Доц. Марко Димитров
University of National and World Economy
https://doi.org/10.53656/his2024-6-1-big
Abstract. The Great Depression (World Economic Crisis 1929 – 1933) did not significantly affect Bulgarian industry. The crisis inflicted the greatest damage on the tobacco industry because it produces tobacco products exclusively for the foreign market. The article examines the way in which the Bulgarian state manages to deal with this crisis. This is mainly due to the measures carried out by the government of the People’s Bloc (1931 – 1934), which were supported and continued by the next cabinet of the Military Union and the “Union” Political Circle.
These actions of the two governments, known in the literature as the “Great Compensation Deal”, represent a significant breakthrough in Bulgaria’s foreign trade, which almost froze during the crisis.
The article makes a small contribution to the objective and unintended assessment of the so-called “Regime of the Nineteenth Stomach” and its place in Bulgarian economic history in the 1930s.
Keywords: business history of Bulgaria, state economic policy, business history of the 20th century, state regulation, economic institutions, economic environment, The Great Depression in Bulgaria