Teodor Sedlarski

Professor Teodor Sedlarski is a distinguished academic at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, where he serves as Director of the Burgas Branch, Head of the Center for Economic Theories and Policies (CITEP), and Co-chair of the Franco-German Center for Applied Research in Economics and Management. He has been a Professor of Economics since December 2019, specializing in Institutional Economics, Behavioral Economics, and Economic Theories taught in both English and German.

His academic journey includes earning his PhD in Economics in 2010 with a dissertation on "Institutions, transaction costs and economic development: the transition in Bulgaria," followed by progressive appointments from Assistant (2005) to Assistant Professor (2010), Associate Professor (2011), and finally Professor (2019). He completed scientific specializations at the University of Economics in St. Gallen, Switzerland (2008-2009) and Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria (2008).

Professor Sedlarski's research spans New Institutional Economics, Law and Economics, Behavioral Economics, Economic Sociology, and Economic Anthropology. His work explores the intersection of social status, happiness economics, and institutional design. He has extensively published on transaction costs, market exchange, social capital, and the political economy of social status, with recent work focusing on cultural dimensions of economic development through the lenses of individualism, collectivism, and institutional quality.

His scholarly output shows a clear evolution from foundational work on institutional economics toward contemporary explorations of happiness economics and cultural determinants of economic development. Recent publications demonstrate increasing interdisciplinary engagement connecting economics with sociology, psychology, and cultural studies to understand complex socioeconomic phenomena, particularly examining how cultural features interact with institutional frameworks to shape economic outcomes.

• Minister of Economy in the caretaker government (January-May 2017)
• Chairman of the Audit Risk and Compliance Committee of DZI Life Insurance and DZI General Insurance (since April 2018)
• Member of the Supervisory Board of Sofia Tech Park (since March 2018)
• Regional Partner of the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Burgas (since June 2020)
• Bulgaria's national representative in the Program Committee of the European Union's Horizon 2020 program

He leads several research initiatives including the Center for Economic Theories and Policies (CITEP) and the Franco-German Center for Applied Research in Economics and Management, connecting academic research with practical policy applications in sustainable development, economic transformation, and institutional design for emerging markets.