ECONOMIC CHALLENGES IN THE CONTEXT OF PANDEMIC AND WAR CIRCUMSTANCES
The eighth annual scientific conference of the Monetary and Economic Research Center (MRC) was held from 20th to 21st of September 2022 at the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) in Sofia, Bulgaria. All papers of this book have been gone through a blind review and corrected where necessary. The book with papers is financed through university project НИД НП 10/2022 at the University of National and World Economy. The Union of Bulgarian Economists as well as Institute of Economics and Politics at UNWE, Sofia University and LEFMI France and are co-organizers of the conference. Main accent on the 8th Annual Conference was the economic challenges in the context of pandemic and war circumstances. Researchers and professionals from more than 10 countries took part. The present book consists papers in English language.
ISBN: 978-619-90797-7-5
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ORDOLIBERALISM AND LIBERALISM IN THE POST-WAR CZECHOSLOVAKIA (1945–1948)
The paper deals with economic thought of almost forgotten Christian conservatives after the World War Two. Despite the all-embracing socialist ideas, these people were proposing non-socialistic post-war order based on private property, free enterprise and competition. Their proposals were in the sharp contrast to the leading idea of “socializing” or “economic” democracy and comprehensive economic planning. Their economic thought had elements of both classical liberalism and ordoliberalism. Despite their relatively good public recognition, political development of post-war Czechoslovakia did not allow them to change public opinion. One way or another, the proper interpretation of their work is still missing in the history of economic thought textbooks so we attempt to provide at least the overview of their ideas and thus also provide the basis for future research agenda.
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THE OWNERSHIP IN DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT. COMPARISONS AND AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH
The paper aims to identify several major approaches used by various important schools toward the concept of ownership. And to find how they differ from each other and what benefits (and shortcomings) offer those differences to the analysis of the ownership/property. These comparisons are in order to launch an alternative approach toward the concept. The point is not to “improve” or to criticize, but to attempt to look on the category from an “outside” viewpoint.
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WP 22/2021 Soft Monetary Constraint and Shortage
in the European Sovereign Debt Economy.
Insights from J. Kornai’s theory - Updated version
From the fourth quarter of 2007 to the second quarter of 2020, the monetary base
in the euro area grew by 330%, the money supply by 61% and inflation measured by the
consumer price index - only 17%. Interest rates are around zero and negative, inflation is low,
and we often register deflation. This discrepancy between the growth of money and prices
has not only practical dimensions for the ECB and FED monetary policy, but also a theoretical
significance. In this contribution, we propose an interpretation of these trends on the basis of
concepts developed by J. Kornai in his economics of shortage analysis, which we apply to the
sovereign debt market of European countries. The point here is not to transpose Kornai's
shortage economy analysis to European capitalist economies, but to show that similar
phenomena are appearing today in a different institutional context.
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WP 23/2021 Balkan Monetary Dependence
during the XIX and XX centuries
In this article, we look at the main stages of the monetary systems on the Balkans, representing a cyclical alternation of dependent models, each of them effectively serving the relationship of the Balkan peripheral economies with their dominant military, geopolitical and economic centre. This centre of attraction is the anchor against which the monetary regime of the periphery is adjusted. We consider four periods: (i) the building of a national monetary system after long years of Ottoman domination, and especially the accession to the Latin Monetary Union, (ii) the adoption of the rules of the League of Nations and monetary stabilizations based on the gold exchange standard, (iii) the inclusion in the German Lebensraum and the system of currency control and clearings, and finally (iv) the Soviet zone and the COMECON, the mechanism of passive money and the transferable ruble. In the last period we present the Yugoslav monetary regime, which was attached to the West.
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EUROPE AFTER THE EU ELECTIONS:
MONETARY AND ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES
The fifth annual scientific conference of the Monetary and Economic Research Center (MRC) was held from 17th to 18th of October 2019 at the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) in Sofia, Bulgaria. The main accent on the 5th Annual Conference was the future of Europe's monetary and economic development after the EU elections. Researchers and professionals from more than 7 countries took part. ISBN: 978-619-90797-6-8
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Evaluation of members’ satisfaction in modern Bulgarian agricultural cooperatives
Decades after the establishment of the first modern agricultural cooperative in Bulgaria, we observe a continuous increase in its number, then we see a decline until nowadays. We have identified three historical periods for this development: pre- socialism, socialism and post-socialism. In periods, when the members’ satisfaction is higher, we notice an increase of the cooperatives’ number and vice versa. In each period the relation between members’ satisfaction, cooperative values and principles, on the one hand, and existing and operating governance structures, on the other hand, differs seriously.
This paper is concentrated on reasons for this development and tries to evaluate the influence and application of the governance structure and cooperative values and principles on members’ satisfaction. In our research we argue that the members’ satisfaction is higher when the governance structure of the cooperative fits with the cooperative values and principles.
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Empirical analysis of the relationship between the exchange rate and the inflation rate with the VAR model case of Vietnam (1995-2016)
The analyses in Chapter 2 lead us to a question on the relationship between foreign exchange reserves and the monetary base. Changes in the foreign exchange reserve will affect changes in exchange rates. We can use the foreign exchange reserve as a tool to modify and anticipate the exchange rate in the economy. Moreover, inflation has a strict relationship with the quantity of currency and Vietnam's monetary source depends in particular on changes in external assets. In the case of Vietnam, after the periods of hyperinflation (1954-1975; 1973-1975; 1985-1989) , the value of the Vietnamese currency was significantly devalued. In this case, based on the analyses of post-Keynesian authors, we can see that the reason for the substitution of the national currency for the foreign currency in this context can be explained by the preference for liquidity, which is a preference for holding highly liquid assets with stable values (Charles and Marie, 2016). If the value of the domestic currency is not stable due to high inflation or depreciation, foreign currencies can better satisfy the liquidity preference. Subsequently, the use of the dollar (or another foreign currency) as a unit of account is observed, followed by an increased tendency to make payments in foreign currency. In addition, the volatility of the inflation rate and the exchange rate has strongly influenced the objectives of balance of payments stabilization and economic growth .
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NEW REALITIES IN THE EU AND THE PLACE OF BALKAN COUNTRIES
The fourth annual scientific conference of the Monetary and Economic Research Center (MRC) was held from 11th to 12th of October 2018 at the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) in Sofia, Bulgaria. Main accent on the 4th Annual Conference was the place and importance of the Balkan countries in the European Union. Researchers and professionals from more than 7 countries took part. The present book consists papers in English and Bulgarian languages. ISBN 978-619-90797-5-1
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Ownership as an economic category in the research of Karl Marx and their importance in the history of economic thought
The article deals with the problem of ownership as a scientific category. An analysis of Karl Marx's output is made to explain the place of this economic category in the category of dialectic. The subject of the study is "Capital" (three volumes) and other studies by Marx, mainly "Grundrisse der Kritik der politischen Oekonomie" (1857).
The article emphasizes the semantic differences of such concepts as: ownership, possession, disposal and derivatives.
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