Protectionism and Protectionists Theories in the Balkans in the Interwar Period

This paper makes a comparative analysis between two unique theories of international trade and protectionism which emerged in Bulgaria and Romania during the period between the two World Wars as a response to the specific economic environment and the spread of economic ideas coming from economically developed countries. These are the general theory of protectionism based on Mihail Manoilescu’s (1891-1950) ideas of national productivity and the theory of international trade and productive forces forwarded by Konstantin Bobchev (1894-1976). Probing into the two theories allows the formulation of interesting academic and purely practical assertions and ideas that could help understand the trajectories and limits of the independent development of peripheral European economies. As in the past, so today, Bulgaria and Romania share more or less similar problems – those of the catching-up economies, lack of own capitals, severe strain on their balance of payments, dependence on the leading countries in the European Union, etc. Following this logic, a look back at the “protectionist past” of the Balkan countries opens new possibilities of highlighting the so-called Bairoch paradox, which claims the positive impact of protectionism on economic growth, and which in a sense comes into conflict with the main postulates of free international trade (Bairoch, 1999 [1993]; Becuwe, Blancheton, 2011).