TheMarketForIdeas

The War of the Worlds: Macro-societies in Battle Against Micro-organisms An ongoing chronicle of a contagious era

Octavian-Dragomir Jora  Alexandru Georgescu

As the lockdown has been relaxed (in Romania, the homeland of TMFI), yet social distancing is still a sacrosanct recommendation, we release the second episode from our collection of editorial products, this time from our in-house harvest. We hope that the variety and the quality of these “corona-readings” to function as a cure equally for unjustified anxieties and for mind hibernation. More

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Romanian National Culture Day and the New Normal

No. 27, Jan.-Feb. 2021

Mariana Nicolae

Do not worry: this is going to be short and… bitter. Bitter is good. In drinks, according to personal taste, and in real life, because it prompts reflection.Therefore, here is what I want to reflect upon today – once again on the National Culture Day of us.... More

Will Lithuania Reclaim Its Own Business Tax Model?

No. 27, Jan.-Feb. 2021

Aneta Vainė

The recent parliamentary elections in Lithuania have sparked hope that after 18 years the country will revisit its decision to give up a zero-tax rate on reinvested profits, a regime that gave an immense impetus to the country’s investment and.... More

The Economists Need Skin in The GameEconomy Near Us (XXXVI)

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Emil Dinga

The concept of economic crisis encompasses quite different situations (from either a causal perspective or a consequentialist one), from a conjunctural transient state all the way to a real blockage of the economic system. For this article, we.... More

The Crisis of Our Age: A Retrospective Glance

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Steven Alan Samson

As a political philosophy and system of governance, liberalism is a product of Western Christian civilization. Yet some of its roots are decidedly illiberal. Thomas Hobbes offered an intellectual framework for our burgeoning Provider State.... More

A Pragmatic Approach to Higher Education – University 4.0

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

The 4th Industrial Revolution has changed the industrial practices of manufacturing and production, now transformed by digitization and automation and supported by advanced technologies and techniques. The adjustment process of.... More

Europe’s Paradigmatic Dilemmas amidst Pandemic Woes: How the Covid-19 Crisis May Reshape EU’s Geostrategy

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Adrian-Ioan Damoc

The much-awaited vaccine has recently been announced and reignited hope that the coronavirus pandemic that has kept the planet in a tight grip for about a year now is about to end. Though the vaccine itself is not beyond suspicion as some.... More

The New Geopolitics of South Caucasus

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Răzvan Munteanu

The 2020 peace agreement in Nagorno Karabakh is not just redrawing the security relationship between Yerevan and Baku, but, at the same time, it reshapes the regional geopolitics.First of all, the OSCE Minsk Group played an insignificant role.... More

November Revealed the Highest Number of New Cases Worldwide Since the Start of the New Coronavirus Pandemic

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Cezar Mereuță

The most powerful 19 countries in the world had different evolutions regarding the number of new cases in the third quarter of the pandemic.November 30 marked 9 months since March 1, considered the beginning of pandemic with the.... More

Kurt Lewin’s 3-Phase Change Model in the Covid-19 Pandemic

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Vlad I. Roșca

Throughout 2020, the question of how the world would look like after the Coronavirus pandemic has been constantly repeated. The “status quo” has been challenged: our usual lives have been suddenly torn apart and life during Covid-19 has been... More

Remarks on the 2020 Romanian GDP Estimate – Reduced for the 3rd Time in the Official Forecast

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Dan Pălăngean

The GDP 2020 estimate has been reduced for the third time in a row in the so-called Preliminary Autumn Forecast for the budget amendment published by the specialty National Commission. From an economic result of RON 1,141.4 billion according... More

About the “Fair” Sharing of Economic Value AddedEconomy Near Us (XXXV)

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Emil Dinga

Periodically, economists put on the table a remarkably interesting (and disputable, as well) topic, that of model for sharing the value added between labour and capital. The subject is present both on the work table of theoretical scientists and on that of... More

Sustainable Development – Excerpts from a New Lodestar in the FieldIon Pohoață, Delia-Elena Diaconașu and Vladimir-Mihai Crupenschi revisit the discourse of the founders

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

The Market for Ideas

Sustainable development has been making the rounds since 1987 as a buzzword to be employed in the rarefied heights of policy discourse on economics, industrialization and much more. Unlike other fashionable concepts, it at least aspires to validity... More

Central Asia: The World’s Next Powder Keg

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Mihai Răzvan Nedelcu

Firstly, we shall explain the geographic and historic situation background of Central Asia. The name is self-explanatory when referring to the location of the region but what stands out is the climate, history and demographics. The land is mostly... More

The Romanian Leu, Koruna, Zloty and Forint in Pandemic: A Comparison in Terms of Stability and Its Effects

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Dan Pălăngean

The Romanian leu was much more stable during the pandemic than the currencies of Central European countries with a similar exchange rate regime – the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. Data published by the National Bank of Romania shows a... More

Democracy at Play – or at Risk – in America

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Tanja Porčnik

In democratic societies, elections are determined by the vote of the people. The democratic process in the United States elected President Trump in 2016. Four years later, after all legal votes are counted and verified, the same process may require... More

2020 Gaudeamus Book Fair, Featuring the Bucharest University of Economic StudiesTreatise launch: International Economic Relations: Theories, Strategies, Policies, Tools and Case Studies / Gheorghe Hurduzeu, Luminiţa Nicolescu (eds.)

