Tudor Constantin BĂLAN - Cycles of Freedom: Are Our Rights Today Permanently Secured, or Are We in a Transitional Phase? The Cases of Great Britain, the United States, and Russia

Marius-Cristian PANĂ, Adela BĂLAN - Economic Freedom and Prosperity: A Comparative Analysis of Welfare Determinants at the International Level

Ana Octavia ALBU - When Accurate Forecasts Still Produce Waste: Demand Shocks and Over-Forecasting Risk in Food Retail

Adrian-Ioan DAMOC - The Persian Pivot and the Reconfiguration of Geopolitical Realism: Iran and Venezuela in Strategic Competition among the United States, China, and Russia

Emmanuel Olusegun STOBER - Coercive Diplomacy in the Gulf and the Limits of the Strike-Forward Strategy: Toward a Middle-Power Coalition for Regional Stability

Sorin-Nicolae CURCĂ - On the Informational Entropy of Economic Shock

Florin DĂNESCU - The Banking Sector as Critical Infrastructure in the Logic of Hybrid Conflict: Post-2014 Legislative Convergence in Central and Eastern Europe and the Case of Romania

Alexandru POPOVICI - The Contribution of the Music Industry to GDP and Employment: A Comparative Analysis

Mohammed AL-NASSERY - Implications of the War in the Middle East: An Analysis of the Economic, Security, Humanitarian, and Political Dimensions

Mihai LĂCĂTUŞ - GDP as a Means, Not an End: Inequality as the Missing Variable in Fiscal Policy Design – A 60-Country Analysis of Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being

Articles on Issue Theme

Penned in an era of solid empires, declared confrontations and solemn reconciliations, Tolstoy’s War and Peace started from a premise that late modernity has twisted to the point of caricature: that “war” and “peace” are distinct, recognizable (e)states, with clear moral thresholds and a memory of shame. For him, war is a total experience, which melts destinies, overturns hierarchies and exposes vanities. And peace is a fragile but intelligible aspiration, linked to meaning and duty, not to statistics or ratings. Rereading it today is no longer just a history exercise, but a vocabulary test: how much do these two words still signify to us, when we live in a present that uses them as labels on boxes? Between the “Napoleon” depicted by Tolstoy and today’s “hybrids” (Trump’s step twins Department of War and Board of Peace), the difference is not only one of technology, but of consciousness: where the novel sees the consequences, the present jumps straight to conclusions. And when you confuse war with a news scroll and peace with a commercial break, you lose the very tool for discerning the world.

WAR (DEPARTMENT OF) AND PEACE (BOARD OF) [RĂZBOI (MINISTERUL DE) ŞI PACE (CONSILIUL PENTRU)]

Across modern history, the evolution of individual freedoms has often appeared to follow a long-term trajectory of progress, similarly to the expansion of industrial economies and modern political institutions. Yet, much like economic development, the historical dynamics of rights and liberties have rarely been linear or irreversible, suggesting the existence of broader “cycles of freedom”.

Keywords: cycles of freedom, democratic backsliding, civil liberties, political rights, authoritarianism, liberalism, institutional development, Great Britain, United States, Russia

JEL: N40, N43, N44, P16, Z18

Cycles of Freedom: Are Our Rights Today Permanently Secured, or Are We in a Transitional Phase? The Cases of Great Britain, the United States, and Russia

This article examines the relationship between economic freedom and the level of prosperity at the international level, offering a comparative perspective on eight representative economies (2010-2023). Using empirical data and composite indices developed by the Heritage Foundation and the Fraser Institute, the study observes the major pillars that influence macroeconomic performance.

Keywords: economic freedom, economic development, economic institutions, Economic Freedom Index (EFI), Human Development Index (HDI), Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), economic prosperity

JEL: D72, E02, O11, O43, P14, P16

Economic Freedom and Prosperity: A Comparative Analysis of Welfare Determinants at the International Level

This paper examines how promotions and holidays affect forecasting risk in perishable food retail. Using daily sales data from the Corporación Favorita dataset, the study analyses three stores and ten perishable product families during 2016. The focus is on over-forecast errors, defined as cases in which predicted demand exceeds actual sales and may therefore create excess inventory.

Keywords: perishable food retail, demand forecasting, machine learning, over-forecasting, food waste

JEL: C53, L81, Q18, Q56

When Accurate Forecasts Still Produce Waste: Demand Shocks and Over-Forecasting Risk in Food Retail

The increasingly fragmented and competitive multipolar system has revived the logic of geopolitical realism and positional power politics. Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, escalating tensions in the Indo-Pacific, and renewed instability in the Middle East, recent American military actions targeting Iran and Venezuela reveal a broader attempt by the US to redefine its global strategic role.

