- The Professionalization of the Public/Political Decision-Making Emil Dinga
- Is Small still Beautiful? A Swiss Perspective Henrique Schneider
- The Romanian National Cathedral: The Voice of a People Freed Georgiana Constantin
- Wisdom and Perseverance Ahmed Abdulla Saeed bin Saeed Almatrooshi
- The NEET Tag and Intergenerational Existence on Labour Market Monica-Florica Dutcaș
- The Regional Resources of Ukraine and New Opportunities for Economic Development Until 2030 Ganna Kharlamova Nina Chala Olexandra Gumenna Tetyana Osinchuk
- Football-ism – The Ultimate Global Ideology Savian Boroancă Vlad Roșca
- “Search Neutrality” Is Not Possible Henrique Schneider
- Excess Democracy? Andrei Sandu
- Freedom Under Assail Tanja Porčnik
- From the Queen to the Tsar: on Trump’s Travels to Europe Adrian-Ioan Damoc
- Operational Research of the Libyan Civil War and the EU Neighborhood Policies George Zgardanas
- Are Planned Economies Our Destiny? Prince Michael of Liechtenstein
- The Bear Stearns of Romania Bogdan C. Enache
- China’s Belated Spring Cleaning Nicoleta Stoianovici
- Toward Understanding the Balkan Economic Thought Nikolay Nenovsky
- On the Minimal Wage, with Responsibility Gabriela Ionescu
- How Did Horses Become a Luxury? Maria-Mirona Murea
- Romanian Capitalist Economic Thought. Brief notes on pre-1989 diasporic and post-1989 domestic debates Octavian-Dragomir Jora
- Rebuilding Economics Emil Dinga
- The One-Size-Fits-All of the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” Reports Emmanuel Olusegun Stober
- “Are Central Banks Literally Independent?” Silviu Cerna vs. Ion Pohoață
- Some Thoughts on the “Global Competitiveness” Costea Munteanu
- Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose Mary Lucia Darst
- Pandora’s Botnet Alexandru Georgescu
- On the Nature of the Concept of Tolerance Emil Dinga
- Romania’s “Sonderweg” to Illiberal Democracy Bogdan C. Enache
- A Community in Search of Unity, a Union in Search of Communion
- Defence and Security: The UK and Romania after Brexit Adam Sambrook
- Orient and Occident – Perceptual and Complementary Macro-Regions Viorel Mionel
- European Construction. Intellectual Project vs. Emergence Emil Dinga
- Challenges and Opportunities for the Future of Competitiveness Dragoș Preda
- Womenomics – Is It Worth Talking About Gender? Mariana Nicolae
- The Youth Atlantic Treaty Association and Its Role in Promoting Euro-Atlantic Values John Jacobs
- Water – the Ultimate Geostrategic Resource Viorel Mionel
- North Korea: “Reading the Tea Leaves” Alexandru Georgescu
- Cultural Goods and Cultural Welfare: Some Praxeological and Proprietarian Notes Octavian-Dragomir Jora
- Trump and the Paris Agreement Alexandru Georgescu
- The Risks of the Belt and Road Initiative in the Construction of Eurasian Economic Corridor Liu Zuokui
- Music Industry Development – Future Global Trends on the Rise Paul Niculescu-Mizil Gheorghe
- Cultural Diversity: Same Question, but a Different Answer. The Story of Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Raluca Șancariuc
- Planning for Freedom in Central and Eastern Europe: Mises’s Proposal for Political Integration Matei-Alexandru Apăvăloaei
- Shakespeare & Eminescu – Measure for Measure Adrian George Săhlean
- Ethnogenesis in Davos Alexandru Georgescu
- The Clash of Realism and Liberalism: Understanding the Nature of Cooperation on Energy Security between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia Ayhan Gücüyener
- Robots and Empire(s) Adrian-Ioan Damoc
- Debating the EU's Fiscal Union Filip Clem
- Space Debris – Visualizing the Risk and Informing Stakeholders Adrian Gheorghe
- The Long Slide towards Autocracy János Kornai interviewed by Zoltán Farkas
- Trumponomics – A New “New Deal” for the American people? Alexandru Georgescu
- The Costs and Benefits of Endowing the Romanian Army George Tăslăuanu & Marius Zgureanu
- Musk v. Hawking Andreea Paul
- The Chinese Dream – An Exhortation to Achieve Daniel Tomozei-Dimian
- The 12 Labours of Narendra Modi – India’s Demonetisation Saga Raluca-Andreea Manea
- To Be or Not to Be... Charlie! Camil A. Petrescu
- The Dissolution of the Communities Alexandru Georgescu
- The Banks in the Economy Silviu Cerna
- Geo-economics and Geopolitics of Brexit Crisis Napoleon Pop
- The Piketty-ism – A Childhood Illness for the 21st Century Ion Pohoață
- Simion Mehedinți – A Man of Fulfilled Ideas Silviu Neguț
Journal of Reasonable Arguments
Dumitru Miron
Octavian-Dragomir Jora
“A «market for ideas», is that what we’ve been missing now, in times of severe and tangible hardships?!” Such a reaction is a performative contradiction, since this invective expresses, in itself, an idea, even before the emitter tries, by shouting, to rob himself and us of the value of a train of thought through his “heckler’s veto”. More
Economic Growth and Ideas
