interest rate increase by the Fed since December 2015, although Yellen initially said that we would see three to four increases ...
More »Who said that the Bulgarian mountains don't have year-round tourism?
Every winter, along with the Punic Wars around the second lift in Bansko, the first in Pamporovo and the zero lift in Vitosha, we hear the propaganda that there is no year-round tourism in the Bulgarian mountains. The understanding is instilled that in Bansko (Blagoevgrad), Pamporovo (Smolyan) and Borovets (Sofia region) some bad and stupid people invest in hotels and ski areas, …
More »Is it a risk or a security to invest in long-term government debt?
In a world where market signals are confused, central banks – extremely dependent on macroeconomic indicators, reforms, savings and investments with their own capital – are left on the back burner, and economies are so fragile in the face of unpredictable events, it is interesting to go back to basics and analyze through the eyes of economic laws and …
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EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion