Byzantine monastic economy; Mount Athos; metochia; tax exemptions; Middle Byzantine period.

This article analyzes how Mount Athos became a durable economic actor in the Middle Byzantine period (9th – 12th centuries). Building on translated monastic foundation documents and Athonite acts alon...

BulgarianAgriculturalBank;publicbenefitfunds;crediting;agriculture

The article analyzes the weaknesses of organized agricultural credit in Bulgaria through the history of the Bulgarian Agricultural Bank. It traces its transformation from the Ottoman public benefit fu...

hard currency stores; “Corecom” chain; trade in convertible currency

The aim of this study is to analyze the development, functions, and socio-economic significance of convertible currency retail stores in the socialist countries, with a special focus on the “Corecom”...

European Union; Globalization; Deglobalization; Regional integration; Trade openness; Core-periphery...

This article examines the European Union’s trajectory as a pillar of globalization in historical perspective, focusing on the interplay between structural openness and uneven development since 1970. G...

Amartya Sen; capabilities; Bulgaria; Orthodoxy; economic culture; backwardness; Max Weber

This article reinterprets Bulgaria’s historical backwardness through Amartya Sen’s concept of development as the expansion of substantive freedoms. The study integrates Sen’s capability framework with...