"Scientific research" Almanac

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  THE INFLUENCE OF LEGALLY REGULATED TRAININGS ON THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF INSURANCE BROKERS’ EMPLOYEES

  Insurance brokers are the preferred intermediary by consumers of insurance services in Bulgaria and their importance is constantly increasing. To ensure the necessary level of professional knowledge and skills, regulatory requirements for continuous professional training and development of the insurance brokers’ employees engaged in the ... Insurance brokers are the preferred intermediary by consumers of insurance services in Bulgaria and their importance is constantly increasing. To ensure the necessary level of professional knowledge and skills, regulatory requirements for continuous professional training and development of the insurance brokers’ employees engaged in the distribution of insurance products were introduced at the end of 2018 in Bulgaria. The purpose of this scientific research is to assess the impact of introductory training on the professional development of insurance brokers’ employees directly involved in the distribution of insurance products and to outline guidelines for conducting the legally required annual continuing trainings. To achieve this goal, the following tasks have been formulated: study of the importance of insurance brokers for the development of Bulgarian insurance market; outlining the preconditions for introduction of obligatory professional training of the insurance brokers’ employees, directly engaged in the distribution of insurance products; assessment of the satisfaction of insurance brokers’ employees from the introductory training conducted in 2019; outlining the guidelines for conducting continuing trainings for insurance brokers’ employees. The research thesis is that the continuous process of professional training and development of insurance brokers’ employees is a prerequisite for improving the quality of intermediary services, effective protection of insurance services consumers, sustainable development and reliability of the insurance market.

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  FISCAL POSITION OF MUNICIPALITIES IN TERMS OF PUBLIC SECTOR DECENTRALIZATION - CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS AND GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES

  This scientific paper focuses on the issues of local finances and the permanent seeking of mechanisms for expanding the authorities of local governments, exploring the approach of transferring fiscal revenues to local budgets. The study aims to examine the state of local finances and decentralization in the public sector in Bulgaria, incl. of ... This scientific paper focuses on the issues of local finances and the permanent seeking of mechanisms for expanding the authorities of local governments, exploring the approach of transferring fiscal revenues to local budgets. The study aims to examine the state of local finances and decentralization in the public sector in Bulgaria, incl. of individual units of local government, and to test the impact of the proposed reform on the transfer of tax revenues on the fiscal position of municipalities in the context of ongoing processes of decentralization in the public sector. The author focuses on the thesis that the implementation of tax reform in the direction of transferring a certain part of the personal income tax to each local government unit will result in increasing its fiscal position, therefore, to increase opportunities a significant part of existing problems to be solved in a timely manner „on the spot“, until a higher degree of fiscal decentralization is achieved and its indicators are brought closer to the European average. As a result, specific correlations regarding the state of the budget indicators and financial independence for each of the 265 municipalities in Bulgaria have been identified and specific measures to achieve better results in the future are proposed. It is also analysed the effect of applying the hypothesis for transferring twenty per cent of the budget revenues from the personal income tax to the subsector „Local self-government“ and on that basis some recommendations have been suggested.

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  COMPOSITE INDICATOR FOR ASSESSING THE POTENTIAL FOR SOCIAL CONVERGENCE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION - METHODOLOGICAL AND APPLIED ASPECTS

  The aim of this study is to construct a composite Social Rights Indicator to assess the potential for social cohesion in the European Union in the context of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR). The research thesis of the team is that through the quantitative assessment of the potential for convergence in the context of the European Pillar ... The aim of this study is to construct a composite Social Rights Indicator to assess the potential for social cohesion in the European Union in the context of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR). The research thesis of the team is that through the quantitative assessment of the potential for convergence in the context of the European Pillar of Social Rights based on the composite indicator of social rights, empirical trends and regularities can be established at European level and Bulgaria's positioning in European social space. The theoretical and informational aspects of the statistical survey on social rights are presented through the principles of the EPSR and the system of indicators for their characterization. The need to create a composite indicator is justified. The steps for constructing a Social Rights Indicator are described. As a result of the empirical study of the values of the proposed Social Rights Indicator for the period 2010-2018 through the beta-convergence approach, a process of reducing the differences among the countries included in the study was established - both in the values of the Social Rights Indicator and in the values of its constituent sub-indexes. Following the application of the marginal vertical beta-convergence methodology, it was found that Bulgaria's importance for the cohesion process is positive with regard to the two sub-indices, neutral for the one sub-index and negative for the Social Rights Indicator. The application of the club convergence approach revealed that there is no process of convergence among the countries included in the analysis on the values of social rights indicators.