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

The Market for Ideas

The 27th edition of the Gaudeamus Radio Romania Book Fair took place between November 16-22, 2020. The fair was held exclusively online this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The most popular book fair, staged by the most-listened-to... More

Owning Now, Owing Then. Culturally Sustainable Development Is about Material Property as Much as It Is about Spiritual LegacyKeynote speech delivered at Social Science and Humanities Research Association’s (SSHRA) XXV International Conference on Business, Economics, Law, Language & Psychology (ICBELLP), 18-19 November 2020, London, UK

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Octavian-Dragomir Jora

Social Science and Humanities Research Association (SSHRA) is an international community of researchers, practitioners, students and educationists that is devoted to the development and the spread of ideas in the field of social sciences... More

The Effects of the Coronavirus on the Labor Markets in the EURomania among the least affected countries in Q2, 2020

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Dan Pălăngean

Romania was among the least affected EU Member States in Q2 2020 in terms of temporary layoffs, reduced working hours or job losses, according to the analysis published by Eurostat. The consequences of Covid19 pandemic varied significantly... More

Accelerating University 4.0 by Technology Shifts and Pandemic Drifts

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Ana-Maria Osipov

The intersection between the technological and the pandemic shock became a real paradox to be managed by the higher education institutions. It all started in March 2020 with the decision to suspend face-to-face teaching activities and... More

Annotating the Paris Agreement

No. 26, Nov.-Dec. 2020

Henrique Schneider

This article explains in broad strokes the content of the Paris Agreement and the Decision by which it was adopted. It, then, annotates them and complements the annotations by asking further questions. This article serves as institutional... More

The Impact of Social Justice Measures on Unemployment During the PandemicEconomy Near Us (XXXIV)

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Gabriela-Mariana Ionescu

Currently, one of the worst employment crises is in full swing, as a result of the health crisis, with consequences for increasing poverty and therefore economic and social inequality. Just a few of the effects on the labour market include:... More

Romania’s Recovery According to the World Bank2021 forecast compared to the start of the pandemic

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Dan Pălăngean

The data included in the autumn report of the World Bank, “COVID-19 and Human Capital”, which brings the forecast for Europe and Central Asia countries up to date shows the skepticism of this institution’s specialists regarding a... More

The Fight for the US Supreme Court and Its Political Ramifications

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Vlad Adamescu

Impartiality is crucial to any judicial system, even more so when constitutional and supreme courts have to adjudicate conflicts between different state authorities, political actors, or certify election results in democratic polities. This impartiality... More

The Neighbourhood and Its MeaningsSome colourful shades of grey

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

In order to know the Romanian society as it is today more intimately, it is preferable that we analyse it from the inside to the outside, for the general characteristics and conclusions that might be traced from this “outside” (such as national... More

The Rise of Islam and American Policy in South Asia

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Richard J. Bishirjian

The challenge of Empire to traditional constitutional order occurs when the first response to acts of terror increases the powers of the State. The Patriot Act and the attack on Iraq by the Bush Administration empowered a "war faction" in the America... More

Romania’s Public Debt Relative to GDP – Implications

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Dan Pălăngean

The public debt officially measured by the Romanian Ministry of Finance based on the European methodology advanced, in July 2020 alone, almost as much as in the whole second quarter, when Romania was caught in the middle of the... More

Engines of Liberty: American Experiment in Self-Government

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Steven Alan Samson

Brague’s Challenge. In an American Spectator blog post, “Sin No More,” dated May 1, 2008, Rémi Brague stated a thesis worth exploring: “What cultures that were influenced by the Jewish and Christian religions made of the ideal of liberty that I have... More

The 2008 and 2020 Global Crises – Differences and SimilaritiesEconomy Near Us (XXXIII)

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Grațiela-Denisa Iordache

The years 2008 and 2020 saw two global crises with important similarities, which evoked numerous comparisons. I shall briefly sketch differences and similarities between these two global crises and the European Union response. This... More

Rebuilding EconomicsSeries of articles excerpted from the printed edition [#1]

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Emil Dinga

In the last decades, the economic discipline in its hypostasis of Economics (i.e. positive economic theory) was, and also currently is, subject to radical and massive criticism not only from the non-economists (including physicists!), but also from... More

The World’s 19 Most Powerful Countries Account for 71% of the World’s New Coronavirus Cases

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Cezar Mereuță

On August 31st this year, 6 months have passed since the current pandemic forcefully started, on March 1st. It is an important opportunity to examine how the world’s great powers have developed effective government programs to reduce the... More

MIND(s that filled) THE GAP(s)A media campaign of junior reporting on INNOVATIVE / INDUSTRIOUS / INSPIRING, free-market, barrier-breaking, world-spreading, LIBERATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Octavian-Dragomir Jora

The Market for Ideas initiated an editorial project in which “international business and economics” students, besides being consumers of quality information, become (co)producers of this “good”. The concept aims for a quadruple gap-filler... More

Zombified Finance and the Walking Dead Economy

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Alexandru-Ștefan Goghie

The financial crisis of 2007 was the result of a constant accumulation of risks facilitated by the gradual lowering of interest rates. This decrease allowed the emergence of an allocation of resources incongruous with the economic... More

“Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree”… I Forgot My History

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Georgiana Constantin-Parke

It is strange for any of us who live in relatively free societies to picture oppression. It is probably why most of us have an insatiable desire for dystopian television productions. The hair raising, mind and heart stimulating stories take us to a... More

Bracing for Hurricane Democracy

No. 25, Sep.-Oct. 2020

Alexandru Georgescu

With the conclusion of the two ceremonial national conventions of the two US parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, one may say that the presidential race has begun in earnest. The current election will be unique in modern American... More

Rights, Constraints, and Offsets in Handling the COVID-19 PandemicEconomy Near Us (XXXII)

No. 24, Jul.-Aug. 2020

Gabriela-Mariana Ionescu

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us, among other things, that the development of human knowledge can entail a series of risks that can endanger both the existence of the individual and of the society in which we live. In this time of crisis, an important... More

The COVID State

No. 24, Jul.-Aug. 2020

Stephen R. Bowers

In 1976, an ABC movie entitled “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble” recounted the tragic story of a child suffering from severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). Although the child died when he was twelve, doctors have since found a cure for this... More

The Inconsistency of Biological Analogies in Economics

No. 24, Jul.-Aug. 2020

Vlad Popescu

I often tend to use biological analogies either as a simple heuristic or an explanatory model in an analysis, or as a purely illustrative model in support of certain ideas by constructing argumentative structures. For instance, in an attempt to understand how... More

The Sustainable University: Concept and Conception

No. 24, Jul.-Aug. 2020

Octavian-Dragomir Jora

“Sustainable University” is a kind of phrase to emanate a semantic scent with connotations – traced back to an ages-old polarity, yet always at great fashion in social affairs – seemingly both conservative and progressive. Really? Can we so... More

Charter Cities: Vernian Fantasy or Human Reality?

No. 24, Jul.-Aug. 2020

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

In 1895, the French novelist Jules Verne launched one of his many visionary ideas that either became reality or something future next generations are expected to achieve. Propeller Island follows the story of four musicians whose services are demanded... More

Corona-blues: A Brief Reflection on the Challenges of Managing the Coronavirus Pandemic

No. 24, Jul.-Aug. 2020

Adrian-Ioan Damoc

That the new coronavirus has taken the world by storm is no longer a surprise, causing significant casualties worldwide as well as civil unrest and disrupting economies, with ever grimmer prognoses. Much has been said about both the... More

Defined Contribution Pensions, But Not ReallyEconomy Near Us (XXXI)

No. 24, Jul.-Aug. 2020

Emil Dinga

From a theoretical (and philosophical) point of view, the (defined contribution) pension in a pay-as-you-go system is an impersonal, non-coexistent, inter-generational, and mandatory quid pro quo. The referee which must assure that the quid pro quo is... More

International Digital Conference on Multidisciplinary Research and Perspectives for Innovative Higher Education 2020

No. 24, Jul.-Aug. 2020

The Market for Ideas

University of South Asia, Lahore, Pakistan, presents the International Digital Conference 2020 on Multidisciplinary Research and Perspectives for Innovative Higher Education on July 24-25th, 2020. The main topics include: Artificial.... More

The Pandemic and the Standard of Living

No. 24, Jul.-Aug. 2020

Iulian Stănescu

A recent report was issued by the Research Institute for Quality of Life of the Romanian Academy, titled The pandemic and the standard of living. Social policies. Its authors were Daniel Arpinte, Sorin Cace, Simona Mihaiu, Iulian Stanescu, Simona... More

Stealing into Power by Opposition to Power

No. 24, Jul.-Aug. 2020

Steven Alan Samson

Two acute observers of the American system and its decentralized character were Alexis de Tocqueville, who with his friend Gustave de Beaumont traveled through America for around nine months while studying America’s prisons... More

Twelve Countries Cumulate 80% of the Pandemic Deaths

No. 24, Jul.-Aug. 2020

Cezar Mereuță

The “parallel world” of the pandemic has two main coordinates: contagion cases and deaths, accompanied by the very important indicator of fatality rate relative to contagion cases (Rc/d).In our previous interventions, we demonstrated that the... More

Placing the Central Asia Region in the Equation of Neo-Colonialism Promoted by Russia

No. 24, Jul.-Aug. 2020

Ioan Alexandru Gherasim

The reconsideration of Russia’s foreign policy was made under the condition that, as a result of the steep increase in international prices for crude oil and natural gas, considerable financial resources flooded into the state treasury. With... More

The Absorption of Uncertainty and Exiting from the PandemicEconomy Near Us (XXX)

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Emil Dinga

The individuals (and, to some extent, the groups) make decisions based on their perception regarding the future, rather than on a rigorous calculus based on accurate models of rationality (such a conclusion has long been reached by the researchers... More

A New Silk Road – Russia’s Position

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Ioan Alexandru Gherasim

The first version of the Silk Road is placed by analysts at the beginning of the westward expansion of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). Chinese products (silk, porcelain, spices or other goods) that were highly prized began to be delivered to Europe... More

