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On Ownership and Stewardship: Private and Collective Property
Property is a complex subject and can be approached from several points of view such as: legal, philosophical, sociological, but especially economic. For each domain, property is of particular importance, which is why the question first arises: what is property? More
Mutating Mindsets and Contagious Behaviours (Part II): Zooming in on Economic Decision-Making in the Time of the Coronavirus
As we have reemphasized, neoclassical economics, with all its shortcomings, is still considered to be the mainstream wisdom and the reconciliating synthesis of ages-old advances in economic science. Behavioural economics, for its part, is a rather recent school of thought that aims at incorporating concepts from psychology, sociology and cognitive sciences in order to gain a better understanding of the decision-making process of economic agents, largely as a response to the limitations of some of the tenets of the neoclassical school, several of which it directly challenges. Below are some of its key concepts: More
The Impact of Social Justice Measures on Unemployment During the Pandemic
Currently, one of the worst employment crises is in full swing, as a result of the health crisis, with consequences for increasing poverty and therefore economic and social inequality. Just a few of the effects on the labour market include:- Decreased employment, reduced number of hours worked, for those who kept their jobs;- Poor chances for graduates and other new entrants into the labour force to secure a job or even a part-time job;- The decrease in job supply from the dramatic decline in employment on the part of organizations (as we know, some temporary contracts of employees have not been renewed); More
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
Our National Consciousness Is Strongly Connected with Rome
Romania and Italy are linked by 145 years of diplomatic relations, but the special bilateral relation is based on historical, cultural and linguistic links which have played an important role in affirming the Romanian nation in a universal context such as the one offered by Rome, the world’s centre of reference for many centuries. The classic symbol par excellence of this special and, I would say, natural link, is Trajan’s Column, which represents the “birth certificate of the Romanian people”. Over time, the links have also been emphasized throughout the formation and assertion of the modern Romanian state; allow me to mention, for example, the epistolary exchanges between Benito Cavour and Vasile Alecsandri or the presence of soldiers from Galați in Garibaldi’s army. The main representatives of the Transylvanian School have studied in Rome, a city which saw the birth of the enthusiasm and the national consciousness that led, on December 1st 1918, to Romania’s Union with Transylvania, through the expression of the free and conscious will of the Romanians from Transylvania and Banat. In Rome, the Greek-Catholic Bishop Inochentie Micu Klein wrote his memoirs, a true handbook for patriotism which I recommend as an antidote to the ostentatious patriotism that sometimes occupies the public sphere. Going through the memoirs of Bishop Inochentie produces a vibration in the soul which counters the alienation engendered by consumerism, indifference and sterile discussions. Turning back to the basic idea, I would like to emphasize that the formation of our national consciousness is strongly connected with Rome. More
The World of Romania
They strove to avoid being overly-parochial or nationalistic. The collection is neither exhaustive nor hierarchical, while the selection has no algorithm whatsoever behind it and no other rationale for the choices than every author-student’s own desire to share ideas on the works of a fellow countryman of repute. It is a “pop” exercise of “science / art journalism”, aimed at outliving Romania’s 2018 Centennial celebration, by “trading abroad” pieces of time-proof contemplation. More
Populism.exe in Europe
In recent years, the populist and extremist movements have altered the European Union’s political landscape, cynically capitalizing on a speech based on hate, differences, or any other topic that promised to pay off - regardless of the consequences. Starting with Hungary and Slovakia and continuing with Italy’s Five Stars Movement, or Germany’s AfD, the trend is clear, while framing the issue is a mere step towards accepting that the fundamental European principles and values are at stake. The political forecast in the EU looks rather gloomy since most of the established parties have proved unable to tackle this insidious tide. On the other hand, one must not be surprised that the issues left unaddressed year after year have led to the current political unrest. The fact that demagogy and hatred have been fully operationalized during numerous electoral campaigns with such great success suggests that there is a widespread popular discontent that mainstream politics have failed to address. The number one issue is undeniably the so-called “refugees/migration crisis”. Populists and extremist electoral gains demonstrate something unimaginable a few years ago in the liberal and democratic societies: for the first time in the last couple of decades, people have spoken openly about immigration and how difficult it is to integrate minorities, especially ethno-religious minorities (predominantly Africans and Arabs). The so-called "silent majority" prefers not to participate in debates filled with formal speeches and to sanction this "politically-correct" approach by voting all sorts of anti-system entities. The vote given to populists does not necessarily mean that people identify themselves with their narrative, but that they want to condemn the inability of traditional parties to tackle these problems for such a long period of time. More
The Arctic Maritime Corridor
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
Apple’s Handheld Evolution: From the Newton MessagePad to the iPhone
Ever wonder how some things came to be? Just look at your phone. We cannot even imagine life without it anymore, but it is not always that we think of how much sweat and tears were put into achieving this particular invention. To be more specific, let us take Apple’s inspiring story. You have most certainly heard of an iPhone. The smartphone that most of us are so familiar with and which has a personal note given by the first-person pronoun “I” is, technologically speaking, based on the touchscreen concept which makes reading, writing and watching videos much easier to carry out. It certainly is a key that opens up a tremendous number of doors for user interactivity and we probably would not be able to give single-word answers when asked “what advantages does the iPhone bring us?” More
Mutating Mindsets and Contagious Behaviours (Part III): Diagnosing the Geopolitical and Geoeconomic Risks of the Coronavirus Outbreak
In the previous parts, we argued why behavioural economics does a better job of explaining consumer and supplier behaviour in the time of the coronavirus outbreak than the neoclassical paradigm. Both approaches were discussed at a theoretical level and were then applied to the current situation as a case study. We can note that the common link between the demand-side behaviour and the supply-side behaviour is uncertainty – perhaps not so much with regards to the threat the virus poses for personal health, but rather towards the public policies and containment measures the authorities will implement which, decidedly, are not very transparent. More
Owning Now, Owing Then. Culturally Sustainable Development Is about Material Property as Much as It Is about Spiritual Legacy
Social Science and Humanities Research Association (SSHRA) is an international community of researchers, practitioners, students and educationists that is devoted to the development and the spread of ideas in the field of social sciences and humanities. SSHRA is promoted by Eurasia Research. SSHRA aims to bring together worldwide researchers and professionals, encourage intellectual development and create opportunities for networking and collaboration. These objectives are achieved through academic networking, meetings, conferences, workshops, projects, research publications, academic awards and scholarships. More
Romanian Capitalist Economic Thought (II)
“The disappearance of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 reflected the collapse of the existing belief system and accordingly the weakening of its support organizations” (North 1997, 18). Such a verdict catches the image of a bivalent process of deconstruction and institutional reconstruction: from former imposition of material and moral servitudes to economic and political liberalization. But that new order – of the market and of the multiparty system – could have been accomplished, ultimately and inevitably, with the same people who inhabited the old institutional and organizational architectures, both at the top and at the base of society. The intellectual scaffolding of transformation became a critical resource, and its training and performance were, among others, functions of epistemic tradition and transfer. More
