The Market For Ideas

The Brundtland report – Our Common Future (1987) – represents the catechism of durable/sustainable development, defined as that type of “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations... More

The Regionally Relevant RomaniaCompetitiveness, compliance, cooperation

No. 43, Sep.-Oct. 2023

Mihai Christopher Marian Radovici

The Romanian Economic Forum (Forumul Economic Român), whose first edition took place in 2018, represented a first, pioneering approach on the events market in Romania, showing that our country, through its strategic position, can play... More

Breaking the 3SI Piggybank: Wages, Inflation and Real Values

No. 43, Sep.-Oct. 2023

Meanwhile, from the same datasets we can observe that, even though most of the 3SI countries increased in this period their minimum hourly pay rates (on average by a quarter), an issue that dragged the rest of the brackets with them (as there is an... More

The Rich Dynamic of Faith in Action

No. 43, Sep.-Oct. 2023

One of the most incisive analyses of the secular transformation of America’s – indeed the West’s – ruling ideology was published a century ago in 1923 by a Presbyterian theologian, J. Gresham Machen. James Kurth would later describe its evolution as... More

The 18th International Conference on Business ExcellenceSmart Solutions for a Sustainable Future (21-23 March 2024, Bucharest, Romania)

No. 43, Sep.-Oct. 2023

Business excellence is about achieving superior business results in relation to the competitors by means of developing and strengthening the management systems and processes of an organization; it is targeted at improving performance and... More

Romania, the Highest Share of Children in Poverty or Social Exclusion in 2022

No. 43, Sep.-Oct. 2023

Octavian-Dragomir Jora Alexandru Georgescu

Among the EU member states in 2022, the highest share of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion was recorded in Romania, according to Eurostat data. The percentage of 41.5% (same as in the previous year) was well above those for... More

Azimuth, Romania Towards global relevance through regional cooperation. And a follow-up to the 2023 Three Seas Initiative summit

No. 43, Sep.-Oct. 2023

The political-economic phrase “regional cooperation mechanisms” is dry enough that it brings in tow a serene attitude, which neither Romania’s voluptuous imaginaries, nor its immanent vicinities seem to pan out. Central and Eastern Europe, extruding... More

Time for DiplomacyGeopolitical Forum – Danube Institute

No. 43, Sep.-Oct. 2023

Zsolt Németh

On Ukraine – and on many other issues, such as how to deal with China –, the G7 members showed unprecedented unity in the consultation process organized by the Japanese Presidency in the spring. It has become clear that the Western powers do... More

BRIC(S) by BRIC(S)East vs. West or North vs. South?

No. 43, Sep.-Oct. 2023

Mihai Răzvan Nedelcu

The East vs. West dilemma that has characterised the latter half of the twentieth century was put on hold following the collapse of the Soviet Union, only to be brought again into the mainstream following the Russian annexation of Crimea (and the... More

Trimarium – Western Fortress or Meeting Point of Cultures?

No. 43, Sep.-Oct. 2023

Zoltán Koskovics

Buongiorno, Amici!Io sono Zoltán.Io sono un padre. Io sono Ungherese. And…, in the immortal words of Joe Biden: “You know the thing.”I would like to thank the Machiavelli Institute for inviting me to the Eternal City, and I also want to thank all... More

Women in Sport – Inspirational Models That Robots Cannot Replace

No. 43, Sep.-Oct. 2023

The volume Women’s Strength in Sport coordinated by Andreea Paul appeared this fall at the Polirom Publishing House in Iași. It is the fourth volume in the series The Force of women in ... that Andreea Paul has delivered, thus filling the information... More

The Connection between the Three Seas Initiative and the Middle Corridor: An Italian Perspective

No. 43, Sep.-Oct. 2023

Stefano Graziosi

It is not a mystery. The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, intends not to renew the controversial memorandum of understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative. After all, this deal has always been risky from a geopolitical point of view... More

A Midsummer Night’s Chilling DreamThe war’s “global warmings” and “nuclear winters”

No. 43, Sep.-Oct. 2023

Climate changes and armed conflicts – as facets of, basically, the “non-human” physical nature and of the “dehumanised” human nature, respectively –, when fatally intertwined with each other, bring us closer to Apocalypse nightmares. The mental... More

The Three Seas Initiative – One Year after the Riga Summit: Full Steam Ahead?