NASA & SpaceX Launch – A New Milestone in Space Exploration

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

O. Bodrug      K. Maduzia     J. Snedden M. Migaud     M. Ahmadi      J. Bullock

Over the years, space has proven to be one of the few topics that captivated people from all around the world to follow the same TV programming or online event at the same time. Individuals with different backgrounds, ethnicities, races... More

Reading Between the Lines

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Dan Pălăngean

The macroeconomic situation of Romania is a subject of considerable debate inside the country. The important development of the country is, nevertheless, marred by imbalances and underwhelming reforms, constantly... More

Conservatism and Spiritual and Social Recovery

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Richard J. Bishirjian

As I read newspapers, popular magazines, listen to National Public Radio, watch cable television, attend Catholic Mass, and work with American academics at the deracinated institutions called colleges, I am conscious that American secular... More

Revolt of the Disdained: Sovereignty or Submission

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Steven Alan Samson

The 2016 presidential election hinged on the return of overlooked or marginalized middle-class and working-class Democrats and independents – many of whom had earlier supported Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan – to reinvigorate traditional... More

Some Thoughts on COVID-19 Pandemic ShockEconomy Near Us (XXIX)

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Emil Dinga

On the nature of COVID-19 pandemic shockWe think the COVID-19 pandemic shock “verifies” the following features:the shock is atypical: it has the particularity that it bypasses the standard “path” – that is, it does not affect the nominal flows... More

Coco & Chanel: Creating Herself and a Whole Universe, from Croquis to CoutureMIND(s that filled) THE GAP(s) [XVI]

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Petronela Cîrstea

Imagine the epitome of an elegant, stylish woman of modern times. Is she sporting chic suit pants and a matching blazer, or maybe a timeless black dress? Is her jewellery exquisite without overbearing opulence, perfectly assorted to her handbag... More

Will We 3D-Print Medicine at Home?MIND(s that filled) THE GAP(s) [XV]

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Claudia Enache

It is around 7 AM, little Jim has just been woken up by his mom. He can distinguish clatter of softly gyrating gears from rain taping at his windowsill. There was no reason to focus more on those everyday sounds especially because he heard the same... More

Three Paradoxes of the Territorial Distributions of Contaminations with COVID-19

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Cezar Mereuță

A month ago, in the first episode regarding the pandemic, we identified the fact that the structural distribution of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus throughout the countries and autonomous territories of the world fulfils all the standards of the... More

Power Through Play: Thinking Energy Outside the BoxMIND(s that filled) THE GAP(s) [XIV]

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Iulia Mărginean

According to the World Bank (2019), roughly 1 billion people have no access to electricity whatsoever, but a Nigerian-American entrepreneur thinks football might be the solution. How is it possible? The story begins with Harvard graduate Jessica... More

The Million Dollar Pixels: How a Student’s Idea Changed the Internet for the BetterMIND(s that filled) THE GAP(s) [XIII]

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Mihai Răzvan Nedelcu

The internet. A place where (almost) everybody can see (almost) everything (almost) for free. An incredible technological asset of humanity as a whole. But how can we find everything? Do we pay these people? How many people would agree to make the... More

Bringing Lasting Positive Change for Women

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Olga Bodrug

Any change brings both positive and negative consequences. Therefore, a development planner should respect various principles to promote change that minimizes negative effects. Also, certain priorities or values should be reflected. This... More

Making History While Snacking: Microwave Meets MarketplaceMIND(s that filled) THE GAP(s) [XII]

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Bianca Petre Alexandra Firescu

World War II, going on between 1939 and 1945, was one of the bloodiest confrontations in the world. It cannot be overstated how much this conflict changed the course of history, for better (if anything good can be related to wars) or worse. For... More

Think Fast: Interactive Filmmaking Puts Consumers in the Spotlight (Or Is It Just an Illusion?)MIND(s that filled) THE GAP(s) [XI]

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

A.G. Gheorghe M.B. Moldovan A. Vuțescu

In 1967, the cinephiles attending that year’s edition of Expo Montreal were left with the experience of a lifetime, having been submerged into a new dimension of film-making. Radúz Činčera’s vision brought the audiences a new perspective, as his... More

The Risk of Poverty by Age-Groups in RomaniaHistory, on the verge of repeating itself after ten years

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Dan Pălăngean

The risk of poverty recorded in Romania for the entire population was higher in 2019 than in 2008, according to data published by Eurostat. Almost one in four Romanians (23.8%) had an equivalent level of disposable income less than 60%... More

Centuries of “Concrete”-Solid Discoveries of the Humankind: From Building the Roman Empire Towards Contemporary BuildingsMIND(s that filled) THE GAP(s) [X]

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Ștefania Popescu Eliza Ignat

Have you ever questioned what lies at the basis of the so-called highly-developed cities, at the foundation of the tallest buildings worldwide or how the infrastructure came to life? The answer is directed towards… concrete. It built the modern world... More

WaitSafe in the Pandemic: How to Fluently Reconcile Social Distancing with Personal MobilityMIND(s that filled) THE GAP(s) [IX]

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

The easing of the lockdown ignited with the advent of COVID-19 pandemic is still subject to strict conditions, as communities need to accommodate sanitary safety concerns with solutions for the freedom of movement for individuals, as the latter is a... More

The Press – Social “Mediator” or “Instigator”?

