Title: Unequal development of municipalities: socio-economic paradox in Bulgaria

Authors: Emil Velinov

Addresses: Department of Marketing and Management, Skoda Auto University, Mlada Boleslav 29301, Czech Republic; Department of Business, RISEBA University of Applied Science, Riga 1048, Latvia

Abstract: The paper aims at investigating how different municipalities in Bulgaria are developing in terms of attractiveness and competitiveness of employee's salaries. Even though some small municipalities are remote from the capital city in Bulgaria, they remain paradoxically the highest in terms of salary size. These municipalities are linked to high employability and high average salaries in comparison to other small municipalities across Bulgaria. Furthermore, the paper suggests that municipalities with big employers, particularly in oil and gas sector and energy sectors are characterised with high number of qualified employees, higher attractiveness and higher wealth than the rest of the municipalities in Bulgaria. The paper's findings show that one of the most suitable and relevant ways of reducing the unequal socio-economic development among the Bulgarian municipalities is the promotion and realisation of public private partnerships.

Keywords: municipalities; unequal development; competitive salaries; socio-economic paradox; public private partnerships; PPPs; Bulgaria.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEPEE.2022.126611

International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, 2022 Vol.16 No.2/3/4, pp.368 - 380

Received: 20 Dec 2019
Accepted: 28 Oct 2020
Published online: 31 Oct 2022 *

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