Dr. Alex Tokarev, assistant professor of economics at Northwood University Michigan recently shared his thoughts regarding the possible effects of the new trade agreements between the United States and the European Union (EU) for Bulgarian National Radio’s Construction program listeners.
As part of the discussion led by Kalin Manolov, a prominent European journalist, Tokarev shared the benefits of free trade for both consumers and young Europeans who currently endure the EU’s high unemployment rates, while warning that powerful special interest groups such as labor unions and large corporations were likely to sabotage the process. In addition, he suggested a series of economic and legal reforms to help Bulgaria extract the maximum benefit of the largest free trade area in world history.
An instructor of Economics and the Philosophy of the Free Enterprise System at Northwood University, Tokarev earned an M.S. in industrial management from The University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy (UCTM) at Sofia, Bulgaria, and a Ph.D. in economics from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale (SIUC). With his research interests in institutions, incentives, entrepreneurship, history and economic development, his teaching experience comes from SIUC, Northwestern College in Iowa, College of St. Benedict’s/St. John’s University in Minnesota, The King’s College in New York City, and Morthland College in Illinois. Tokarev is a member of the International Honor Society in Economics (ODE), American Economic Association, Association of Christian Economists, and International Society for New Institutional Economics.