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

On the 3rd of May we celebrate World Press Freedom Day. The power of the Press (hereinafter deliberately written with capital P, in speaking precisely of its societal vocation) and its impact on the average citizen and on the wider masses of the people is... More

More than a Fifth of Romanians Are Employed by MultinationalsFrance Took over from Germany

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Dan Pălăngean

Germany (16.6%), France (12.4%) and Italy (9.2%) are the countries that hold the largest share in the Romanian economy by the number of employees operating in 80,591 groups of enterprises, according to the data processed and... More

COVID-19’s Distributions and Balances of PowerProfessor CEZAR MEREUȚĂ: “Understanding this is the new challenge the most powerful leaders in the world have to face”

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Adelina Mihai

Who would have thought that precisely the most powerful countries on the planet, which invested the most in their health systems, registered the most cases of contamination with the new coronavirus? Well, an analysis by Professor Cezar... More

The Romanian Government’s Underwhelming Response to the COVID-19 Crisis

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Bogdan C. Enache

The Romanian Government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis has nothing exceptional, no original idea, no single individualized policy, no special or particular focus. If Sweden, no matter how controversial, dared to pursue an individualized strategy... More

European (Dis)Integration During PandemicsLessons for EU members about the convergence of interests

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Ana-Maria Osipov

The big aspirations of “Unity in diversity” within European speeches seem to fade, as the supranational gathering around connection and cooperation is now, in the context of the pandemic, an ideal with less commitment than before... More

Romania – the Fourth EU Economy in the Share of Foreign Capital EnterprisesAnd an Interesting Paradox

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Dan Pălăngean

Romania ranks fourth among EU Member States in terms of the share in gross value added (GVA) of enterprises with foreign capital (controlled from abroad) – FCE –, according to a study published by Eurostat, based on data from 2017... More

Pandemic: How to Avoid What Is Worse

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Lucian Croitoru

In addition to major health issues, COVID-19 creates major economic problems. The risk of a deep global recession is very high. It is a shock that reduces supply, especially through the shock on the labour force, through illness or social... More

A Primer on Political Economy

No. 23, May.-Jun. 2020

Steven Alan Samson

Economist Walter E. Williams learned a principle of success by missing lunch. “At 13, I was a typical barbarian growing up in the slums of Philadelphia”, he recalls. “My mother supported us by working as a maid. Frivolous consumption often meant... More

MORE ARTICLES

Cyber-Cerberus and Hackers’ Hades How to make home(land)s cyber-safer places

Octavian-Dragomir Jora  Dumitru Miron

The creation of cyberspace may be perceived either as a benign addendum to the biblical Book of Genesis or as man’s fatal conceit making a virtual world mimicking the inherited one. Is it a smarter cover for the physical world – with its old-days and more predictable social life, economic cooperation, and power politics – or a digital hallucination – leaving us disturbed? The godfather of cyberspace is considered William Gibson. He invented the word, using it in his SciFi Burning Chrome story and Neuromancer novel. You do not have to be full-time scientific-fantasist to get the side effects of an avatar-world. An avatar-world will accordingly develop goods and bads that will transcend it and trespass it. Its goods will enhance the source realms, its bads will strike back in it, as happened in the world of www, Facebook, Wikileaks and US presidential campaign interfered by maleficent descendants of the “dark-side” soviets. More

On the Nature of the Concept of Tolerance Essay on three conferences delivered by Andrei Plesu, Mircea Dumitru and Horia-Roman Patapievici

Emil Dinga

I would like to discuss the following issues related to the concept of tolerance (the concept of intolerance can be derived, relatively un-problematically, from that of tolerance): the nature (source) of the concept of tolerance. More

The Future of Economics Is Human

Nicoleta Stoianovici

Private actors have long embraced behavioral economics as a way to boost sales and profits yet, until recently, the line of study had not been endowed with a front row seat in the hall of economic policy development. This year’s recipient of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (called the Nobel Prize for Economics), Richard H. Thaler, increases the proportion of behavioral economists upon whom the prestigious award has been bestowed to 6%. His work offers a glimpse into a particular type of libertarianism: coined as “libertarian paternalism” by this year’s Nobel Prize recipient and the co-author of his bestselling book “Nudge”, Cass Sunstein, the pair argues for guiding people in their choices under specific conditions. Libertarian paternalism would prevent losses resulting from neglecting to act upon lucrative propositions such as signing up for a savings plan where the employer matches one’s contribution up to a certain percent of one’s income and reasons in favor of providing as default options for policy implementation the best alternative for the individual or society as a whole (such as automatic enrollment in said savings program) in order to assist fallible or inexperienced individuals with key decisions. Thaler tries to match the two seemingly conflicting interests of the individual and the group (to him, choices need not be a zero-sum game) by minimizing the cost of externalities through defaults that are beneficial to one party while interfering minimally with respect to the other (a widespread example is that of favoring opt-out policies rather than opt-in, on the one hand to increase the number of participants and, on the other, to bank on people’s inertia). More

