Issue 5, 2021

The article examines the weaknesses in the protection mechanisms for vulnerable energy consumers in Bulgaria. The thesis that the lack of adequate protection mechanisms causes the emergence of a fourth pillar of energy poverty beyond the three most frequently cited pillars – high energy prices, low incomes and low level of energy efficiency of buildings – is justified. An overview of the mechanism for household access to justice in the energy sector in Bulgaria is provided, starting with the national ombudsman, municipal ombudsmen and ombudsmen in energy companies. The main problems, encountered in energy justice for households in this sector are summarized, as well as the way in which state institutions respond to these problems. The study concludes that the Bulgarian citizens face high levels of energy injustice and poverty, which they have to fight using ineffective consumer protection mechanisms. This effectiveness depends on persons in charge, not on legal and administrative processes.
JEL: D63; K32; Q48; I32; P46

In this article an attempt was made to define and analyze the subject matter of energy security in the business. A characterization of the state of the energy business in the EU and precisely the situation in the Republic of Bulgaria is presented. The place and importance of ensuring energy security in business is shown and the perspectives for the development of both the energy sector as well as for business and national economy is outlined.
JEL: L0; Q40; O13

An author's integrated model, applicable to each agricultural sector and region, regarding its marketing strategies in the context of the green circular bioeconomy, is presented. It shows that the issue studied is both sectoral and regional in nature. In this regard, the strategies at a sectoral and regional level in the context of the green circular bioeconomy are analysed at the outset. Then regional resources, green markets and short marketing chains, circular design with smart green specialisation and green marketing policies are examined, using the marketing strategies of the beekeeping sector of the Ruse region as an example. The marketing strategies of the beekeeping sector of the Ruse region create new green market segments for apiculture and other products. As a result, regional markets are expanded, local green economies are generated and stimulated, costs and delivery times are reduced, pollution is reduced and new industries, ecosystems and other services are formed. All this leads to competitive and sustainable ecological development of the region in the long term.
JEL: O13; Q13

This paper presents the level of competitiveness of the EU-27 Member States in 2019. It also indicates the state of trademark activity for the same year, measured by the number of trademarks, applied for in the countries, included in the study. The relationship "national economic competitiveness – trademark application activity" in 2019 and in 2017 is examined. The existence of a positive correlation between trademark activity and the level of competitiveness of the EU-27 Member States for the years studied is confirmed.
JEL: О31; O34; О52

As a first tranche measure to fight the economic disruption of the lock-down and part of the strategy to revive India’s battered economy, a liquidity infusion for the power distribution companies was announced under the Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) scheme. The present study aims to discuss the overdue, outstanding, and disputed amounts of the sixty-one power discoms from April 2020 to September 2020. The author pointed out that the amounts due by the discoms to generator companies have risen to Rs. 94,000 crores while the Indian government will provide only a total liquidity infusion of Rs. 90,000 crores for the needy electricity distribution companies. The payments owed by electricity utilities have risen to Rs. 1.24 lakh crore, which is more than 20 percent higher than for the same period last year. Subsequently, the debts of the discoms to generating companies are growing, making discoms unsustainable as unpaid power producers threaten to stop electricity supply to states.
JEL: H74; M20; O21

Ivan Pososhkov is one of the founders of Russian economic thought. He is the author of the first systematized treatise on economic issues in its history - "Book on Poverty and Wealth", which will celebrate its 300th anniversary in three years. Pososhkov's ideas have aroused unceasing interest among historians of economic sciences, and for a long time he was considered as a representative of the mercantilist school in Russia. In the last decade, however, mainly, but not only in the Russian specialized literature, a discussion has unfolded about the categorization of his concept and its referring to a specific school/field of economics. The purpose of the article is a critically analysis of the arguments offered and an attempt to make sense of the place of Pososhkov's views in the history of economic doctrines. As a result, his concept is categorized within the frames of “cameralism”.
JEL: B; B1; B11

Heinrich von Stackelberg introduced several fundamental concepts to economic theory. His contributions to the analysis of market structure are the best-known ones. Since the 1930th his theory of the instability of markets is a cornerstone of theoretical economics. If firms make dependent and independent decisions in an oligopolistic market structure, the outcome is rarely a stable equilibrium. The concept of Stackelberg-leader and Stackelberg-follower is immanent in many real-world business situations. However, only after the emergence of game theory and linear programming the full potential of Stackelberg’s contributions has become apparent. In cost theory and the theory of monopoly, he provided some of the basic principles that became part of economic textbooks. First-semester students of economics and business administration are studying these theories even 80 years after Stackelberg introduced them. In this comment, we refer to his two major works on market structures and cost theory.
JEL: B21; B31; D43; D24; L13; L22