Rubrics » Bridging News
Romanian Capitalist Economic Thought (I)
The process of institutional transformation from the socialist, command economy to the capitalist, market economy can be understood theoretically and historically, as a priority, like a process of intellectual transformation. Romania in the 1990s, perhaps to a greater extent than any other country in the ex-communist bloc, was the theatre of a transition at the level of politico-economic institutions which was little-announced and stated by a convergent, consensual idealistic transition. More
Photon(e)s 2.0
“There is no story. It’s just a question of shapes and light”, Harry Gruyaert says. And, indeed, this is an example of how, despite the fact the human beings are always craving hidden stories and explanations, these are not always necessary. Sit down, breath in and just look at the colors, shapes and the way the light comes in. More
Photon(e)s 1.0
A portrait of Romina, done in a much too warm day, somewhere in Athens, along with a palm tree leaf. It’s a compositional experiment of shadow and colour and an attempt at capturing a bit of the atmosphere of the place we were living back then. More
The Matter of Persia: Discerning Meaning from Strife and Unrest
The year 2018 began with a renewal of some of last year’s main geopolitical clashes, the most prominent being the nuclear threats exchanged between North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump, China’s President Xi Jinping delivering grim speeches to his army, urging troops to be ready for war, and analysts offering generally gloomy forecasts for this year. One other significant event that has erupted near the end of 2017 were the unexpected and violent protests in Iran that have continued up to at least the first week of 2018, with mass demonstrations held both for and against the country’s current government and an uncompromising crackdown by Iranian police. More
Some Thoughts on the “Global Competitiveness”
Despite the argument by Krugman that “economists, in general, do not use the word competitiveness”, a cursory survey of the literature reveals a wide range of definitions of competitiveness and frequent usage of the concept. Moreover, although research on competitiveness has been popular for forty years, in recent time it appears to be flourishing as many economic phenomena are assessed according to whether they are competitive or non-competitive. This probably explains why the last several years have witnessed a growing academic and political debate over better ways to conceptualize and measure competitiveness. More
Photon(e)s 3.0
Zenobia, by Gelllu Naum – a coloured and fascinating book like a surrealist tableaux. A passage from it inspired me, more precisely the description that Zenobia makes about the narrator. I transferred the description visually, so that the drawing would afterwards born questions, assumptions, and translations of the same text. A sort of snake who swallows its tails, forever, around some enigmatic characters. More
Photon(e)s 4.0
The project I’m working on at the moment is influenced by a collection of photographs bought on eBay. I started with the thought of using them for collages or for other projects I’m working on, but the marks from their backs changed my plans because, well, you sometimes stumble at the threshold. With the family’s cat, in the reeks, or on the beach, the totally different frames one from another capture a couple of a Jewish family’s years that lives in England. I have more of them coming, so I recommend you to peek on Dissolved. More
Invitation to the European Resource Bank Meeting
Economic think tanks, entrepreneurs, institutes, and intellectuals assemble annually at the European Resource Bank meeting to discuss the challenges to the free market, individual liberty, and free enterprise facing Europe and the world. This year the event is in Prague, Czech Republic, and will be an exciting three day conference from 13 April through 15 April, 2018. It will be hosted in cooperation with the CERGE-EI Foundation and will take place at the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education – Economics Institute. More
The Keys to the American Economy Are Changing Hands
A change in leadership is imminent for one of the most important institutions for the American economy. Janet Yellen, the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve, will step down at the end of her four-year tenure at the helm of the establishment, after becoming the first chair in recent years not to be nominated for a second term. More
Will We Face an Economic Uncertainty from the Current Political Instability?
By a system instability we must not understand a general fluctuations or oscillations of the system in its entirety. The instability of a system is done by only a few number of its components, but they must be crucial for the system identity/personality (the so called hub components). More, not any fluctuations or oscillations should be qualified as being instability, but only these fluctuations or oscillations which either are unpredictable (in their entirety or partially), or pass beyond a threshold usually accepted. This threshold could be viewed either as size, or as duration. So, the instability is, in fact, much lesser than it is usually considered. More
The One-Size-Fits-All of the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” Reports
The recently released World Bank “Ease of doing business 2018” report put Nigeria at 145 out of 190 countries surveyed, just behind Niger. This ranking represents a significant improvement over that of last year, when the country was ranked 169th. Therefore, there are several questions that need to be asked: Are these statistics enough? Is Nigeria’s business environment now friendly with entrepreneurs and investors? What do these figures mean to the ordinary Nigerian? More
Inflation Surpassing Populism
In a Europe locked-in below-target inflation, for the most part, one country basically surpasses all others. Romania managed to almost triple its inflation rate one month into the New Year, after a brief – and unique period in the last quarter century or so – when the headline figure was actually negative. What’s behind this astonishing success, or not such a success after all? More