In Pursuit of the West

Vlad I. Roșca

There is a ceaseless notion going on about the rearwardness of Eastern European states and their inability to build lastingness. Ideas uninterruptedly flow about a retrograde existence that keeps the East away from competing with the West; that the hiatus seems to enlarge day after day. Alignment with the West is one of the biggest endeavours of the East. Many efforts are put into an attempt of modernization which gives the impression of being beyond comprehension and realization. Arraying in the same clothes as the big brother looks to have become a mantra of the East, with an ubiquitous hope of a finest hour that will come when differences will no longer exist. Odd enough, the East sets its hopes in an ideal it has never managed to obtain for centuries, but which is now seen as an end goal. More

Man, Mansion, and Motion (II) A Forward History of Homesteading and Horsepowering

Alexandru Rîpa

The last argument concluded by leaving an open door to the second facet of our topic: the duality of transport/mobility & house/stability. We set up the context of our discussion based on the relationship between action and movement, which has applicability in the analysed duality. We argued how the action axiom is the spine of the above dualism and we performed afterwards a short review of the history of transport from its roots to its forthcoming developments. Having taken care of transport, we will discuss in this article how humans acted with regard to the concept of homesteading. More

Romania’s “Sonderweg” to Illiberal Democracy

Bogdan C. Enache

In German historiography, there is a current of thought dating to the 19th century regarding a “special path” (Sonderweg) of political development in Germany or German settled areas. Its first incarnation was a positive one, underlying the German aptitude for social reform and development in the absence of dangerous pressures. After WW2, it became a way of explaining the rise of Nazism and retconning it as inevitable, thus making the leap from theory to tool for self-blame. This article argues that Romania is undergoing its own Sonderweg to illiberalism, based on local specificities of a political and structural nature. More

“Unplugged Skills”: The Need to Live beyond Technology’s Limitations

Georgiana Constantin-Parke

It would seem as if there is an electrical outlet for everything from one’s toothbrush to their car now. Society is in continuous technological progress. Advances in scientific and technical knowledge have extended and improved our lives. Most of us live in comfort only afforded to kings a few centuries ago and with capabilities they could not have imagined. And with all the new technology come new skill sets, new job prospects, and exciting opportunities. We now have the freedom to work from home or from anywhere in the world, as long as we have a computer and a good internet connection. We can run a business online. We can shop online. We can keep in touch with people from thousands of miles away and deliver messages that reach them in seconds. Everything seems to herald in an exciting future. More

Models of Globalization The first four meetings of the Interdisciplinary Scientific Seminar “Octav Onicescu”

Alexandru A. Popovici

By the end of June 2017, when the seminar on “Marxist mathematical economics” was wrapping up, I announced a plan to organize a scientific seminar on “Models of globalization”, and I expoused its basic themes. It extends the economic study from the national to the supranational (of international organizations) and global levels, as was the obvious progression of inquiries. In September, after consulting with potential participants and especially professor Emil Dinga (director of the Seminary “N. Georgescu-Roegen”, of Logic and Methodology of Economics), a plan of organization and a list of reviewers and reports were established. Hence, on the 28^th of September 2017, I was able to publish online the purpose, the organization and the program of the seminar, which was described as “interdisciplinary”. Latter on, under the approval of the participants, it was named “Octav Onicescu”, because he was an important promoter of interdisciplinary studies and the seminar was housed by the Institute for Mathematical Statistics and Applied Mathematics, of the Romanian Academy, which bears his name. I also managed for the seminars (together the discussions) to be recorded and published on youtube,com and to be broadcast live, through Skype. More

A Romanian Perspective on the Three Seas Initiative

Liviu Mureșan  Alexandru Georgescu

The Three Seas Initiative is a recent formula describing an older concept. Romania is a reflexive supporter of regional cooperation initiatives, but it is paying special attention to this initiative, as it encompasses a geopolitically significant area with relevance to long-term Romanian interests. This paper argues that this valuable initiative has a latent geopolitical subtext with regards to the two powers flanking the region which is perceived as such, if not commonly articulated, by the countries of the initiative. At the same time, the Black Sea will be a main deciding factor for the success and failure of the Initiatives, owing to several underlying conditions, as well as potential complicating factors. Any sort of Three Seas Initiative development will have to keep this in mind or else risk a concentration of vulnerabilities in the middle portion of the Initiative’s geographical space. The Three Seas Initiative must also be regarded from the perspective of synergies with Chinese initiatives, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the 16+1 cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries. More

Pandora’s Botnet How the cyber visionaries are sticking us with the bill

Alexandru Georgescu

Cybersecurity is mentioned so often that it has become a cliché like climate change, with the other thing they have in common being a disagreement on what solutions are required, who is responsible for them and whether there is a responsibility in changing behaviour so as to minimize these risks. All of these difficult questions are left unanswered not just by the conceptual breadth and diversity of the issue at hand, but also by the ease with which dilettantes and people with agendas can spot facile solutions that obviate the need for difficult questions and answers. More

PrestiDigital GeoPolitics Web Spatiality and Territoriality

Octavian-Dragomir Jora

We, humans, live and act in the old physical space, though spatiality will never be the same after digits became the atoms of some “virtual matter”, in which our bodies and souls e-immersed. Cyberspace, equated reasonably with the Internet, allows for larger and better markets and fortunes, as well as more and fierce dangers to our security and liberty, to our homes and homelands. More

The Grand (Binary) Chessboard: Security, Geopolitics and Geoeconomics in the Cyber-era

