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Petya Koralova Nozharova
THE IMPACT OF RAILROAD TRANSPORT ON BULGARIA’S REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Summary:
The article presents a study on the impact of freight railroad transport on the development of Bulgaria’s regions assessed through sectoral and econometric analyses. The analyses are based on indices such as revenues from transport activity of the licensed railway operators by regions, number of staff in the companies, development of the transport infrastructure, and migration growth rate. Most of the publications in this field address the relationship between air and/or water transport and regional development while this study focuses on improving energy-efficient and environmentally friendly modes of transport, such as freight railway transport. Its importance is corroborated through a regression analysis, which shows that the internal migration in the country depends on the development and modernization of its railway infrastructure.
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Stoyan Prodanov, Dimitrina Lyubenova Prodanova
BULGARIA’S COVERAGE WITH LOCAL INITIATIVE GROUPS – A SPATIAL ANALYSIS
Summary:
This research focuses on the innovative LEADER approach within the Common agricultural policy of the EU which is widely used for the decentralized and at the same time integrated development of rural regions in each member state. Theoretically, the LEADER approach is part of the endogenous theory of economic development and plays an important role in achieving the social, economic and now climatic aims as a specific European model of stimulating the inclusion of communities in local development. From a spatial point of view, the LEADER approach has been applied at the level of municipality or unified neighboring municipalities and/or neighboring settlements-part of a municipality/ies with a population between 10,000 and 150,000 inhabitants by local initiative groups (LIG). Bulgaria’s Program for the development of rural regions 2014–2020 adopts the national definition according to which rural regions are defined at the municipal level (LAU 1) and comprise the territory of 231 municipalities in which the largest town has a population of 30,000 inhabitants. The analysis of the spatial coverage of rural regions with LIG shows the negative effect of the admission of typically urban municipalities within the territories which receive funding through the LEADER network. To eliminate those inaccuracies in determining the policies for the development of rural regions, we propose and test variants to change this arguable, too streamlined and non-corresponding to scientific thought definition of a rural region.
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Silvia Sasheva Zarkova
REGIONAL DISPARITIES IN BULGARIA TODAY: ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGES
Summary:
To accelerate Bulgaria's economic development taking into account the specific characteristics of their regions is a serious challenge for the local governments in the country. The ongoing political and economic changes require a reassessment of the country's economic development. The aim of this study was to analyse the disparities among Bulgaria’s regions (defined in accordance with the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS)) by assessing the degree of economic, social and demographic chal¬lenges they face and performing a multivariate comparative analysis with sets of statistically significant indicators. The analysis clearly outlines the bounda¬ries of the regional disparities and the need to improve the country’s regional and cohesion policies.
