Foreword

Abstract

This edition is a collection of аrticle from very different areas of economics and economic policies, and also some of them reflect of different periods of recent and contemporary policy making.

Bertrand Lemennicier’s article first appeared more than ten years ago and was updated and edited for this publication two years ago but goes now into print just in the week when the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between USA and USSR is put on hold, a treaty that had an end to the cold war. Professor Lemennicier helps us understand the economics of nuclear weapon controls and agreements, and one can find in his paper an explanation of the challenges such agreements face and are doomed to face.

Dr. Tatala’s interview, which first appeared in the Capital Weekly some six months ago in Bulgarian, explains not only 30 years of Poland’s success in reforms form central planning to market economy but makes a review of the challenges his country is now facing in the area of the rule of law, challenges that emerged in the last two-three years to almost everybody’s surprise.

Ruta Vainiene, Professor Hanke and Dr. Ganev’s article deal as if with different areas of monetary and fiscal policies, respectively – Lithuania’s entry into the Eurozone, the success of Bulgaria’s currency board arrangement (CBA, while the country is currently aspiring to join the Euro) and the fiscal stimuli during economic recession in Bulgaria that happened about ten years ago. In fact, however, these three authors discuss the impacts and (especially fiscal) risks of the strict rule-based monetary policy such as CBA in the transition to other type of rule-based monetary policies, the ones of the European Central Bank. These three papers demonstrate how up to date is the research outline of Professor Tanev into the “political economy of the currency boards”. (Professor Tanev is current and Fulbright Scholar with Professor Hanke.)

This volume starts with a Gia Jandieri’s review of the Georgia’s most radical reconstruction during the period from 2004 to 2012, a prompt and that far-reaching reform that event Poland cannot match. This review, not surprisingly, is a dialogue with above four articles because it demonstratе how important is the overall philosophy and general framework of economic policies that are likely to ensure both prosperity and rule of law.

The discussion of the possible developments of a very specific fiscal policy of food-vouchers in Bulgaria by Panchev, Sharkov and Stanchev gives an example of how obvious to economist beneficial and Parretto-optimal policies fail to make its way into real life for more than a decay.

This volume would not have been possible without the commitment of the authors and the members of the Advisory Board, and without the hard work of Dr. Simeon Petrov who helped me editing it and who coordinates the entire work on the Journal.

I am sure our readers and students will find the individual papers interesting and useful for further research and deliberation of economic policies.