Issue 6, 2006

The need of accelerated economic development of Bulgaria during the next years and decades has been justified. The normal and accelerated developments have been characterised, as well as their driving forces. 15 strong starting positions immediately before joining the EU have been listed. About 40 weak starting positions have been pointed out too. A short economic characteristic of the strong and weak points has been made. Ideas for future economic policy concerning most of the weak points have been proposed. It has been proven that the weaknesses of the economy have been accumulated for years and Bulgaria is not ready to accede to the Union in equal terms. Nevertheless, only as a EU member Bulgaria will have more favourable conditions for accelerated development. The country has no alternative to the EU membership and accelerated development. The combination of the two processes corresponds best to the national interests of Bulgaria.

With the aim to reconsider the prime causes of poverty and directions for its overcoming, specific aspects of the unpaid labour have been presented, as well as possibilities for its better accounting and measures for its redistribution for achieving gender equality. Attention has been given to the need to recognise and value the unpaid labour in its mass and largest scale as home and hired. An emphasis has been put on the unpaid home labour as a prime cause of poverty and discrimination among women with children, who have done or are doing their parental duty and heavy family obligations, but who do not have equal access to the labour market and social security.

The external environment analysis for developing a structure for further actions is a complex process, which requires a careful evaluation of factors and determining relations among them, identifying strong and weak points, opportunities and threats of the environment. With the help of the PEST-analysis, most of the important factors of the external environment could be identified. Thus, the application of the PEST-analysis for studying weak structured systems means to determine adequate for a given organisation external factors and measures for exerting an active influence on them.

The article is an answer to the publication The Ideas of Ludwig von Mises for the Development of the Austrian Economic School by N. Gerchev (iss. 4/ 2005), constructed as a critical analysis of positions and statements, presented in our study on the Austrian School. An attitude has been taken about some issues of the Austrian economic theory, which are of a disputable nature. The principle position, which the discussion is based on, is the understanding of common tradition and relatively shaped specific "face" of the Austrian School.