Inequalities and political populism: The case of Bulgaria

Lyuboslav Kostov

SEER Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Eastern Europe, 2020, vol. 23, issue 2, 233-244

Abstract: The article evaluates and analyses the dynamics of inequalities in Bulgaria during 2010-2020 as quantified by a set of particular indicators including the Gini coefficient, the S80/S20 indicator and the share of income held by the richest five per cent. The article examines the relationship between these inequalities and the growth of a certain type of political rhetoric which the literature clearly categorises as populism and which has been rising in central and eastern Europe as in other places elsewhere. In addition, the most up-to-date theoretical literature on these issues is studied and summarised. Social and macroeconomic shocks evidently affect the development of inequalities and, with the global Covid-19 pandemic, we are in the middle of one such set of shocks. The article concludes that a broad public and expert debate is overdue on the problems of inequalities and the consequences of their growth - namely: the development of populist rhetoric - and that reforms are required to reduce inequalities to within parameters that are more socially acceptable as a means of reducing the incidence of populism.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.5771/1435-2869-2020-2-233

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