Adrian-Ioan Damoc

For each age that we think to define, there are words that describe the aspects or characteristics that are thought to define it best. The mid-twentieth century was known as the ‘Atomic Age’, when the results of research into nuclear physics were brought to the forefront with the detonation of nuclear bombs. Shortly thereafter, it was succeeded by the Space Age, with the drive to explore outer space and the competition between the world’s superpowers to develop technology to that end. Somewhere from the 1970s, the Information Age is believed to have begun, sprung by the Digital Revolution, with information technology playing an increasingly greater role in human affairs on an ever-growing number of levels: the economy, society, culture, language and politics. Thus, geographic distance became less and less relevant in defining human interaction, and physical contact was no longer an imperative for relations between people. More

Essentials of Military Cyber Security Strategies

Bilge Karabacak

There are considerable, even astonishing, differences between the old and new versions of Department of Defense (DoD) cyber strategies. There is a four-year period between the two strategies and the new version explicitly states that the United States may take offensive actions against its persistent adversaries in cyber space. In this article, the major changes in the new strategy are shared with the reader. Secondly, cyber-attacks against the assets of the US in a four-year period have been summarized. Probably, these persistent attacks may be the primary reason for the offensive nature of the new strategy. This article also shares the essentials of a military cyber security strategy, which are in parallel with the evolution of the DoD cyber strategy.  More

Cyber Conflict and International Law

Metodi Hadji Janev

This article provides a brief overview of the international principles and standards applicable to cyber conflict. The main assumption is that globalization and technological development have changed the international order. These changes affect the nation states and principles and standards established to regulate their relations. The existing international law has limited applicability to regulate potential cyber conflict. Therefore, the International Community must take further steps to prevent these challenges.  More

Cyber Diplomacy – Addressing the Gap in Strategic Cyber Policy

Carmen Elena Cîrnu

Although it is a new topic, cyber-diplomacy has already advanced in leaps and bounds worldwide in an attempt to define and to summarize the efforts constantly made to solve a new type of conflict, namely those taking place in cyberspace. The primary role of diplomacy is to generate common advantage through dialogue, thus the primary role of cyber diplomacy would be to generate advantage through dialogue on cyber security issues. More concrete, a simple assumption would be that cyber diplomacy uses diplomatic tools to solve the problems that emerge in cyberspace. Topics like internet governance, enforcement of law against cyber crime, response to malicious attacks arising in cyberspace, the protection of critical infrastructure, just to mention a few, are of utmost importance and require a dedicated agenda and concrete action. The last decade has seen emerging technologies impact national economic systems in virtual space. This has changed the diplomatic agenda, with cyber threats moving to the top and with many governments already acknowledging that ignoring cyber diplomacy is no longer an option for global dynamics. Both a confusion in terminology and a lack of common legislation when addressing the cyber diplomacy topic is observed, since beyond internet governance and cyber security, a range of topics, from military use of internet to economic growth, are also enclosed by cyber diplomacy.  More

Terrorist Influence on Children in Cyberspace

Katarina Jonev

Terrorist groups are using cyberspace to propagandize ideological, political and religious concepts, for mutual communication and organization of activities, for planning attacks in the real world and for financing. Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegrams have contributed to radicalization and recruitment, primarily of children and young people who accept the principles of terrorists and join their ranks. Modern ways of communication have enabled terrorists to successfully increase membership and their ranks without direct, physical contact. More

Terrorism Has No Echo without the Media

Valentina Nica

Terrorism can be seen as an act of communication. In order to transform an attack into a message, the media’s dissemination capabilities are needed, being a vital pawn in the game the terrorists are playing. Sending the perfect message in the way the terrorist desire is much more important that the act itself. The challenge in the relationship stated is the conflict of interests between the media having to broadcast unbiased information about the event, the social responsibility they carry and the prospect of giving sensational news that may alter the reality in order to have a wider audience.  More

What Is Blockchain? An introduction for laymen

Radu Judele

During the age of the crusades, several knightly orders were formed out of international groups of feudal knights to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land. In the interludes between the various wars, the number of pilgrims would grow, seeking salvation and other personal benefits, such as the prestige of having performed the pilgrimage. The Templars were one of the groups approached by these medieval tourists and were asked for protection on the long road against robbers. The trend continued and there was a growing need for protection. Since the Templar Order had a limited number of members, they became overwhelmed and they came up with a solution. More

Building the Future, One Blockchain at a Time

Adrian Victor Vevera

The European Center for Excellence in Blockchain (ECEB) was founded in Bucharest in 2017 by the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics (ICI), the Idea Factory Think Tank and Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Virginia, USA) as a as a promoter of the Blockchain issue and its link with the protection of Critical Infrastructures for state institutions and for the private sector (i.e. finance, energy, etc.), both nationally and internationally. It seeks to foster an understanding of blockchain issues on the part of decision makers and to encourage the development of key applications for use in governance, such as that of critical infrastructures. It will cooperate with both public authorities and private actors to facilitate a sustainable exploitation of blockchain potential. More

Development Exposed Ian Goldin, The Pursuit of Development. Economic Growth, Social Change, and Ideas

