A Short History of the Great Depression in Bulgaria

Marinova, Tsvetelina and Nenovsky, Nikolay (2023): A Short History of the Great Depression in Bulgaria.

Abstract

The paper aims to synthesize the causes and factors that have given specific shape to the Great Depression in Bulgaria, its manifestation in the country (Part 1), its phases and forms (Part 2), as well as the subsequent structural change and trajectory of the Bulgarian economy and society (Part 3). We present the major economic ideas as well as the debates that accompanied them. We argue that the overall dynamic of the causes, phases, and consequences of the Great Depression has an internal logic and causal consistency.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: agrarian crisis, financial crisis, Great Depression, Bulgaria, economic policy, economic thought
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B25 - Historical ; Institutional ; Evolutionary ; Austrian; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit > E52 - Monetary Policy; N - Economic History > N1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics ; Industrial Structure ; Growth ; Fluctuations; N - Economic History > N2 - Financial Markets and Institutions; N - Economic History > N2 - Financial Markets and Institutions > N24 - Europe: 1913-; N - Economic History > N5 - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries > N54 - Europe: 1913-; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture

References

LN - League of Nations PEP - Political and Economic Planning RIIA - Royal Institute of International Affairs ESPA - Economic and Social Policy Archive JBES - Journal of the Bulgarian Economic Society PSIES - Proceedings of the Statistical Institute for Economic Studies at Sofia University

Agansky, N. (1936). The German market and the Danube countries, ACCP, 11(2): 132-141(in Bulgarian)

Aladzhov, P. (2000). High Commissioner. A life in the service of the economy, ed. St. Kliment Ohridski, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Aldcroft, D. (1981 [1977]). From Versailles to Wall Street, 1919 - 1929, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles

Arndt, H. W. (2014 [1944]). The Economic lessons of the nineteen-thirties, Routledge, London

Avramov (2007) Communal capitalism. From the Bulgarian economic past, ed. Bulgarian Science and Culture Foundation, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Bell, J. (1977). Peasants in power: Alexander Stamboliiski and the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union: 1899-1923, Princeton: N.J., Princeton university press.

Berov, L., ed. (1989). The economy of Bulgaria before the socialist revolution, ed. Science and Art, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Benham, F. (1939) South-Eastern Europe: A political and economic survey, RIIA, London.

Blancheton B. and N. Nenovsky. (2013). Protectionism and protectionist theories in the Balkans in the interwar period, Cahiers du GRETha n° 2013-02.

Bliznakov, T. (1931). A view of the economic and financial situation of Bulgaria in 1930, JBES, 30 (5): 285-297 (in Bulgarian)

Bobchev, K. (1940). War, peace and the economic interests of states, JBES, 39 (1): 3-22. (in Bulgarian)

Bobchev, K. (1940a). The economy and economic policy of Bulgaria under the sign of the war, JBES, 39 (10): 621-658(in Bulgarian)

Bobchev, K. (1934). Discrepancy between prices of agricultural and prices of industrial products, in. Vazrazhdane, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Bobtcheff, K. (1939). La Politique du commerce extérieur de la Bulgarie après la guerre, Publications of the Statistical Institute for Economic Research, State University of Sofia, 1938 N° 4

BNB (2001). Bulgarian National Bank: Collection of documents (1915-1929), General Directorate of Archives, Volume 3 (in Bulgarian)

BNB (1997). The Bulgarian National Bank at 120 years (1879-1998), (author's collective, edited by L. Berov), BNB, unpublished monograph (in Bulgarian)

Chakalov, A. (1946). The national income and expenditure of Bulgaria, Knipegraff Press, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Cholakov – Zarin, P. (1929). In the whirlwind of robberies, Publishing house: Boris Kojuharov, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Cohen, D. (2002). The wartime economy of Bulgaria, 1939-1944, University Press "St. Kliment Ohridski", Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Daskalov (2005). Bulgarian society 1978 - 1939, Vol. 1. State, politics, economy, vol. 2. Population, Society, Culture, ed. "Gutenberg", Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Dimitrov, M (2010). Bulgarian agriculture during the global economic crisis 1929-1934, Yearbook of the Law Faculty at UNWE, vol. 3, pp. 197-217. (in Bulgarian).

