The Bread and Butter of Transition: Agriculture in Bulgaria, 1989-1997.
Kolev, George I.
2011
- When the wall fell in 1989, many in Eastern Europe elatedly expected that prosperity � compared with the misery of the preceding years � lay ahead. As the unraveling of decades' worth of centralization began, however, it became clear that the collapse of planned economies would, indeed, be a collapse, unless prompt, painful and multilateral reforms were initiated. In no other country was this ... read moremore evident than in Bulgaria, where the communist party won the first free elections, and shock therapy measures were thus ruled out from the onset. Bulgaria's agriculture, which had accounted for a big chunk of the country's exports and almost a quarter of its workforce, saw a dramatic decline, which was accompanied by inflation, a staggering foreign debt, and civil unrest and lasted until sustained and consistent reform began in 1997. This paper analyzes the longevity and scope of this decline and attributes it to the simultaneous impacts of political instability, an unclear and inequitable process of privatization, and reforms insensitive to the farmers' vote.read less
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