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Pablo Neruda – Poetry, Polities, Peace
One of the greatest poets that have ever lived in the Latin America was none other than the Chilean Pablo Neruda (photo: right) born under the name Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto. He was born in Parral, Chile on July 12, 1904. His father, Jose del Carmen, was a railroad worker, and his mother, Rosa Neftali, was a teacher. Shortly after giving birth to her son, she passed away. Two years after his mother's death, the family moved to Temuco where his father remarried. As for Neruda, he started writing poetry at the age of 10. His father, being an ordinary worker, failed to understand the talent that his son had, so he never encouraged him to write and never cared about his burgeoning talent. More
Vespasian V. Pella – A Peace Fighter
It is indisputably mandatory, Vespasian Pella (photo: second from the right, sitting at the table) asserted, to have the following in order to prevent and combat the state “collective crime” – a recognition of the war’s criminal nature, alongside the genesis of international criminal law and legal institutions able to put standards into practice (Pella, 1925). More
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit – Casting a Flood of Light on India
What does it take to fight for the freedom of your country? Some may say it takes courage, strength of character or faith. Some may say you need to be a hero, but The Great Daughter of India, as Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (photo: right) was often called, was of all these things. Only she did not solely belong to India, but to the whole world. By shedding light on the essential social and political issues of her country and promoting equality for all “subject races”, she gained the title of an international democrat. A walk through her life will therefore be an adventure unravelling far beyond India’s borders. More
Beneath It All in Hungary Is Political Corruption
Hungary is the black sheep of the European Union. Its contrarian agenda offends the common opinion of other Member States. Just recently, the Hungarian government not only threatened to veto the EU recovery budget but also voiced its opposition to the Gender Action Plan, a foreign policy initiative to buttress the rights of women, girls and LGBTQI worldwide. But don’t be fooled: behind this maverick political performance of the Orban Government, lies a shrewd and calculated strategy. More
Long-Term Interest Rate Fell Below 3%
Long-term interest rates for Romania fell by almost one percentage point in just two months, according to data released by Eurostat. After increasing up to 4.83% in April 2020, at the end of June it reached a level below the threshold of four percentage points (3.89%). Beyond the obvious effects on future budget payments, this indicator is critical for convergence purposes and the adoption of the euro. More
Automatic Stabilizers as Publicly-Oriented Predictors
In the economic process, the volatility of macroeconomic variables is not the true problem, but its unpredictability. In fact, this conclusion is equally valid for microeconomics. For example, under the EMH – Efficient Market Hypothesis – a predictability, as low as it may be, provides to the (qualified) observer some opportunities to be exploited above the market average returns, without extra risks to assume or extra costs to pay. The volatility has the two “classical” causes: the invisible hand, that is, the aggregate behaviour of the economic actors in the market, and the visible hand, that is, the state (usually normative) intervention in that market (when the state behaves as economic actor, it is also part of the invisible hand). Consequently, as can easily be noticed, the majority of economic (quantitative) models of decisions are aimed at predicting the future market, usually in terms of price. The real and therefore useful predictions must be related to predictors, which are, conceptually, economic or institutional variables with a much lower volatility or, at the very limit, with no volatility, at least in short and medium term. For example, the risk of bonds is null or, at least, constant even if it is different from zero. Our topic in this article is the well-known predictors in the economy, namely the automatic stabilizers. More
When the Appetite for Entertainment Scores Goals
Romania is attacking on the left side of the pitch, Răzvan Marin and Florin Tănase have a short exchange of passes in the corner of the penalty box, which opens some wide spaces for the latter to penetrate and make a decisive pass for Eric Bicfalvi, who, at 32, scores his first goal for the representative team of Romania, at his eighth cap. It was the 81st minute of the UEFA Nations League match on Windsor Park in Belfast. Around the same time that Răzvan, Florin and Eric had their passing game combinations, allowing the latter to find the back of the net, Sorin, Florin and Cătălin were finding the back of the plate. They were, obviously, not on any football pitch, but they were starring, as chefs and judges, in a well-known cooking show in Romania. More
The Pandemic Recession and Government Stimulus
Never before has the global economy been deliberately put into an induced coma. Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, businesses are struggling to break even and unemployment is soaring high. The sudden shock called for a speedy and massive policy response. To support vulnerable businesses and increase economic output, governments have been forced to embark on an expansionary fiscal policy. This policy involves tax reductions and an increase in government spending as a tool to influence the level of aggregate demand and national output as well as to promote macroeconomic objectives such as full employment, economic growth, and price level stability (low inflation). But is rising public debt a cause for concern? New economic thinking suggests perhaps not, at least for now. More
The Effect of Brexit on Romanian Foreign Trade
Over the last few years, the United Kingdom has been Romania’s most important foreign trade partner with whom we have managed to record a significant trade surplus. The island economy’s exit from the community bloc and the establishment of barriers in the trading of goods, even non-tariff barriers (the granting of zero customs duties was finally recorded during negotiations), will affect the trade balance of our country. More
Romanian National Culture Day and the New Normal
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, Romanians, that is January 15, and how this day connects to the new normal, that is life after the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, the connection is mostly in my mind, but considering my long experience in higher education, mainly in soft skills development, my constant discussions with master students from various universities on and beyond the syllabus, as well as my interactions with a large diversity of professional and personal contacts from all over the world, I might be justified in my attempt. More
Will Lithuania Reclaim Its Own Business Tax Model?
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 economic growth while in effect from 1997 until 2002. Lithuania’s new coalition government comprised of the conservative Homeland Union-Christian Democrats, the Freedom Party, and the Lithuanian Liberal Movement has put this reform option back on Lithuania’s agenda. More
Piloting Through the 2020 Corona-World:
The much-lauded Chinese curse of living in interesting times has certainly applied to 2020. The year saw many disruptions, but also the fulfilment of key trends related to inter-state and intra-state conflict. While no one will mourn its end, we may be right to fear that this will only be a continuing act in the ongoing saga of the world’s remaking and the upending of previously cherished certainties, especially in the West. More
