The financial and economic crisis of 2008 has substantially affected the economic structures and relationships in Bulgaria. The assessment of the input-output relations reveals that failures accompany the development of micro economy, on sectors' and subsectors' level. It is shown that the structural changes correlate positively with economic development. One should differentiate between the various types of structural dynamics – purposeful or chaotic (searching). With the first type of structural dynamics (the pre-crisis one) the dependence on the economic dynamics is obvious whereas with the second type (the post-crisis one) the latter is highly diluted. The financial and economic crisis has its positive influences – it starts a process of cleansing the economy and shifting it to a higher level in the development spiral. The post-crisis period can be described by an active restructuring of the input coefficient matrix. The crisis stated a process of progressive raw materials substitution. Producers looked for alternative production options, mainly by means of raw materials restructuring and savings in order to reduce their current expenditures. The crisis leaves its imprint on the formation of the key sectors. What looms in the group of key sectors is the presence of the main industrial manufacturing sectors. This specifics is much more definite in the case of better developed economies. The well-known fact (which is often forgotten or ignored) has confirmed that a modern economy cannot develop successfully without the solid presence of industry. The other sectors (agriculture primarily, tourism and services as a whole) complete the skeleton in order to get a sound body of an efficiently functioning economy.

Despite great general interest and significant controversy surrounding the completion and the potential impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), little attention has been devoted to the impact of this trade megadeal on the EU-member and non-member countries in Southeastern and Eastern Europe. To fill this gap, the objective of this paper is threefold. First, we want to describe the standard quantitative methods that are used to analyze the impact of trade liberalization. Second, we offer a detailed discussion of the decomposition of the transmission channels through which an initial trade liberalization shock (e.g. the formation of TTIP) will affect consumers, producers and total welfare in member countries as well as outsiders. Finally, throughout the analysis, our focus will be on the countries in Southeastern and Eastern Europe, including member countries (e.g. Bulgaria) and non-member countries (e.g. Macedonia). Our findings suggest that, while TTIP will lead to gains for all South-eastern and Eastern European TTIP member countries, their trade costs with the US are still high. Further Southeastern and Eastern European TTIP outsiders will lose, but losses can be mitigated by additional trade with Southeastern and Eastern European TTIP member and other closer Southeastern and Eastern European countries.

The relationship between the dynamics of the capital markets of Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Slovenia, Turkey, Romania and Macedonia and the public attitudes expressed by the inflation expectation indicators, consumer and business confidence indicators for the period 2005-2015 is analyzed. The results obtained on the Granger causality emphasize the interaction between business confidence and capital markets, and its direction depends on the degree of market development. The dependence in the more developed markets of Turkey, Greece and Croatia is in line with the assumptions of the efficient markets hypothesis (EMH) and on the influence line of "business confidence - a capital market". Reverse dependence is seen in the less developed markets of Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania and Slovenia. In addition to an inefficiency according to EMH and the theory of real business cycles, this could also be regarded as a prerequisite for strengthening negative market trends and bringing instability to the market in times of crisis. The degree of development of the capital markets also determines their relationship with consumer confidence as in the more developed markets it is directed to the capital markets and in the case of the less developed ones in the opposite direction.

The Granger causality test is used to establish the direction of influence among multiple indicators related to exports and imports of new member states (NMS) of the European Union, considering the impact of the debt crisis in the Euro area (EA). Basic macroeconomic indicators of the countries are reviewed for the period 2004-2015, including the fulfillment of the Maastricht convergence criteria. The conclusions of the study point to positives for the considered countries regarding the EA membership, as well as risks. Recommendations are made on the diversification of the NMS export markets, implementing of an economic growth policy, based on exports and foreign direct investment, and forming of a roadmap on the EA membership of the states, which are not in the monetary union.

The research is the first of its kind in the Bulgarian scientific literature. Reconstructing the consecutive establishment of the economic theory of the constitution in a consistent manner, it is actually a critical presentation of the basic achievements of the doctrines in this sphere.

In recent years, the concept of a "circular economy" has been gaining ground, which implies that all resources must be managed efficiently throughout their life cycle. As defined by the European Commission in 2014, the fundamental transition towards such an economy involves moving away from 'take-make-consume-dispose' economies (the so-called linear model) and towards a model based on 'reuse, repair, renew and recycle' (the so-called circular economy).