No. 56, Nov.-Dec. 2025 The 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics celebrates the fruitful dialogue between the history of economic ideas and the modern theory of sustainable growth. The Nobel Committee awarded half of the prize (11 million Swedish kronor, approximately 1.2 million US dollars) to Joel Mokyr, and the other half to Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt, in equal shares. More
No. 56, Nov.-Dec. 2025 Fiscal (budgetary) policies and monetary policies are macroeconomic and conjunctural in nature. They are developed and applied by different authorities, independent of each other, namely the government and the central bank. This does not mean that the two types of economic policies are not interdependent. Both act on the economy and influence its overall performance, and the interdependence between them is manifested by the reciprocal effects and constraints that they impose on each other. As a result, the coordination of fiscal and monetary policy is necessary for the stability of the economy, the promotion of sustainable economic growth and the efficient approach to various challenges. More
No. 55, Sep.-Oct. 2025 In many countries, including Romania, the prices of goods and services tend to rise. This process is called inflation. Prices are determined by many factors: supply and demand, the cost of labour and raw materials, competition among sellers, and so on. But, in essence, inflation is related to supply and demand: if the demand for goods and services increases faster than the supply, prices tend to rise. More
No. 55, Sep.-Oct. 2025 Economic science (economics) contributes to the design of economic policy through its analyses of supply and demand, economic growth, taxation, regulations, financial stability, etc. This discipline sometimes guides public debates on economic policy. More
No. 54, Jul.-Aug. 2025 Before World War I, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world, with a per capita income close to that of the United States. In the last half century, the country has been undermined by inflation, recession, and the ineffectiveness of state institutions. The cause is the economic policy pursued by Argentine governments in the post-war period. More
No. 54, Jul.-Aug. 2025 After the first 100 days of US President Donald Trump’s second term, which saw the most serious escalation of the US-China conflict and the greatest financial instability in recent history, some observations can be made about the changing international economic order. If the trends of this period continue, the rules-based world order will be replaced by one based on power relations. More
No. 53, May-Jun. 2025 The chaotic decisions of the Trump administration, the unpredictable tariff measures that are likely to affect even the most important economic partners of the US – Canada, Mexico, China and the EU – as well as the equally disorderly reconsideration of American geopolitical interests in relations with Russia, Ukraine and Europe have triggered a new series of debates on an old issue: the role of the dollar in the world. More
No. 52, Mar.-Apr. 2025 One might think that any market imperfection is a good reason to adopt protectionist measures. Indeed, a number of economists have fallen into this trap for almost two centuries: from the beginning of the modern history of international trade, in the first decades of the 19th century, to the 1950s, the solution of protectionism was repeatedly tried. Today, most economists argue, on the contrary, that protectionism is an inadequate and ineffective way of correcting internal market deficiencies. For example, if wages do not adjust quickly enough to the decline in demand for the products of a particular branch, a reduction determined by foreign competition, some contemporary economists argue that the appropriate government policy is to intervene – or, possibly, to cease intervention – in the labor market, where remedial measures can indeed be adopted that directly target the causes of the problem. More
No. 52, Mar.-Apr. 2025 The fact that preventing free trade affects the economy has been known for a long time. The idea is as old as economics itself. Thus, in his book, The Wealth of Nations, which marks the birth of economics, Adam Smith justifies free trade at the international level, showing that, by specializing in the production of certain goods, all nations benefit from freedom of trade. Just as, within a national economy, the division of labor, specialization and free exchange of goods lead to increased productivity and, therefore, general well-being, at the level of the entire world economy, free trade leads to increased wealth of all nations and to world peace. However, Smith admits the establishment of customs duties in two situations: in the case of industries that are of strategic importance for national defense and in reaction to duties imposed by other countries on imports of goods from that country. According to Smith, protectionism is, therefore, an exceptional measure, which, as a general rule, hinders the proper functioning of the economy. More
No. 52, Mar.-Apr. 2025 President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on the US’s three largest trading partners, prompting immediate retaliation from Mexico, Canada and China and sending financial markets into turmoil. Starting on March 4, 2025, tariffs of 25% on Mexican and Canadian imports and 10% on electricity imported from Canada will take effect. Canada’s representatives argue – and they do – that the tariffs are inconsistent with the provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (1947) and the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO) (1964). The next day, the White House announced that President Trump would exempt car manufacturers from the punitive 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico for one month if these countries comply with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). More
No. 51, Jan.-Feb. 2025 The great economist Friedrich Hayek, a Nobel laureate, devoted his entire life to proving that the spontaneous order of the market is superior to the central planning of the economy. In his book entitled The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism (1988), he states that this is not an opinion, but an “astonishing fact”. More
No. 50, Nov.-Dec. 2024 Published in 1945, the book “The Open Society and Its Enemies” is the major work of the philosopher Karl Popper. This work was an important source of inspiration for the political orientation defined by Winston Churchill in his 1946 speeches in Fulton (Missouri) and Zurich: the formation of a group of Western states, based on the principle of freedom and human rights, to confront the Soviet empire. Consequently, the Iron Curtain became not only a physical but also an ideological border: the free world against the expansion of communist totalitarianism. This orientation constituted the framework within which political activity in the West took place after the Second World War: regardless of interests and political programs, the liberal constitutional state, based on fundamental human rights, in opposition to communist totalitarianism, was accepted by all major social groups and political parties. This framework shaped Western politics and society for over four decades. In 1989, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the continuation of this orientation seemed normal: freedom and the rule of law had won. The American sociologist and political scientist Francis Fukuyama even spoke of the end of history! More