Dolinsky, N. (1936). The manifestations of the crisis in the Bulgarian agricultural economy, Yearbook of the Higher School of Commerce, Varna (monograph) (in Bulgarian)

Filov, B. (2022 [1942]). The word of God the Great Depression. Speeches of the 28th Bulgarian Prime Minister, ed. Edelweiss, Pleven (in Bulgarian)

Focarile, A. (1929). Bulgaria d'oggi. Nei suoi aspetti sociali, economici, commerciali e finanziari (con una carta delle ferrovie bulgare). Milano: Hoepli.

Georgiev, D. (1955). Clearing payments in international trade, ed. Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Hauke, K. (2017 [1942]). Bulgaria. Country, people, history, culture, economy, ed. East-West, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Hristoforov, A. (1943). Introduction to the political economy of military economy. The Theory of wartime economic conjuncture, Zadruzhen trud printing house, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Hristoforov, A. (1939). Development of the conjunctural cycle in Bulgaria, 1934-1939, Court Printing House, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Ilieff, P. (1930). La Banque nationale de Bulgarie et l'histoire de sa politique monétaire. Lyon: Bosc and Riou.

Kalinov, T. (1935). The world economic crisis and autarky as its main expression, JBES, 34 (5): 275-288 (in Bulgarian)

Kemilev, A. (1936). Monetary circulation in Bulgaria, VTU, 1(4): 287-300 (in Bulgarian)

Kindleberger, Ch. (1973). The World in Depression, 1929-1939, University of California Press, Berkley

Koleva, M. (2012). German economic policy towards Bulgaria between the two world wars 1919-1939, ed. Marin Drinov, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Kremenski, G. (1932). The trade in tobacco in Bulgaria, Stopanska missal, 3(3): 3-57(in Bulgarian)

Koszul, J. (1932). Les efforts de restauration financière de la Bulgarie (1922-1931), Félix Alcan, Paris

Kossev, K. (2008). The banking sector and the Great Depression in Bulgaria, 1924-1938, BNB

LN (1933). Situation économique mondiale, 1932-1933, LN, Genève

Manoilescu, M. (1938 [1934]). Le siècle du corporatisme: Doctrine du corporatisme intégral et pur. Ed. Félix Alcan, Paris

Markov, G. (1984). Bulgarian-German relations 1931 - 1939, ed. Nauka i Izkustvo, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Michaely, M. (1962). Multilateral balancing in international trade, American Economic Review 52 (4): 685-702.

Milward, A. (1979). War, economy and society, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles

Ministry of Agriculture and State Estates (1941). Five-year agricultural plan 1942-1946, Sofia. (in Bulgarian)

Mollof, D. V. (1934). La crise mondiale et la Banque Nationale de Bulgarie (Etude de Documentation économique), Paris : Domat-Montchrestien, F. Loviton & Cie.

Neal, L. (1979). The economics and finance of bilateral clearing agreements: Germany 1934-8, Economic History Review, 32 (3): 391-404.

Nedelchev, K. (1941). Problems of Bulgarian economy, ed. Polygraphy, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Nedelchev, K. (1937). Foreign trade of Bulgaria, 1920-1936, Polygraphy, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Nenovsky, N., C. Marinova (2022). The first steps of the Lender of Last Resort in Bulgaria. History and debates in the years of the Great Depression, Economic Thought, 67 (1): 28-53

Nenovsky and Torre (2022). Debates, plans and interventions to overcome the 1931 banking crisis in Romania and Bulgaria, Jahrb. f. Wirtschaftsg, 63(2): 1-31

Nenovsky N., P. Penchev (2018). Between enthusiasm and scepticism: Bulgarian economists and Europe (1878-1944), History of Economic Theory and Policy, (1): 27-56.

Nenovsky, N., D. Torre (2015). Productivity based protectionism: A Marxian reconstruction of Mihail Manoilescu's theory, Journal of Economic Issues, 49 (3): 772-786

Nenovsky, N., R. Andreev (2013). Bulgarian economists on the Great Depression, ed. UNWE, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Nenovsky, N. (2012). Theoretical Debates in Bulgaria during the Great Depression. Confronting Sombart, Marx and Keynes, Oeconomia: 67-101.

