• Konstantin Kolev, Maya Tsoklinova
    DEPENDENCE BETWEEN BASIC SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POPULATION AND THE SIZE OF GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE ON SOCIAL PROTECTION
    Summary: One of the serious public questions for years has been related to the size of government expenditure and government revenues and the formed government budget. The latter determines the amount of government intervention in the economy and the public goods provided by the state. The growth of government expenditure is influenced by various factors, both on the demand side of public goods and on the supply side. In this context, in the present article the author's interest is focused on the study of the dependence between basic socio-demographic characteristics of the population and the size of government expenditure on social protection. The guiding working hypothesis for the research is that there is a positive relationship between government expenditure on social protection in the European Union (EU) Member States from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and basic socio-demographic characteristics of the population. The verification of the hypothesis is carried out in the following sequence: first, on the basis of a study of literary sources, quantitative indicators reflecting basic socio-demog-raphic characteristics of the population are substantiated; secondly, on the basis of the adopted indicators, socio-demographic population indices are calculated for the EU Member States from Central and Eastern Europe; third, the relationship between the government expenditure on social protection and the socio-demographic population index is measured by means of the coefficient of K. Pearson. The working hypothesis has been confirmed, as it has been established that there is a positive relationship between the studied variables in each year of the analyzed period 2017-2021. The values of the correlation coefficient during the period 2017-2021 in chronological order are as follows: 0.7336; 0.7128; 0.7011; 0.7006; 0.7063.
  • Plamen M. Pavlov
    INVENTION AND PATENT ACTIVITY IN BULGARIA IN THE PERIOD 2012–2017
    JEL: 034, 031
    Summary: Patents provide for serious protection for inventors, thereby enabling them, on the one hand, to recover costs faster and, on the other, to gain a larger market share or to protect existing positions in a competitive environment. In this regard, the purpose of the article is to identify the dynamics and trends in the invention activity of national and foreign applicants, and on this basis to draw conclusions and guidelines that would be useful for the business. The research uses a systematic approach, analysing data from the database of the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria for the period 2012–2017. The survey shows that Bulgaria is of interest to patent holders mainly from the EU, US, Switzerland and JAPAN. On the other hand, the Bulgarian applicants are sufficiently active in the invention activity, which has an effect on the competitiveness of the national economy.
  • Nigohos Kanaryan
    ENHANCING THE ADJUSTMENTS OF MARKET MULTIPLES FOR BETTER OPERATING EFFICIENCY
    JEL: G12, G30
    Summary: The study focuses on one of the specific applications of the market approach. The market approach is a valuation method whereby the fair market value of the target company is determined by reviewing comparable companies with similar operational and financial characteristics. The International Valuation Standards (2017) require that a valuer should make adjustments to the selected market multiples. Kasarova, Pramatarska and Lazarova (2009) and Todorov (2015) propose a method for adjusting market multiples for country risk and efficiency when the market approach is applied to emerging markets. We enhance their adjustment approach by removing its inherent restrictions.
  • Andrey Zahariev
    Financial Science in Changing Europe – Challenges and Perspectives
    Summary: With the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the first Bulgarian academic department of financial sciences (07– 08 April 2017) at D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics – Svishtov, a worthy assessment has been given and there has been a debate about what has been built over the years, what the current challenges and perspectives for future development are. The International Scientific Practical Conference “Current Challenges for the Financial Science in Changing Europe” was attended by Bulgarian and foreign scholars, working in the field of finance, as well as representatives of financial practice. One hundred and four people from seven countries and two continents, with ninety-two papers on corporate finance, investment, public finance, banking and micro-financial policy took part in the scientific forum. The host department prepared six plenary papers by its representatives of six hierarchical levels of academic development: students, PhD students, assistants professors, head assistants, associate professors and professors.