Keywords: geopolitical realism, great-power competition, geoeconomics, strategic rivalry, energy security, Iran, Venezuela, United States, China, Russia, NATO, multipolarity, Indo-Pacific, Middle East, strategic credibility

JEL: F51, F52, F59, H56, P16, Q34

The Persian Pivot and the Reconfiguration of Geopolitical Realism: Iran and Venezuela in Strategic Competition among the United States, China, and Russia

The accelerating militarization of diplomacy in the Gulf has transformed coercion into the dominant grammar of regional interaction. The escalating tensions surrounding Iran’s nuclear program, retaliatory strikes, and mounting risks to energy markets and maritime trade reveal the strategic logic and limitations of the contemporary “strike-forward” approach pursued by the US and Israel.

Keywords: coercive diplomacy, Gulf security, Iran nuclear program, strike-forward strategy, escalation management, deterrence, Middle East geopolitics, middle powers, maritime security, geoeconomics, regional stability, strategic competition, security architecture

JEL: F51, F52, F53, F59, H56, Q34

Coercive Diplomacy in the Gulf and the Limits of the Strike-Forward Strategy: Toward a Middle-Power Coalition for Regional Stability

Keywords: informational entropy, economic shocks, uncertainty, systems theory, economic networks, systemic risk, information dynamics

JEL: C02, D83, D85, E32

On the Informational Entropy of Economic Shock

This study investigates whether European banking sector legislations after 2014 display structural patterns compatible with indirect forms of hybrid pressure on financial intermediation. The analysis is framed by two major reference points: the global financial crisis of 2008 and the increasing use of financial instruments as tools of geopolitical coercion following the annexation of Crimea.

Keywords: banking sector, critical economic infrastructure, indirect hybrid pressures, legislative convergence, financial intermediation, systemic vulnerability, Central and Eastern Europe

JEL: F51, F52, G21, G28, H56, P16

The Banking Sector as Critical Infrastructure in the Logic of Hybrid Conflict: Post-2014 Legislative Convergence in Central and Eastern Europe and the Case of Romania

The music industry has undergone profound transformations in recent decades, evolving from a traditional model centred on physical products to a globalized digital economic system. Although often viewed exclusively through the lens of cultural policies, music has become a strategic economic sector, contributing significantly to job creation and the stimulation of innovation.

Keywords: music industry, GDP, employment, creative economy, digitalization, economic impact

JEL: E01, J21, L82, O34, Z11

The Contribution of the Music Industry to GDP and Employment: A Comparative Analysis

This study analyses the major implications of the ongoing war in the Middle East across four interconnected dimensions: economic, humanitarian, political, and security-related. It argues that the conflict extends beyond direct military confrontation to affect energy markets, supply chains, regional stability, and global food security, while increasing inflation and weakening growth.

Keywords: Middle East war, economic implications, humanitarian crisis, regional security, geopolitical transformations, energy security, food security, cybersecurity, regional stability, supply chains

JEL: F51, F52, F59, H56, Q34, Q54

Implications of the War in the Middle East: An Analysis of the Economic, Security, Humanitarian, and Political Dimensions

This paper examines the relationship between GDP per capita, income inequality, and happiness, starting from the idea that economic growth remains important, but cannot fully explain social well-being. Based on a comparative analysis of 60 countries 2016-2020, the study examines how GDP interacts with indicators such as human development, peace, corruption, and the Gini index.

Keywords: GDP per capita, income inequality, well-being, happiness economics, Gini index, human development, social progress

JEL: I31, D63, O47

GDP as a Means, Not an End: Inequality as the Missing Variable in Fiscal Policy Design – A 60-Country Analysis of Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being

Select Issue: 1/2005 2/2005 3/2005 4/2005 1/2006 2/2006 3/2006 4/2006 1/2007 2/2007 3/2007 4/2007 1/2008 2/2008 3/2008 4/2008 1/2009 2/2009 3/2009 4/2009 1/2010 2/2010 3/2010 4/2010 1/2011 2/2011 3/2011 4/2011 1/2012 2/2012 3/2012 4/2012 1/2013 2/2013 3/2013 4/2013 1/2014 2/2014 3/2014 4/2014 1/2015 2/2015 3/2015 4/2015 1-2/2016 3-4/2016 1/2017 2/2017 3/2017 4/2017 1-2/2018 3-4/2018 1/2019 2/2019 3/2019 4/2019 1-2/2020 3-4/2020 1/2021 2/2021 3/2021 4/2021 1-2/2022 3-4/2022 1/2023 2/2023 3/2023 4/2023 1-2/2024 3-4/2024 1/2025 2/2025 3/2025 4/2025 1-2/2026

Archive

   Authors list

Authors