Moisă AltărIt is commonly understood that the generation and implementation of new ideas and technologies, or the development of knowledge, are major factors underlying economic performance and growth. Versions of this position go back at least to Schumpeter. A central debate within new growth theory is focused on the role of the “ideas” sector in sustaining equilibrium productivity growth. More
AntiSinTHESES
Camil Aurelian PetrescuFrom the very beginning I should mention that what follows represents a collection of personal opinions and thoughts that will never claim to be the ultimate truth. This does not mean that I do not feel strongly about them and consider them undeniably true. Obviously, as part of this debate every different opinion is welcome because, after all, we are actually examining freedom of expression, which includes the right not to be… Charlie. More
AntiSinTHESES
Emil DingaThe economic phenomenon (like any social one) doesn’t come, doesn’t vanish, and doesn’t happen: it is actually produced by the praxiological action (one of the three human actions, beside the theoretical, and practical, respectively) of the human being, in his/her social hypostasis. In the most proper sense, that which pertains to the economy is a social product, and the economic reality is a social construction, i.e. a social reality. More
Economic Goods and Political Gods: On Civilization’s Cultural Tectonics
In the hot peace after the “cold war”, a plethora of memories start haunting the minds of peoples awakened from blurry “isms” to old identities. Crosses, crescents, stars, tunes, tales, and togs, anything that can be symbol of the cultural self, start filling the new societal vacuum with the deep creed that nothing could be a better bond than the blood you are born with, flowing through your veins, and nothing could be a more poisoned tie than all the cunning ideologies, which are frivolous summer romances inclined to violent divorces. More
UNCOVERstory
The “dissolution of the monasteries” took place in England during Henry the VIIIth and the dynastic woes that induced his religious estrangement from Rome, but was subsequently repeated many times throughout Europe, when monarchs and budding republics sought to marginalize the clergy’s political influence by neutralizing its wealth. Something similar comes to mind when analyzing the chaos in Western civil societies, manifesting as political polarization, individual social pathologies and collective disaggregation. More
UNCOVERstory
Since the end of the Second World War, the historical event that marked the zenith of “omnipotent government” (Mises, 2010), the world stage witnessed a boom in the number of independent countries. United Nations membership expanded from 51 original members in 1945, to 193 members in the present. This may lead one to the conclusion that the post-war world is characterized by political disintegration. More
UNCOVERstory
We live in troubled and contradictory times. A seemingly commonplace affirmation, but not everyone can easily understand this first sentence. For most intellectuals, this idea seems triumphant, dramatic and perfectly appropriate for thought. For the rest of us, however, it is a simple fact. Why? Because the common man has other priorities. More
UNCOVERstory
“God created man. Man created religion. Man destroyed God. Religion killed man”. For some reason, these words from Steven Spielberg’s first Jurassic Park film come to mind. The film was pure fiction, and it was about dinosaurs, but who would have guessed that such a simple paraphrase could sketch out the very real, non-fictitious scenario of a present time that churns out one blockbuster after another: Paris I, Paris II, Brussels I etc. More
UNCOVERstory
Two decades ago I literally stumbled upon the only archeological discovery I have ever made. I was in southern Iraq, visiting the ruins of Ur, one of the earliest Sumerian cities and mythical birthplace of the Patriarch Abraham. Not far from the ancient ziggurat, I found, by chance, a mud-brick, identical to the ones that were used to build the ziggurat. More
UNCOVERstory
Islamic State and terrorism, nearby coffee with cardamom, urban noise, social contrasts and “empowered” women – are just a few very known aspects concerning Syria and Middle East that the journalist Mircea Barbu revealed, both from theory and practical experience. The interview took place April 1st 2016 and published in Romanian on the website www.ir-report.ro. More
UNCOVERstory
The severing of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, at the beginning of this year, has not come as much of a surprise. The two states have plunged into a cold war after the outbreak of the Arab Spring, with the competition between the two transforming the entire Middle East into a chessboard for geopolitical struggles. More
