After promising beginnings towards transformation, in 1991 the Bulgarian economy fell into deep crisis in the period from 1995 to 1997. Social policy, already overstrained due to the demands of transition, was unable to cope effectively with the rapidly spreading state of emergency. The...

Privatisation in Central and Eastern Europe can be defined as the transfer of property rights from the State to private owners. The transfers are carried out so as to vest the new private owners with the full property rights of use and disposal over their property, these rights being guaranteed...

All countries of Central and Eastern Europe had to bear and are still bearing tremendous costs of the economic and political transformation. This paper deals with the case of Bulgaria. We describe the social situation and the most important social security institutions in Bulgaria (unemployment...

Industrial policy measures can be a reasonable supplement to economic and social policy actions during the period of transformation of centrally planned economies. This paper shows the interplay between industrial and social policy. Special attention is given to the timing and sequencing of the...

Cost-sharing for health care is high on the policy agenda in many European countries that struggle with deficits in their public budget. However, such policy often meets with public opposition, which might delay or even prevent its implementation. Increased reliance on patient payments may also...

The increased interest in patient cost-sharing as a measure for sustainable health care financing calls for evidence to support the development of effective patient payment policies. In this paper, we present an application of a stated willingness-to-pay technique, i.e. contingent valuation...