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

Mihai Sebe

We are witnessing an increased political concreteness of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) as the September 2023 Summit in Bucharest is approaching. First of all, we should look at the goals of this Initiative. As mentioned in several other papers... More

Foible Taxation, the Main Cause of Public Deficit

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

As a ratio of GDP, in 2021 tax revenue (including net social contributions) accounted for 41.7% of GDP in the European Union (EU) and 42.2% of GDP in the euro area (EA-19). The ratio tax revenue to GDP was highest in Denmark (48.8%), France... More

Stories that Matter

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

The book that I’d like to introduce to you is “Escaping the Frame. Women in Famous Pictures tell their Stories” by Mary Bevan. It was published in 2021. It’s the perfect book for today’s readers always in a hurry, nevertheless looking for something... More

Year 0 A.D. (after Vilnius)

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

The NATO Summit in Vilnius on 11-12 July 2023 produced some of the expected results. It reaffirmed the Alliance’s support for Ukraine, and continued the work to coordinate investment in the industrial capacity needed to supply Ukraine in this war of... More

Is the European Union Going Forward or Going Backwards?

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

The many crises that have hit the European Union during the last decade and a half have made many observers pessimistic about the future of the organisation. The deep economic crisis of the eurozone has been followed by a north-south political... More

Edward Rozek: Bearing Witness

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

How do we develop the eyes to see and the ears to hear? The best teachers equip us to resist temptation and recognize deception. They enable us to develop the vision to discern truth and the voice to tell it. “Take everything with a grain of... More

Romania 2022 – Highest Share of People at Risk of Poverty or Social Exclusion in the EU

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

In 2022, the shares of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion varied across the EU countries, with highest values reported in Romania (34%), Bulgaria (32%), Greece and Spain (both 26%). On the other hand, the lowest shares were recorded in... More

Cultural Zig Zag – Confluences

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

Françoise Gilot, a successful painter and memorialist, died on June 6 aged 101. And beyond her venerable age, the name of the artist has appeared in almost every important cultural publication in the world. Why am I mentioning her here? Because her... More

The Geopolitics of Artificial Intelligence Regulation

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

Nicolas-Costinel Negrea Cristina-Larisa Marița

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to be what Edison said about electricity - "it is a field of fields... that holds the secret to reorganizing the life of the world". Artificial intelligence, at all of its levels of complexity, is a technology with a radical impact... More

“Touchy Pride” Libertarianism and the Accountability for Implicitly Given Consent

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

Petru-Răsvan Iatan

When thinking about Libertarianism, one who is not too familiar with terminological specifics would most probably imagine either a society under which laissez-faire Capitalism is the only present economic system, or, as an even more general rule, an... More

Italy’s Economic SagaUnraveling Public Debt, Post-WW2 Reconstruction, and Eurozone Realities

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

Italy is one of the biggest economies within the eurozone, yet its debt burden now stands as one of the largest globally, surpassing 140% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022. Italian debt spans multiple decades, with the country grappling with... More

Economics & Football(On professional amateurship)

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

Football has made the planet crazy, becoming today a veritable secular religion of the globalized world; or, metaphorizing it economically, a “medium of exchange” in the settlement of acts equally qualified as being of the communion type or of... More

The African Union Opportunity Act (AGOA): A Review of Trade Controversies and Opportunities

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

Mara-Andreea Tudor

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a unilateral agreement commissioned by the US, with the purpose of increasing the volume of trade between the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of such an act is to... More

International Conference on Political SciencesTime: October 12-14, 2023 | Venue: Manchester, UK

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

At the political science conference, we will dive into the most recent trends and discoveries, as well as the most pressing matters in various fields and subfields of political sciences. Attendees will listen to the fascinating presentations by... More

Homo (Sapiens Sapiens) DigitalensisA future written in the past

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

Răzvan-Marin Bărbosu

After a flourishing era, in which humankind discovered the steam engine, standardization and electricity, a new beginning was on the horizon. Even though society reached unbelievable levels of productivity and new levels of wealth throughout the... More

The Symphony Strikes BackWhen economic privileges become too expensive

No. 42, Jul.-Aug. 2023

Mihai Răzvan Nedelcu

During a military parade, nothing is more eye-catching than the expensive hardware that is brought in order to display the nation’s capacities and ambitions, which are calibrated in a rigorous manner to eventually self-defend itself, a... More

“To Know” – That’s the Essence of Journalism!But how could “knowing” (news) and “knowledge” (science) find common ground?