Elena Tălmăcian

Ian Goldin’s book entitled The Pursuit of Development. Economic Growth, Social Change, and Ideas was originally published in English in 2016 by Oxford University Press and was translated in Romanian (În căutarea dezvoltării: creșterea economică, schimbările sociale și ideile) in 2017 by Comunicare.ro Publishing House (introduction: Paul Dobrescu; translation from English: Viorela Dima-coordinator, Raluca-Elena Hurduzeu and Elena Tălmăcian).  More

Hyperborean Folklore – The Art of Symbols & Numbers

The Art Gallery “Cecilia Cuțescu-Storck” at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies hosted the artistic photography exposition named “Hyperborean Folklore – The Art of Symbols & Numbers” which has the main theme of the reinterpretation of the ancestral and cultural symbolism found in the manufacturing of the national authentic Romanian dress, in a contemporary manner of fashion that brings to the present the artistic dowry that artists inherited from their Romanian origin. More

A Community in Search of Unity, a Union in Search of Communion

The Faculty of International Business and Economics, from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, hosted on 16th-17th November 2017 the 8th edition of The Future of Europe International Conference, with the participation of distinguished speakers and generous auditorium from Academia, public administration, and business environment. More

For a Privatization of Environmental Public Policies (Towards an intellectual climate change on sustainable development)

Octavian-Dragomir Jora

Climate change and sustainable development are, somehow, like “love and marriage”, and they go together like “a horse and carriage”; and if you ask “the local [as well as global] gentry”, they will say that this is “elementary”. But despite a basic consensus, that something is happening to our earthly environment and something must rapidly be done, the problem is much more delicate scientifically and politically. More

Orient and Occident – Perceptual and Complementary Macro-Regions

Viorel Mionel

The Occident (The West) is a term that is borrowed from Latin (occidens) and translates as "sunset". From an etymological and semantic point of view, it refers to features of a geographic nature. The sunset, seen from the perspective of a fix point, means the west. Anyone at any point in the world can see that the sun always rises from the east and sets in the west. It follows that the West is located somewhere, where the sun sets. Examples of names that include terms such as occident and occidental (the West and western) are numerous, both in the western and eastern hemispheres: the Western Sahara or Occidental Sahara (the West African geographical region administered by Morocco), the Western Carpathians (Carpaţii Occidentali in Romanian; a Western Carpathian subdivision), Occidental Grand Erg (the area covered with sand dunes in the West of the Sahara desert), the Sierra Madre Occidental (mountains in western part of Mexico) or Negros Occidental (an administrative sub-region located in the western part of the Negros Island of the Philippines). More

Defence and Security: The UK and Romania after Brexit

Adam Sambrook

We live in a better world than our parents or grandparents did. Romania’s GDP is a remarkable five times higher that it was at the turn of this millennium. More countries, like Romania, are more open, democratic and stable than they were a couple of generations ago. We are more tolerant, with more rights for religious, ethnic and sexual minorities. We have access to technologies that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. And even if we look outside the developed world, there is good news. In 1990, 1.9 billion human beings lived in extreme poverty. That number had, despite population growth, been cut in half by 2010. In 25 years, global mortality rate for children under 5 years of age declined by more than half. Many fewer people are contracting HIV/AIDS and more are living with it. More

À la recherche de l’identité perdue

Adrian-Ioan Damoc

In most contexts, the name Catalonia is typically associated with the world of culture, arts, architecture and sports. It evokes the splendour of the Sagrada Familia, the distinctive styles of Antoni Gaudi and Salvador Dali, the venerable Montserrat Caballé and, of course, the famous Barcelona FC. Yet, in the aftermath of the declaration of independence passed by the Autonomous Community’s Parliament on October 27, 2017, the name is now also associated with the increasingly prominent trend towards fragmentation that has defined socio-political dynamics in the Western world in recent years, in particular Europe. More

The 2017 Austrian Elections A hint on the gap between contemporary Austrian politics and Austrian economics heritage

Barbara Kolm

Since October 2006, Austria has been governed by a “big coalition” between the two major parties, the Conservative People’s Party ÖVP and the Social Democratic Party SPÖ. Years which, in the eyes of most, have been dominated by intergovernmental conflict and bipartisan obstruction. More

The Ebb of German-Turkish Relations

Heydar Mirza

The political crisis in the relations between Germany and Turkey deepens as the tensions grow and bellicose statements and mutual accusations envelop more dimensions of the bilateral agenda. Millions of Turks are living and working in Germany, Germans, in their turn, traditionally make up to around fifteen percent of the country’s tourism arrivals. The bilateral trade volume is around 37 billion U.S. dollars p.a.. Relations between Germany and Turkey have always been subject to serious and long-term synergies. Both sides have much to lose, but this, however, is not a dampener on hostile rhetoric. More

The Saudi Shake-up

Alexandru Georgescu

News of the ongoing purge of numerous high-level officials and Saudi Royal Family members by the Saudi government has rattled global markets and raised further doubts regarding the stability of the Kingdom. What some are calling a counter-coup is presented as an anti-corruption move that saw over 1,200 bank accounts frozen and numerous assets being seized. Two Saudi princes have also died, one in an as yet unexplained helicopter crash near the Yemeni border and the other, the youngest son of King Fahd who ruled Saudi Arabia until 2005, died in a shoot-out between his security detail and government forces. More