Mihnea Alexandru Ciocan

Economist, Masters Student, the Faculty of International Business and Economics, the Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Why Do We Love Football?

No. 59, May-Jun. 2026 Football (or soccer, as it is called in English-speaking ex-colonial zones; the term “soccer” was coined by English university students, deriving from “Association (Football)”, and was intended to distinguish the code of 11’s football from that of 15’s football, or rugby, or “rugger”) is almost omnipresent on the planet. This sport is a magnet for the masses, and its popularity constantly increases, according to statistics and worldwide reach. For sure, there are so many other sports games that are also very attractive, but somehow football stands out at the top of the list. However, did you ever wonder why this phenomenon is happening? More

From a World of Wars to a War of the Worlds

Mihnea Alexandru Ciocan

No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 The decades following the 2nd World War witnessed different armed conflicts scattered around the globe, varying in magnitude and consequences on the geopolitical stage. To name a few: the war in Korea, Indo-Pakistan war, the Vietnam War, Israel and war with the United Arab Republic, the Algerian war of Independence, the Cyprus division, the Falkland conflict, Iran vs. Iraq and so on. When we consider the term war in its broad meaning, we refer to an open armed conflict between two or more countries or a serious civil war that engulfs a country or large part of it, not guerilla fighting at low intensity in various provinces or separatist movements like ETA or IRA. It is true that the spatial distribution was not homogenous in mathematical terms, but it had nevertheless a wide dispersion. Moreover, another fundamental distinction must be made. From the point of compulsory conflict there are wars of necessity and wars of choice. The first one is clear; it is an action that must be taken in order to defend against or something. Can be taken pre-event (preemptive strike) or post-event (retaliation). It is easier to explain and to legitimize. On the other hand, war of choice is a bit harder to categorize and to legitimize. It can have multiple triggers, some real, some covering other interests. More

Heartland vs. Rimland

Mihnea Alexandru Ciocan

No. 45, Jan.-Feb. 2024 The last decade saw more and more thoughts on, opinions, and claims that a new world order is just around the corner and the old system of bipolar and then unipolar world will belong in the history books. The “Pax Americana” period is living its final days, marking the beginning of a not so long interregnum characterized by a vaguely-defined so-called “multipolar world”. Since it is unstable in the longer term, multipolarity will most likely segregate and in the end will lead to a world dominated either by a single power, probably China, or, more likely, by another bipolar world divided on an East-West gradient politically and economically, but, more importantly, on ideology and in terms of the proposed social model. This could mean the end of globalization as we know it in its Anglo-Saxon form, but does not mean that globalization itself will be gone completely. It just may very well take another shape, under a presumable new “Pax Sinica”, or a half-half globalization in case of bipolarity, meaning one type of international system in the Western, democratic and capitalist world and another form in the authoritarian states in Eurasia. Pretty much like in the Cold War, with the main difference that these two global systems can cooperate economically much more than in the previous setting. More

The Arctic Maritime Corridor

Mihnea Alexandru Ciocan

In the context of ever-growing concern regarding global climate and the consequences that will impact our society in its entirety, it is worthwhile to approach a topic that may be seen in a positive key – the emergence of a new transport route through the Arctic Ocean. This arctic passage would facilitate the maritime commercial link between East Asia and Western Europe and the East Coast of North America by providing an alternative route. On paper it is shorter and therefore could be deemed as a great economic advantage. This article gives a short analysis of the true feasibility of this new and presumptive transport corridor by examining it briefly from 4 points of view: geographic, logistic, economic, and in the end, the geopolitical perspective. More

Future Tense in the Job Market

Mihnea Alexandru Ciocan

Lately, in the community of futurists and the subgroup of Economics scholars / freaks, a theory or, better yet, a slogan has emerged, in support of the idea of the acceleration of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0), based on automation, interconnections between machines and Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Internet of Things (IoT). According to this saying, expressed in a similar form by Martin Boehm in 2017, “4 of 5 jobs of the year 2025 have not yet been created”, which can be translated as 80% of the future (types of) jobs in the next 6 years do not exist today. Therefore, the statement is qualitative before being quantitative. This brief essay breaks this idea down to see if it holds water. We do contest neither the transformation of economy towards automated production, nor the growing impact of AI in present and future jobs. What is indeed put under scrutiny is the pace of adoption, on a large scale, of these technologies. More

Semiconductors – the “Future Currency” for Development

Mihnea Alexandru Ciocan

“Semiconductors became as scarce as gold”. As weird this phrase it may look at first glance, it is actually a reality. And it may be a very grim reality if the demand rate will continue to be way higher than supply. These small electronic components are vital for manufacturing electronic devices and, by extension, for a very broad spectrum of common and industrial goods. Practically, modern humans depend on devices that run on electrical power, and almost all of these depend on semiconductors, chips and other tiny parts. In a way, even if it is not so evident, and even if we are so reluctant to admit it openly, contemporary human society has become deeply dependent on electronics. More

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