Rubrics » Bridging News
What Cost Disinflation?
The debate over the causes of the 2021 worldwide surge in inflation has been superseded by events without having furnished a consensual conclusion. Many economists and policymakers still hold that the key determinants are supply-side distortions, shortages generated by the pandemic lockdowns, which were accentuated by Russia’s war against Ukraine, particularly in energy markets. Others insist that it is essentially a demand-side phenomenon, generated by a miscalculation in monetary policy: prolonged expansionary credit policies, put in place in the decade following the Great Recession, were too keenly extended and in many cases supplemented by generous fiscal stimulus measures with the onset of the pandemic, leading to increased money balances chasing too few goods once vaccination against the virus – which can be viewed as a positive demand shock – was available and quarantine measures were gradually lifted, while the war in Ukraine played only a secondary role, primarily through hoarding, congestion and panic in oil and gas markets often dependent on sanctions-hit Russian infrastructure and supply. More
Revolt of the Disdained: Sovereignty or Submission
The 2016 presidential election hinged on the return of overlooked or marginalized middle-class and working-class Democrats and independents – many of whom had earlier supported Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan – to reinvigorate traditional patriotism and help form a new “populist-conservative fusion in rural and industrial areas” within the Republican party. Donald Trump’s political fortunes rest to a considerable degree on his ability to secure broad public support while maintaining the loyalty of his original coalition of the disdained. More
The Dark Side of Black Friday: Expensive Cheapness
Black Friday has become a well-known commercial event, but how many of us know what it means? Is it a boon to our pockets or is it really just a way for the big retailers to sell their products?People believe that Black Friday is named after the concept that businesses operate at a loss until the day after Thanksgiving, when massive sales help them make a profit. Although, this does not apply. More
Stealing into Power by Opposition to Power
Two acute observers of the American system and its decentralized character were Alexis de Tocqueville, who with his friend Gustave de Beaumont traveled through America for around nine months while studying America’s prisons, and Francis Lieber, a German émigré who met with them in Boston over the course of several days in September 1831.[1] The first published fruits of their budding relationship were Lieber’s translation and notes to Beaumont and Tocqueville’s On the Penitentiary System in the United States (1833) followed by Lieber’s Letters to a Gentleman in Germany (1834), which reproduced and embellished at least one of their conversations.[2] Lieber sent along with them several completed volumes of his Encyclopaedia Americana (13 vols., 1829-1833). Tocqueville likely drew on some of this material for his two-volume Democracy in America (1835, 1840).[3] More
Robotize This! The (Im)Personal Care Industry
In recent years, there has been more and more talk about digitalization and the use of robots in redundant activities, and the discussions also touch on people’s fear of being replaced by robots. Specialists appreciate, however, that robots do not come to replace humans, but to bring value to a company. At the same time, there is a greater openness on the part of decision-makers on the integration of the digital technologies in the activities of companies. Robots can bring a certain degree of satisfaction even to employees, since they no longer have to do certain repetitive tasks and have more time to learn something new, develop in another direction or simply focus on their basic work. More
The Pandemic and the Standard of Living
A recent report was issued by the Research Institute for Quality of Life of the Romanian Academy, titled The pandemic and the standard of living. Social policies. Its authors were Daniel Arpinte, Sorin Cace, Simona Mihaiu, Iulian Stanescu, Simona Maria Stanescu and Sebastian Toc.The main objectives of the report were to identify the social outcomes of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and to provide public policy recommendations.Romania faces two crises at the s More
Alibaba and the Opened Treasure of Online Trading
Ali Baba is an Arabian folktale hero, conjured up by Scheherazade in one of her 1001 tales, “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”. But how do you get from this fairy tale character to naming a company after him? Perhaps it has something to do with an entrepreneur’s knack for knowing how to say “Open, Sesame!” when it comes to discovering a company’s hidden treasures and “Close, Sesame!” to keep them safe. By the way, staying out of sight is Jack Ma’s current ruling concern. The Chinese capitalist-entrepreneur has been living in Tokyo for the past six months, after communist authorities in Beijing tightened their grip on what was becoming a much too liberal domestic high-tech sector. More
The Press – Social “Mediator” or “Instigator”?
On the 3rd of May we celebrate World Press Freedom Day. The power of the Press (hereinafter deliberately written with capital P, in speaking precisely of its societal vocation) and its impact on the average citizen and on the wider masses of the people is prodigious. As far as we are concerned, mass-media must act as a carrier and spreader of democracy, its values and of peace all over the world. The accuracy of reporting significant events to people around the globe is the most important factor when talking about what really matters regarding the primary role of the Press. War correspondents, sport reporters, photographers, columnists and journalists alike form a particular guild, mediating the transfer and processing of information from myriad sources and from event in most secluded corners of the world. The influence of mass-media, as the “fourth estate”, is significant. It takes only one article, one “breaking-news”, one new leak of information in order to stir up entire populations and raise the temperature of the entire world. And so, we might ask the question: what is the role of the mass-media? Is it to merely report events or to provoke and incite discussions, to engage in public debate in a deep way, in other words, to create dialectical forces and to push the boundaries on individual choice and social norms? More
The Value of Agricultural Output in Romania, Up by 25% in 2021
The value of agricultural output in Romania increased by 25% in 2021, according to the economic accounts for agriculture (EAA) for 2021 published by Eurostat. The sharpest rate of increase was recorded in Bulgaria (+37%) and the third best performance belonged to Czechia (+16%). By contrast, the values of agricultural output in Finland, Malta and Cyprus remained broadly unchanged in 2021 from their respective levels in 2020, and decreased in Denmark (-2%) and Slovenia (-4%). More
International Digital Conference on Multidisciplinary Research and Perspectives for Innovative Higher Education 2020
University of South Asia, Lahore, Pakistan, presents the International Digital Conference 2020 on Multidisciplinary Research and Perspectives for Innovative Higher Education on July 24-25th, 2020. The main topics include: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), Quality in Higher Education, Health Tech, Legal Services, Entrepreneurship, Digital Business, and so forth. More
The Future of the Outer Space Economy: Powerful States and Visionary Entrepreneurs in the Exoeconomic Paradigm
The analysis of the economic integration of the off-planet space in the sphere of human activities is an arduous and complex process, a crucial, even vital one. The exploitation of the outer space has become a decisive component of the technologically advanced economies, offering capabilities that result from applications linked to critical goods and services with millions of users and billions of beneficiaries. More
Evergrande – a Test of China
For several months, the financial world has been watching with concern the evolution of Evergrande Group in China, whose financial problems have conjured up the specter of an economic contagion that can destabilize not only China's opaque financial system but also that of a world in which China has assumed a central role of the economic engine. China's biggest real estate company is, in some ways, emblematic of its explosive business model in the world's most dynamic economy. The company has more than 770 projects in 200 Chinese cities and has nearly two million apartments to deliver to buyers who, in some cases, have pre-paid the delivery price in the overheated real estate market of this country. The non-delivery of these units could generate social disturbances and affect the trust of the population in the economic governance of the country provided by the Communist Party, whose "Chinese dream" and "national regeneration" have an important economic component based on ensuring the prosperity of the common Chinese. After a series of delays in due bond payments, Evergrande found last-minute resources to make some payments and resume construction, sparking theories of government involvement. At the same time, even policies of the government precipitated this crisis against the background of the attempt to restore financial order in an economy characterized by speculative bubbles, primarily in real estate. More
