Bulgarian Economic Thought During the Ottoman Period (15th – 19th Centuries)

The chapter is focused on main principles that shaped Bulgarian economic thinking during the period from the 15th to the end of the third quarter of the 19th century. For most of this period, it was dominated by the norms of Orthodox Christianity, with its characteristic ethical assessments of labor, usury, etc. As the modernization processes progressed, economic ideas that were influenced by classical political economy also penetrated Bulgarian society. Among them, one can mention the ideas of free trade, encouragement of local production, and others. Original theoretical contributions cannot be found. Various economic ideas also penetrated among the activists for the national liberation of Bulgaria. They were focused mainly on an adequate institutional structure of the future Bulgarian state. In the program documents of the so-called revolutionary or radical organizations, ideas and projects for the economic development of the Bulgarians are rarely found, and in some of these documents there are no such ideas at all, except for the most general and recurring statements about the difficult situation of the people under Ottoman rule, which have mostly a motivational purpose.