Bulgarian Business Elite

New institutional economics brought a growing consensus on the crucial importance of institutions and transaction costs as a prerequisite for economic growth. As early as the 1960s, Gerschenkron (1962) forcefully insisted that financial institutions (mixed banking and interlocking directorates) were among the key elements that facilitated “the most impressive catch-up in the 19th century” (that of Germany). More recently, Fukuyama (1995) found that trust, propensity for spontaneous sociability, and intermediary institutions between the state and the households (business associations and interlocks, among others) can explain why some countries are able to embark on a sustainable growth path.