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

The daily journalist is the professional who doctors us against informational nightmares – the wordplay I prefer to use in order to summarise this vocation (which is vocal in both a literal and a figurative sense). And I use that metaphor because... More

Growth, Degrowth and Greening

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

Although discussions about the relationship between economics and the environment are no longer confined to scientific forums and have in fact become an inspiration for a variety of popular movements, it is often difficult to grasp the core issues at... More

A Walking Encyclopedia: Revisiting Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, an Austrian aristocrat who lived in the United States with his family for a decade after the Anschluss, was a journalist, linguist, novelist, encyclopedist, political scientist, theologian, and student of the human... More

Inflation: A Well-Known Phenomenon

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

Silviu Cerna

Over the past two years approximately, inflation has resurfaced in Romania. Initially, price increases appeared to be temporary and due to purely external causes: international commodity market tensions and supply difficulties in a context of strong... More

Adam Smith’s 300th BirthdayThe only hope the poor have of bettering their condition is in a market economy

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

Rainer Zitelmann

We know very little about the man Adam Smith. We do not even know the famous Scotsman’s birthday. All we know is the date of his baptism, June 5, 1723 (Julian calendar), which means that, according to our Gregorian calendar, he was baptized... More

The Limits of Merit as the Diverging Point between Economics and Moral Philosophy

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

Petru-Răsvan Iatan

The compatibility between the moral and the practical has always been a key issue for many philosophies and schools of thought. When it comes to Economics, advocates of certain systems have, more often than not, tried to argue that it isn’t only their... More

Geopolitical Perspectives and Technological Challenges for Sustainable Growth in the 21st CenturyThe 6th International Conference on Economics and Social Sciences (icESS), June 15-16, 2023

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

The world today is vastly different than what it was even a few decades ago, as a result of advances in technology, globalization, and societal changes. Recently, a particular attention was given to sustainable development, raising the question of how to... More

Preparing for OECD – Responsible Reforms and Policies

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

Cosmin Marinescu

Joining the OECD and embracing its values, especially in the current context, will allow Romania to achieve a better alignment with the OECD motto: “better policies, better lives”. The preparation for accession is not an easy task, but... More

One Fifth of Young Romanians, Neither in Employment Nor in Education or Training

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

Georgiana Constantin-Parke

Last year, one fifth of young Romanian people were neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET), according to data compiled and published by Eurostat. It is the largest proportion in any EU Member State, well above the... More

Cultural Branding Strategies: Leveraging National Identity for Economic Prosperity

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

Alexandru Preda

In the vast arena of international politics, where nations battle for influence and power, the art of branding cities or institutions/buildings plays a crucial role. By understanding the historical context, concepts, and authors behind this... More

An Age of Hollow Words and Mutilated Souls

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

The history of marriage goes back thousands of years and has looked and been defined in different ways over time and in different corners of the world. But the modern understanding of the idea of marriage in most Christian or former Christian... More

Warfare Economics and the Proper Use of Individual Incentives on the Battlefield

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

Petru-Răsvan Iatan

The science of economics has oftentimes proven itself to be more than capable at exceeding the role most people, especially those foreign to its potential, would grant it – the mere study of the economy – by having direct applications into many other... More

Bad Political Decisions as an Engine for Change

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

Hesam Jebeli-Bakht-Ara

Progress, in all its forms, implies the destruction of the status quo and its replacement by a new one. It cannot exist without emancipation or change, without the evolution of the old into the new, or even the disappearance of an element giving... More

America – Pirouettes Based on Geopolitical Events of the World

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

On June 10, 2022, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held a meeting for over an hour with his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, in Singapore on the occasion of the 19th edition of the Shangri-La Dialogue. This meeting follows President Joe... More

Early Christendom: Chrysalis of the West

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

So powerfully did the transformational grammar of the new religion, Christianity, change the western world that Arnold Toynbee has described the church as “the chrysalis out of which our Western society emerged.” Historians have both... More

State and Prosperity

No. 41, May.-Jun. 2023

Silviu Cerna

The strong global recession, caused by the containment measures imposed by the Covid-19 outbreak, as well as the aid granted by many countries to people and companies, has led to increased budget spending and public debt all over the world. This... More

What Do People in Romania Think of Capitalism?