UNCOVERstory
It will not take more than a brief Google search to notice that this topic is the subject of a debate among analysts and journalists alike. Entering “is World War 3 coming” in the search bar will yield a plethora of authors and their diverse opinions. There is no shortage of modern-day Cassandras prophesizing Armageddon itself, as well as naysayers to dismiss such claims as unrealistic fear-mongering. More
New Business Models Challenges to Economic Thinking
The most turbulent international business environment in decades, the globalization process and the major transformations in the social and environmental conditions pressure us into finding new ways to adapt to these rapid shifts. The most important factors that contribute to the development of new business models are the increased role of governments, the greater awareness of companies towards multidimensional risks inherent in change, the need for more efficient scientific solutions for sustainable development and also the emerging power of social media. More
BUSINESSance
One of the features of the modern Romanian economy is the rapid growth of the IT industry, along with a burgeoning prestige for such positions as being both intellectually demanding and well paid. The government has stepped in through various means to encourage the local implantation of foreign players and to enact fiscal privileges for IT workers. More
BUSINESSance
While life is evanescent and communication depends on the living spirit of human beings (making impossible any link with the other side) two characters defy normal rules through a conversation across centuries. They do not seem to be out of the ordinary. They are just full of (common) ideas. More
Bucharest University of Economic Studies Education Is Borderless
Nicolae IstudorA strategic approach to the education and research process implies the development of particular mechanisms for internationalization, in order for the students and teachers in our University to be connected to the style, the hallmarks of modernity and the standards of professional development similar to those of prestigious Universities. More
The Banks in the Economy
Silviu CernaThe recent legislative initiative, called “Resolution Agency Law”, gave rise to intense discussions, which have not lacked in demagoguery and populist, anti-capitalist and anti-Western overtones. Beyond the latent dangers posed by the underlying substance of these tendencies, the major problem is that the project “may generate a systemic risk in the banking sector, inducing risks and endangering the financial sector stability with implications for the entire economy” (EC, Romania Country Report 2016, Brussels, 26.2.2016, p. 2-3). More
Europe United: A Goal Makes It, an Offside Brexit
Mankind invented games when it figured out that its life and world can be miniaturized, simplified and represented in metaphors. A game can compress physical and metaphysical (social, political, economic) space to about the size of a rectangle in the grass or a wooden board and, for the sake of education or entertainment, (re)produces a societal figment in which human relations appear to detach themselves from the mundane, though not from its laws. More
TheFILEstarters
Eventually, somebody had to do it, and that somebody was the Brits. Although I don’t know if that was what they’d intended, they managed to send a signal very much like the one in 1415 at Agincourt when they radically challenged the military orthodoxies of the day by using mere archers on foot behind wooden spikes to defeat the armored cavalry that was the tank and shock troop of the day. More
TheFILEstarters
The British vote in favor of leaving the European Union is a defining moment for the United Kingdom, for the EU project as a whole and for each individual European country. It could also be a critical juncture for the current international world order. The economic consequences will be serious enough for the United Kingdom and for the European economies: increased uncertainty and higher volatility in the financial markets, reduced capital flows, shrinking trade, less liberal markets and increased protectionism, all resulting in slower growth and eventually recession. More
TheFILEstarters
A daring expression of democracy, Brexit will have no effect whatsoever, or just one effect: once the rebuilding of the Hohenzollern Palace in Berlin has been completed, Angela Merkel will become the heir to Wilhelm II. Let me explain why. Just as communism did not end with the death of Stalin and the hysterical sobbing for the Great Leader™ and wise innovator, so Brexit will not lead to Great Britain’s exit from the European Union. More
TheFILEstarters
