Issue 5, 2020

The article reviews the results of scientific and applied studies and projects of academic staff and practitioners related to the current tendencies in the economic theory and practice, and the economic challenges facing the development of Bulgaria, the countries of the region of Southeast Europe, the European Union and globally presented during the international scientific forum of the Economic Research Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, dedicated to the 70th Anniversary of the Institute.
JEL: B4; E00; F00; J00; M00; O1, O3; Q00; R1

This paper includes an introduction, four parts and a conclusion. It presents a survey focused on the economic efficiency of real sector companies, i. e. the companies operating in the segments of production, trading and services.
The presented research work is based on the Bulgarian legal framework regulating the elements of economic efficiency of companies and the economic efficiency itself. The elements represent useful results (economic effects) such as net sales revenue, total income, sale and corporate profits and corporate expenses and resources (assets, capital and personnel) employed in their realization.
The discussed issue is topical and important as the use of corporate resources and incurred corporate expenses are directly related to the useful results generated through such resources and expenses. So, companies may analyze, plan, control and seek options to optimize their economic efficiency.
The presentation of economic efficiency in terms of the Bulgarian legislation is based on information reported in the financial statements and certain accounts of companies. As we know, the Commercial Register is freely accessed, so experts at a given company may study the efficiency of their competitors using data presented in their financial statements published in the said Register. That access allows lecturers, analysts, consultants and other professionals to study the economic efficiency of other companies. They may use the indicators and models presented in this work as well.
JEL: L20; М20

The article estimates the size of home bias between 28 EU states between 2010 and 2018 and its variance between 17 industries. The assumption of the work is that home bias can be treated as a measure of integration: the smaller it is, the more countries are integrated. The aim of the article is to analyze bilateral trade flows of 28 EU states, and using Poisson pseudo-maximum-likelihood method calculate border effect for trade between these countries. Disaggregation of data into 17 production sectors will help to estimate the border effect more precisely. The methodology of the research is based on the gravity model estimation of panel data for 17 sectors, 28 countries and 9 years.
Using gravity model approach, it has been detected that the home bias is still present within the EU; however, it is decreasing with time, proving that the level of integration between states has increased. Another finding of the research is the diversity of home bias between sectors: it varies between 86.48 and 2.58, which can be explained by the difference in the rate of substitution between goods of domestic and foreign origin across industries.
JEL: F02; F13; F47

This paper aims to explore the social economy in the context of sustainable development and social inclusion, while tracking the developments in the legal framework of the social economy in Bulgaria and analysing some basic concepts. On the basis of this analysis, the authors have made generalisations and drawn conclusions.
JEL: К29; К31; L31

The aim of this study is to find out which are the pricing strategies used by the companies operating in Bulgaria in terms of their pricing objectives. In this regard, the study provides a literature review of the theoretical developments and empirical research on company objectives and pricing strategies as well as an empirical survey. Based on the survey data, two groups of pricing objectives were distinguished: of universal and of specific nature. It was found out that universal nature is more typical of quantitative objectives, whereas specific nature is more typical of qualitative objectives. In terms of specific objectives, it was shown which pricing strategies are used for their achievement.
JEL: M39; D47

One of the issues which has gained considerable attention in the recent labour market literature is the increase of both average educational attainment of the population and qualification mismatch. With regard to that, this paper aims at examining the impact of overeducation on long-run economic growth. It discusses the main transmission channels and mechanisms of that impact. Moreover, by incorporating qualification (mis)match in the neoclassical model of growth with human capital the study presents an empirical estimation of the link between mismatch of tertiary education graduates and real GDP per capita growth across the EU members from Central and Eastern Europe. The results show that though investments in human capital accelerate the rate of growth, the higher percentage of mismatched graduates displays a negative effect. This outcome is robust to the changes of the approach used to measure overeducation and the method of estimation as well.
JEL: I25, E24, E27, E13

Since art is a world-recognized platform for the representation and interpretation of social processes, in this paper we take an original approach and use the opportunities offered by art-based research in order to analyze the development of new narratives about the migration phenomena. Particularly, we apply a selected review of the main work of several contemporary artists whose interest is strongly focused on the economic, social and political issues related to migrations. Moreover, the paper explores the possibilities and obstacles offered by art for the dissemination of related research. In this regard, we believe that our paper contributes by enhancing the important relationship between art and social phenomena, like migrations. This relation includes, at least, two shared areas: first, the understanding that art is a space for the representation of various social processes traditionally addressed by social science. For instance, although political science scientists, economists, sociologists, historians, anthropologists, geographers, etc. have extensively dedicated their work to study the migration phenomena, it is less recognized the large work of artist on migrations. Accordingly, artists are accustomed to transdisciplinary intellectual work and creativity and therefore, the discourse of art on the migrations phenomena brings a fresh perspective and is welcome. Second, one of the differences between scientific research and artistic research is that in the latter, the decisions on how to dispose the elements that participate in the research and even the protocol itself is decided previously by rationalistic hypothesis and method. However, in artistic research, a final result is not as relevant, but rather the importance of the research lies in the process itself. The process approach leads each artist sets their own rules of action and this does not have to be justified beforehand. In this sense, our aim is not to replace the scientific discourse but to rescue the artistic approach as complementary and take advantage of its seductive, emotional, creative and formative potential.
JEL: J12; Z11

This article presents the results of a study of the organisation of informal economic networks and their role in the modern economy. The main characteristics of the network economy are discussed, and an analysis of domestic and foreign approaches to concepts that reveal the content of the informal economic network is conducted. The typologies of network structures are considered, and the classification of types of informal economic networks is presented. Models of informal networks are associated with theories and concepts of the development of economy and society. Management tools for the creation and development of informal economic networks in the services sector are defined and systematised. Disclosed and generalised approaches to the content of informal economic networks of the service sector. Key concepts are disclosed and an idea of the results of their research is given, which can be used in further developments on this scientific problem. The results of this study may be useful to specialists in the field of management and economics, dealing with problems of improving efficiency in modern conditions when studying theoretical and practical issues of management optimisation.
JEL: L80; M20; M29