Revista OEconomica

Raluca-Georgiana ROBU, Maria GHEORGHE (NIŢU), Valentin COJANU, Alexia-Maria POPESCU - Between Opportunity and Dependency: The Evolution of Romania’s Trade with Asian Economies [Între oportunitate şi dependenţă: evoluţia comerţului României cu economiile asiatice]

Narciz BĂLĂŞOIU, Octavian-Dragomir JORA, Răzvan Marian PÎRCĂLĂBESCU - Romania’s Positioning and Room for Manoeuvre: The Dilemmas of Peripheral Adaptation in the New Indo-Pacific [Poziţionarea şi marjele de manevră ale României: dilemele adaptării periferice în noul Indo-Pacific]

Mădălina JURUBIțĂ - Redefining EU Trade Policy for an Age of Geoeconomic Rivalry: Strategic Autonomy, Security, and Resilience

Geicun MUSTAFA - Islamophobia as an Informal Trade Barrier: Reputational Risk and the Political Economy of Deglobalization

Hesam JEBELI-BAKHT-ARA - Racialized Capitalism and Economic Discrimination: The Case of Ethnic Labour Segmentation in Contemporary Europe

Articles on Issue Theme

Lucian CROITORU

Banca Naţională a României

In this study, we show that the main problem facing the Eurozone economy is the relatively low competitiveness of the PIIGS economies compared with other economies in the region. Findings show that the defining trait of PIIGS countries is neither budget deficits, nor public debt, but rather the current account deficits. The politicians’ initial assumption that joining the Eurozone would lead to the convergence of productivity trends failed to materialize. We argue that, while tightening fiscal discipline within the Eurozone is a must, it does not solve the problem of the lack of competitiveness. Adopting rules on capping structural deficits at around 0.5 percent of GDP might prove premature, given the private sector deleveraging process. We reveal the solutions that help exit the crisis without deepening the recession. Among them, a weaker euro would buy time for countries facing a competitiveness deficit to implement far-reaching structural reforms conducive to higher labor productivity. The European Central Bank’s quantitative easing is compatible with this solution.

ŒCONOMICA no. 3/2012

Keywords: competitiveness, productivity, current account deficit, crisis, recession, quantitative easing, Eurozone

JEL: E58, F32, G28, H61, H62, H63, H81, J01

Zona Euro: un adevăr care nu convine

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