Nenovsky N., G. Pavanelli, K. Dimitrova (2007). Exchange Rate Control in Italy and Bulgaria in the Interwar Period. History and Perspectives. In Mooslechner P. (ed.), The Experience of Exchange Rate Regimes in South-Eastern Europe in a Historical and Comparative Perspective, Oesterreichische Nationalbank: 80-117.

Palazov, I. (1932). The problem of debtors' relief, JBES, 31 (4): 205-224. (in Bulgarian)

Pasvolsky, L. (1928). Economic nationalism of the Danubian states, George Allen & Unwin, London

PEP (1945). Economic development in S. E. Europe. Including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Roumania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece, with introduction of D. Mitrany, Oxford University Press, London

Petkof, J. (1926). Prix, circulation et change en Bulgarie de 1890 a 1924, Jouve & Cie Editeurs, Paris

Prost, N. (1932). La Bulgarie de 1912 à 1930. Contribution à l'histoire économique & financière de la guerre et des conséquences, Editions Pierre Roger, Paris

Prost, H. (1925). La liquidation financière de la guerre en Bulgarie. Paris: Marcel Gard.

Poppetrov, N. (2009). Social left, nationalism forward. Program and organizational documents of Bulgarian authoritarian national socialist formations, Gutenberg IK, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

RIIA (1939). South-Eastern Europe. A political and economic Survey, Oxford University Press, London

RIIA (1936). The Balkan states. A review of the economic and financial development of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Roumania, and Yugoslavia since 1919, Oxford University Press, London

Roselli, A. (2014). Money and trade wars in Interwar Europe, Palgrave, Macmillan, New York

Rusenov, M., ed. (1983). History of the financial and credit system in Bulgaria. From Liberation to 9 September 1944, volume 2, Georgi Bakalov Publishing House, Varna (in Bulgarian)

Ryaskov, M. (2006). Memories and Documents, ed. BNB, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Tokushev, D. (2008). History of the Bulgarian state and law 1978 - 1944, ed. Sibi, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Toose, A. (2008). The making and breaking of the Nazi economy, Penguin books, London

Tooze, A., Ivanov, M. (2011). Disciplining the “black sheep of the Balkans”: financial supervision and sovereignty in Bulgaria, 1902–38. The Economic History Review, 64(1), 30–51.

Totev, A. (1935). Index numbers for the volume of agricultural production, TSISP at Sofia University, (2-3) (in Bulgarian)

Tsankov, A. (1999 [1953]). Bulgaria in turbulent times, Window, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Tsankov, A. (2020 [1942]). The three economic systems. Capitalism, communism and national socialism, ed. Edelweiss, Pleven (in Bulgarian)

Tsankov, A. (1932). The economic and social crisis, JBES, 31 (1): 1-24 (in Bulgarian)

Tsankov, A. (2009 [12 June 1932]). Our way, program speech of prof. A. Tsankov at the Renaissance Theatre, in Poppetrov, N., ed., 528-536 (in Bulgarian)

Vladigerov, T. (1939). The managed economy. Theory and Practice, Odeon Press, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Vladikin, L. (1932). The foreign exchange monopoly in Bulgaria, Stopanska misal, 3(1): 3-32 (in Bulgarian)

Von Krosigk, Sh. (1943) Fragen der Gegenwärtigen Wirtschafts und Finanzpolitik. Öffentliche Finanzen und Wirtschaft, Das Neue Europa. Staatsrechtlingche Probleme der Neuen Ordnung, Ed: Drei Volträge, Sofia (in Bulgarian)

Yordanov, D. (1943). The supervision of private banks in Bulgaria and its influence on their activity, JBES, 42 (1-2), pp. 23-43 (in Bulgarian)

Yaranov, A. (1931). Our agricultural policy, JBES, 30 (1): 5-17 (in Bulgarian)

Zagorov, S. (1937). New methods and new ideas in political economy, JBES, 36 (10): 569-584. (in Bulgarian)

Zagorov, S. (1933). Assistance to distressed debtor farmers and strengthening of credit in Bulgaria. JBES, 32 (1), pp. 1-9 (in Bulgarian)