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

Rainer Zitelmann

How do the Romanians feel about capitalism and the free market economy, and how do the attitudes in Romania compare to those in 33 other countries? This was the subject of a survey conducted between June 2021 and December 2022 in a total of 34... More

My First Encounter with Corneliu CoposuMemories from 1986 communist Romania

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

Dennis Deletant

There is no reference in my Securitate file to the above episode, nor to that involving my contact with Corneliu Coposu who, after the 1989 revolution, became President of the National Peasant Party, although a report of my visit to him appears in... More

Natural Disasters as Economic and Political WeaponsThe Turkish earthquake against the Kurdish community

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

Hesam Jebeli-Bakht-Ara

Kurdistan, or the impossibility of its existence, represents a millennial problem in the heart of the Middle East, being moreover one of the most controversial and at the same time current dilemmas of modern history. The most recent... More

Eurostat: Young People Materially and Socially Deprived, Highest Proportion Recorded in Romania

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

In 2021, the EU Member States with the highest levels of young people (aged 15-29 years) at risk of poverty or social exclusion were Romania (36.1 %), Greece (35.4 %) and Bulgaria (31.8 %), while the lowest rates were found in Czechia (10.6 %)... More

“Twin transitions” and (the Transformation of) ArtExordium to an economist’s inquiry into the ecology and technology (and assorted ideologies) of tomorrow’s cultural and creative sector

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

The future of what is currently happening in the European Union (although the process we are discussing is ultimately and inevitably global) constitutes the beginning of the “twin transitions” that may find us, decades from now, in the... More

China as a Space Power

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

After the death of the famous admiral Zheng He, whose fleet had explored the Indian Ocean and even reached East Africa, the move of the empire’s capital to Beijing and the threat from the Mongols led to an inward reorientation of China, which... More

Where To? The European Union between Brexit and the War in Ukraine

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

What has become of European integration? The present concerns regarding Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, a bloody war on the European Union’s Eastern borders, and transatlantic solidarity makes the question seem a bit irrelevant. Beneath the... More

Republicans and Support for Ukraine

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

Stephen R. Bowers

Trump has been the most vocal of Republican critics of the Biden policy and has suggested that more money needs to be directed toward our domestic needs. DeSantis has also been moving in that direction and on 14 March, The New York Times... More

Digitally United We Stand, Digitally Divided We Fall!Or vice versa?

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

Vlad I. Roșca

The European environment – business and wider society alike – is undergoing significant disruptions following the impact of digitalisation. Traditional value creation models for European businesses change. Value creation models are impacted... More

The Broken Avant-garde of Max Hermann Maxy

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

The exhibition currently displayed by the National Museum of Arts of Romania (MNAR) in honour of Max Hermann Maxy is both an artistic and a historical event. Despite its limitations and imperfections, “M. H. Maxy: From Avant-gardisme to... More

Romania, Third Among EU Economies Regarding Net Personal Transfers as Percentage of GDP and First in Nominal Terms

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

In 2021, the EU countries that generated surpluses of personal transfers, representing more than 1% of their respective gross domestic product (GDP), were Croatia (2.7% of GDP), Bulgaria (1.6%), Romania (1.5%) and Latvia (1.1%). In contrast... More

Dead Men Tell Many TalesReflection on one year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Part III)

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

Adrian-Ioan Damoc

It is worth noting that one of the most important issues the past three years have brought to the forefront is the fact that the EU’s unity and capacity to act coherently have been challenged both by the pandemic and by the ongoing war; to be more specific... More

Restoring the EU Competitiveness: Challenges and Opportunities in the Context of the Twin Green & Digital TransitionThursday 23 March 2023 - online event, Zoom platform -

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

Since its creation in 1993, the single market has helped to make everyday life easier for people and businesses, fuelling jobs and growth across the EU. In the aftermath of the pandemic crisis and the war against Ukraine, the Council of the EU, through its... More

Dead Men Tell Many TalesReflection on one year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Part II)

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

Adrian-Ioan Damoc

As one year since hostilities began approaches, we are left to contemplate the harsh realities the ongoing situation has yielded thus far and what insights can be gleaned from them. As already stated, we have learned that even in the 21st century, war... More

