Economy

The definition of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is an important issue, regarding not only a number of European policies that have been set up to ensure these SMEs benefit from financial support, fee reduction, reduced administrative burden, etc.

Mankind has made unbelievable progress in the last one hundred years. From horse carriages to moon landings, from typhus epidemics to molecular genetics, from conservative patriarchate to gay marriages. One thing does not change though – the suspicion, or even hate towards merchants.

The presentation of the recently published ECB and EC reports was highly anticipated by Bulgarians, as the Bulgarian government\'s intention is to officially sign up for the eurozone waiting room by the end of June.

In late June the Lithuanian Parliament adopted a law that consolidated the employer and employee base for social security contributions and significantly cut the rate of contributions.

Previous tax cuts released 1% of GDP worth value to taxpayers’ pockets, followed by ongoing red tape cuts and market deregulations. These moderately intensive reform trends have created a methodologically based contribution for slight increase of economic freedom.

This paper aims to explore the history, structure, and economic consequences of the currency board in Bulgaria, which was introduced as an emergency measure to combat the late-nineties economic crisis, though has stayed in place ever since.

Measured with the Economic Freedom of the World ratings framework, Slovenia’s situation in 2015 was inferior, relative to 1995, in several areas. Notably, regarding government consumption, private sector credit, the legal system, and property rights.

LFMI has just released its latest paper \"Labor Migration and Flexibility of Regulation for Employing Non-EU Nationals\". It addresses the economic effects of migration and implications of employing non-EU nationals and provides a cross-country legislative and policy analysis on the flexibility of hiring of non-EU nationals.

The first steps of the long-awaited customs reform in Ukraine started in 2017 only to be cancelled at the beginning of 2018. Meanwhile, customs clearance in the country remains lengthy and complicated, which is reflected in Ukraine’s low positions in comparative international rankings.

Regulation of retail opening hours is applicable in 14 out of 30 European countries. The range of the regulation varies widely across the countries, as evidenced by a variety of exemptions. Yet, the bans fail to achieve their objectives: a number of European countries have gone through deregulation.