Octavian-Dragomir JORA
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
“From the Gospels to the social contract, ideas have dominated the world” (J. Rueff). And, indisputably, the social contract is an “idea”. A defining one (although debatable too), which provides the symbolic backbone for the societal, political, and economic body. Modern statehood as well as national economies owe to it their fecundity. It is up to each of us with our idiosyncratic Weltanschauung whether we perceive or preach social contracting as elevating people from the state of nature, seen as savage and scarring, so as to entrust them to an absolute sovereign (T. Hobbes) or a government of elected representatives (J. Locke), or, somehow on the contrary, providing them shelter from a harmful society, which takes them away from the, here idyllically depicted, state of nature, just to enslave them (J.J. Rousseau). The state turns the competition of wild force into a “monopoly of legitimate violence” (M. Weber), that’s the rational and reserved narrative. But states tend to silently and swiftly confiscate this social contract from us. Yet, true democracy and law depend on its integrity. A tautology! But is the social contract restorable? By technology!
SOCIAL CONTRACT POWERED BY TECHNOLOGY [CONTRACT SOCIAL POTENŢAT DE TEHNOLOGIE]
Alexandru POPOVICI
Universitatea Româno-Americană
After having studied, in the first part of this paper, the reality of the global evolution of non-combustible materials and the Material Flow Analysis (MFA) method, in the second part we deal with the methods of Energy Flow Analysis (EFA) and the Material and Energy Flow Analysis (MEFA) together, in their intrinsic correlation. We also highlight the need to extend them through new concepts and procedures.
Keywords: economy, energy flow analysis, material flow analysis, multilevel models, technological evolution, life cycle assessment, ecology, economic policies
JEL: B50, C50, O33, Q57
Mass-Energy Models of the Economy – Concepts and Realities (II). Energy Flow Analysis
Ramona Iulia DIEACONESCU
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
Andra Nicoleta MECU
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
Florentina CHIŢU
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
Climate change, defined as long-term alterations in temperatures and weather patterns, is influenced by both solar variability and human activities. The human contribution, primarily through emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as CO2 and CH4 from fossil fuel combustion, agriculture, and deforestation, has significantly impacted global warming in asymmetrical ways within and across countries.
Keywords: climate change, greenhouse gases, global warming, anthropogenic impact, economic evaluation
JEL: Q01, Q54, Q56
Assessing the Interplay of Natural and Anthropogenic Factors in Climate Change: An Economic and Environmental Analysis [Evaluarea interacţiunii factorilor naturali şi antropici în schimbările climatice: o analiză economică şi de mediu]
Răzvan PÎRCĂLĂBESCU
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
The necessity of this topic arises from the need to maintain the upward trend, as well as to maximize the commercial opportunities we have, which are essential for the efforts of Romanian authorities to reduce the trade deficit. Currently, there is no well-defined and efficient export strategy based on the economic particularities and business culture practiced in Mexico.
Keywords: foreign trade, commercial relations, economic policies
JEL: F10, F16, F50
Trade Relations between Romania and the United Mexican States: Export Challenges and Opportunities [Relaţiile comerciale ale României cu Statele Unite Mexicane: provocări şi oportunităţi ale exportului]
Cristian MANOLACHI
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
The fact that economic and, by extension, political freedom is the key to an individual’s well-being continues to be true in the Western world of today. These freedoms are a solution proposed by classical liberals for the spontaneous organization of a prosperous society that has been validated for the past two and a half centuries. But markets in Western societies are less free than they used to be.
Keywords: European economic policy, European migration crisis, European Green Deal, interventionism, technological automation
JEL: B25, F22, F55, J11, N30, Q56
Critical Considerations on How Subsidies, Legal Constraints and Physical Barriers Affect Well-Being and Economic Freedom in Today’s European Union
Anca TAMAŞ
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
Through a series of captivating and meticulously documented stories, Matt Ridley prompts us not only to understand how humanity evolved from steam engines to search engines, but also to grasp our own reactions to innovation, as well as to have a glimpse on how to proactively position ourselves in relation to this inevitable, inexorable and mysterious societal process.
Book Review / Recenzie de carte: Matt Ridley, Inovaţia – Cum funcţionează şi de ce îi prieşte libertatea, Bucureşti, Editura Orion, 2021