Presidential Summits and the Role of the Host States: Lessons from the Three Seas InitiativeTime: March 22, 2023, 11.00-12.30 | Venue: Dworkowa St. 3, Warsaw

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

The aim of the seminar, organized by the Three Seas Initiative Research Center, affiliated with the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Science, is to review the results of the Three Seas Initiative Summits, the importance of the... More

Dead Men Tell Many TalesReflection on one year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Part I)

No. 40, Mar.-Apr. 2023

Adrian-Ioan Damoc

An estimated 18 000 civilian deaths, 1250 of whom are children; over 17 million people who have fled Ukraine in 2022; a shrinking of the Ukrainian economy by 35%; a staggering total of 200 000 military casualties evenly split between Russia and... More

Where We Head to When There’s Nowhere to RunThe Metaverse, the Universe and the (sad) future of our species...

No. 39, Jan.-Feb. 2023

The phrase “life is a struggle” aptly describes the experience of writing about anything other than the ongoing war a year after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but so much has already been written on the topic (and so much will yet be written – in vain ... More

Capturing the Commanding Heights

No. 39, Jan.-Feb. 2023

Half a century ago the German sociologist Helmut Schelsky succinctly dissected the political strategy of left-wing radicals in West Germany and the West generally. His essay, “The New Strategy of Revolution,” remains one of the best... More

The Reality of War

No. 39, Jan.-Feb. 2023

The 24th of February, the Russian invasion of Ukraine rather slowly awoke Europe to the forgotten reality of war. Despite the numerous armed conflicts all over the continent and in the world at large in which Westerners have been involved during... More

The Anti-Capitalist Mentality: A Big Problem for Romania

No. 39, Jan.-Feb. 2023

Silviu Cerna

Decades of anti-capitalist propaganda have left deep traces in Romanian collective psyche, which causes poverty, unemployment, corruption, etc., to have an air of verisimilitude to capitalism, not to the reminiscences of communism. The... More

GfK: Romania, 51% below the European Purchasing Power Average in 2022

No. 39, Jan.-Feb. 2023

Romania had a spending potential of €8,017 per capita in 2022. This is 51% below the European average and puts the Romanians in 31st place. Compared to the previous year, the gap between counties with high and low purchasing power has... More

China’s Economic Role Amid the Prolonged War in Ukraine

No. 39, Jan.-Feb. 2023

Min-Hua Chiang

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, China’s position on the war has been a topic of discussion. Unlike Western countries’ consistent condemnation of Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, China’s attitude has been... More

The American Elections Confirm Maintaining the Course in Foreign Policy

The American Elections Confirm the Course Will Be Maintained in Foreign Policy

No. 39, Jan.-Feb. 2023

During the recent midterm congressional elections, I had the opportunity to observe a polarized nation at the ground level while in Washington, DC. This was a competition in which political affiliation has become an element of identity as strong as... More

How Time Flies in Cambridge and Why It Matters

No. 39, Jan.-Feb. 2023

I spent the 2022 winter holidays in Cambridge, UK. When we say Cambridge, we Romanians think primarily of the university, the University of Cambridge, although our Romanian mental image of a university is very different from theirs. And the fact... More

Time – Resource and CurrencyOutlines of a book written by the Romanian economist and entrepreneur, Octavian Bădescu

No. 39, Jan.-Feb. 2023

Although it is a work that appears – at first glance – to be very analytical, the essence of this book is a relatively simple one – a practical vision for a better world. Continuing the ideas expressed in another book by the same author (For a Golden... More

Fight (Book) ClubPolitical philosophers’ punches: on Plato and Machiavelli vs. Sun Tzu

No. 39, Jan.-Feb. 2023

Neven Vidaković

The war in Ukraine is the starting point for the creation of a new global structure. The process might last several decades. For the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the West is truly faced with a united and purposeful adversary whose endgame... More

Romania, Above Eight EU Member States in Terms of Actual Individual Consumption

No. 39, Jan.-Feb. 2023

In international comparisons of national accounts data, such as GDP per capita, it is desirable not only to express the figures in a common currency, but also to adjust for differences in price levels. Failing to do so would result in an overestimation... More

The Planet on a Collision CourseYet, the world’s menaces are not from out there, but sadly from within

No. 39, Jan.-Feb. 2023