The result of the UK referendum on the European Union membership came as a big surprise to Europe and the World. As someone who lived for twelve years in Brussels and for eight years in the United Kingdom, I am familiar with the perceptions from both sides of the English Channel. During my stay in Britain, I discussed the EU-UK relationship with many people of different professional background and political preferences, and the conclusion was that, after the referendum, the United Kingdom will remain in the EU. More
TheFILEstarters
We maintain our strong support for listings on the London Stock Exchange, including the upcoming secondary listings of Hidroelectrica and OMV Petrom. We are confident that London will keep its position as a preeminent international market for issuers and investors in the long term and there are strong reasons to believe that the London Stock Exchange will remain a globally important hub, regardless of the final terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU More
TheFILEstarters
The promise we make our students when they apply to our study programs invariably covers success. We promise to prepare them for successful jobs, for successful careers and, if all else fails, for meaningful lives. And they used to believe us because we had a track record of successful alumni. What did we teach those successful alumni? More
TheFILEstarters
Without any doubt, the Great Britain exit – more or less anticipated – is a major event with “waves” all over the world and on multiple levels. Brief reflections on some of them: For Romania, the influences in the short term will be minor. Over the medium and long term, there will be changes of functionality and resources within the European Union, Romania being dependent on them to a significant degree. More
TheFILEstarters
The British referendum on EU membership struck Europe like lightning on dry wood. Britain’s gesture to draw attention to the greatest problems with the tactical toolkit and strategic vision of the central EU institutions became, owing to a lack of political foresight from David Cameron, a concrete political reality which European Union should take very seriously. More
TheFILEstarters
For an economist who shares a liberal oriented point of view Great Britain’s decision to leave the European Union is somewhat puzzling. On the one hand, the claim that EU legislation is suffocating the British economy is fairly understandable. The Brussels bureaucracy has indeed tightened its grip in the last decades on most aspect concerning trade within the European Union (from technical standards to environmental legislation). More
TheFILEstarters
The many suggested effects of Brexit will take time to manifest in observable fashion in Great Britain, Europe and globally, after the immediate but emotionally charged reactions of markets, politicians and all sorts of analysts. Two considerations have to draw our attention, in my opinion, as Brexit is now being decided. Firstly, nobody should play with the fate of the country just in order to seize power. More
TheFILEstarters
The result of the British referendum (51.9% pro-Brexit) surprised the financial markets, but also the policy-makers (recently, the UK Treasury admitted the lack of a plan for this scenario). The pound depreciated significantly, to the lowest level since June 1985 against the US dollar. At the same time, the uncertainties regarding the future of the UK-EU relations have had a strong impact on the banking sector, given the role of London in the global and European financial industry (the banks’ stock index decreased by over 20% in EU since the 23rd of June, compared with a decline of only 7% in the US). More
TheFILEstarters
Durham University is a bubble within the North East, and this has never been clearer than in the aftermath of the EU Referendum. Whilst sentiment within the student body was strongly Remain, County Durham voted overwhelmingly to leave. A five-minute drive from the Remain posters in the windows of almost every student house in the city centre, huge Vote Leave banners hung from every town hall and working mens’ club. More
TheFILEstarters
On the evening of November 13th 2015, gunmen stormed into the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, killing 89 people. That very same night, shooters and suicide bombers slaughtered 40 more people in coordinated terrorist attacks in five other locations, in the centre of Paris and at Stade de France. France was at war, as President François Hollande superfluously claimed in the immediate aftermath. More
TheFILEstarters
The 2016 European Football Championship has a special significance because it is probably the last edition of this competition which takes place in a single country. This is because of the 2020 experiment which will see the tournament unfold in 13 host cities, distributed throughout Europe. If this formula is successful, it will be applied to future editions. More
TheFILEstarters
