Revista de Economie Mondiala/ Journal of Global Economics

18-48

Authors: Agnes Ghibuțiu

This article takes stock of the main developments that have marked the global trading system in the more recent period in order to shed light on their relevance and consequences from the perspective of multilateral cooperation in the field of trade. The analyses carried out within the six sections of the paper aim to assess: (i) the significance of the last WTO Ministerial Conference for trade multilateralism; (ii) the rise in the bilateral and regional trade agenda in response to the visible signs of withdrawing trade multilateralism; (iii) the dynamics and patterns of post-crisis protectionism; and (iv) the relevance of the recent escalation of US protectionism for the global trading system and the international order. According to our findings, multilateral trade cooperation is on the path of a marked retreat, while trade protectionism is on an obvious offensive, largely supported by the protectionist policy stance promoted by the US administration.

70-81

Authors: Manuela Unguru

This article argues for the need and importance of acquiring the appropriate education and competences to better deal with the new skills and challenges raised for the labour market by the disruptions induced by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The importance of increasing the participation of people in lifelong learning (LLL) is also recognized at the level of public policies in the European Union, as one of the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, meant to contribute to reducing unemployment, poverty and social exclusion and to inclusive growth, respectively. However, in order to achieve the assumed target of 15%, the share of the population participating in the LLL should increase on average by 11% annually over the next three years. This is an unrealistic pace for several reasons, as demonstrated by the analysis of the current situation and the developments in the last decade carried out in the paper. The situation in Romania is also highlighted by discussing the determinants of the current picture, where the indicator is almost ten times lower than the national target.