Rarely in the history of sports has there been a major sporting event under such a great threat of mayhem as the French EURO 2016. There were, of course, the Munich 72 and the Moscow 80 Olympics, the 1990s ethnic conflicts of the Yugoslav Wars (with major impact on the make-up of the representative sports teams of the belligerents), or the two World Wars which cancelled all competitions, but one could reasonably hope those days were truly over. More
The Piketty-ism – a Childhood Illness for the 21st Century Concluding Reflections on Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Ion PohoațăThe destiny of Piketty’s book was dictated by the subject he analyzed, the amount of ideology he reflected on and the style used to express his thoughts. In other words, Capital in the Twenty-First Century will find adherence and appreciation from all those who think, act and design their joys of life similar to its author. More
The European art market, between London and New York
Marius TițaWhen it arrives on the art market, our favourite painting, the sculpture that fascinates us or any object that may be the subject of a collection becomes merchandise. The topic of the day, Brexit, seen as a clash of markets, will have minor consequences for the International art market. The main competitors on this market – the US, China and the UK – are outside the community subject and London, the largest provider of art auctions in the world, operates more in America and Asia. More
Dorothea PapathanasiouThe MIS ETC 2617 Alector project was funded by the Black Sea Basin Joint Operational Programme 2007-2013 with funding from the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) and the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA). Its implementation lasted thirty (30) months starting from January 2014. More
ReseARCH
Simion Mehedinți – a Man of Fulfilled Ideas
Silviu Neguț“Idea is architectonic; it creates science.” This is the adopted motto of the great scholar Simion Mehedinți (SM) in his fundamental book “Terra. Introducere în geografie ca știință” (Terra. Introduction to geography as a science), published in 1930. The sententious statement, but full of meaning, belongs to the remarkable German philosopher Immanuel Kant, whom he admired intensely given his encounter with the philosopher’s work when Mehedinți studied in Germany. More
Classical Liberalism in Romania: The Case of Emanuel Neuman
Mihai-Vladimir TopanOne of the things which can probably be safely – and sadly, in our opinion – said about the history of modern Romania is that it experienced neither a coherent and consistent body of classical liberal ideas, nor a genuinely classical liberal political and economic program. That liberalism acquired, in the Romanian context (and more generally in the Eastern European and Russian context), the distorted meaning of “progressivism” by the top-down hand of the state if necessary is often acknowledged (a necessity espoused by nearly everyone and at nearly all times). More
China is Playing Go on the Global Board While not joining the table is not an option
Florin BonciuIt has been almost a decade since the onset of the 2008 crisis and the global arena is defined more and more by new characteristics that reflect changes in the number and intensity of interactions among all sorts of economic, political, military, spiritual actors, the obsolescence of International institutions, as well as the advances of science and disruptive technology. More
DiploMATTERS
Iran advertises a vast array of opportunities and advantages for investment, starting with the highest level of security in the region, human capital (having a population of approximately 80 million people), a young, well-educated and skilled labor force as well as rich energy reserves. Its location on the Persian Gulf eases its integration into global markets, as well as offering a strategic position in proximity to the growing Gulf region’s financial and trading hubs. More
DiploMATTERS
On May 14th 1981, two astronauts were rapidly ascending from platform 17 on Baikonur Cosmodrome: Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu, a young lieutenant-major of the Romanian Air Force and an engineer specialized in aeronautics, who had scored the highest results among all the non-Soviet astronauts during his training in Star City, and Leonid Popov, a Soviet cosmonaut, the only one who had matched the record of 185 days spent in space at that time. More
The Canary Is Choking to Death in the Coalmine
Where a rich person decides to live, where he keeps his money, where he invests his money, what measures he takes to safeguard his posterity are infinitely more informative to us than what they simply declare, which is subject to fashions, social pressures, group affiliation tactics or plain, old disinformation. More
