Revista de Economie Mondiala/ Journal of Global Economics

29-44

Authors: Andreea Drăgoi

Currently, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) faces a number of challenges involving the need for strategic decisions for the long term future of European agriculture and of the rural areas in the European Union. To be effective in addressing these challenges, the CAP must work within a framework of connected economic policies and sustainable public finances that contribute to achieving the EU. In this context, it should be noted that the "Europe" 2020 Strategy offered a new perspective for the CAP reform, the main development directions being focused on finding the most appropriate solutions to the new economic, social and environmental issues brought on by the international economic crisis, also contributing to the sustainable development of EU agriculture. In what follows, we will briefly review existing EU proposals for future development directions of the CAP.

28-45

Authors: Ionela Bălțătescu

The present paper summarizes the main characteristics of the Eurozone institutional setup and the related economic and political incentives that drive Eurozone governments to increase their public debts, disregarding the limits agreed in the European treatises. The first part of the paper contains a review of the Eurozone institutional setup and of the incentives it creates for Eurozone member states to increase their deficits and public debts. The second part of the paper carries out a short review and criticism of the main strategies and policy tools to fight Eurozone debt problem: ECB bond buying, EFSF/ESM leverage, Eurobonds and Euro-TARP. The main conclusion of the paper is that establishing a fiscal union in EU does not solve by itself the public debt problem of Eurozone member states if the institutional mechanism of debt accumulation, debt rollover and risk socialization are not dismantled.

69-80

Authors: Manuela Unguru

One goal of Europe 2020 Strategy is to increase the share of higher education to 40% of the population 30-34 years old, but the gap at EU27 level is 7 percentage points, with important differences among EU member states. Romania is also lagging behind, but if one looks at the population 20-24 years old, 91% of them have a tertiary education degree. More educated people would contribute to productivity gains and finally to economic growth. Thus, education policies should adapt in order to adress the labor market challenges and to ensure succesful insertion on the labor market and high returns of investment in education, both individual and public. Reaching the Europe 2020 objectives implies increase the returns on education, by improving the effectiveness of education process. Among the challenges of education policies there are better adapted curriculum to labour market needs, higher involvement of the employers and adjustment of financing models with respect to the higher education market and its determinants.

20-40

Authors: Alina Ligia Dumitrescu, Petre Prisecaru

The Financial and economic crisis has brought to the fore the issues of unemployment, which is a constant concern of the EU. The study analyzes the European Employment Strategy, which aims to create a common framework for action based on the agreement of the Member States relating in order to a set of objectives and targets for employment. The research examines the impact of employment policies on labor market developments and measures taken to minimize imbalances in the labor market, reduce unemployment and increase employment.

72-88

Authors: Ecaterina Stănculescu

Nowadays we assist at a fundamental change from the economy based mainly on resources to the one based mostly on knowledge. The concept has been launched in the last decade of the past century. The knowledge became a production agent and a value creation instrument for whatever country and of course for an entire community like European Union which is constantly concerned by its development and competitiveness. This paper presents the principal characteristics of the present EU preoccupations with the expansion of a knowledge based economy through the 2020 European Development Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive economy, and especially for the Framework Programs (Framework Programme 7 and Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme).

15-33

Authors: Agnes Ghibuțiu

The Great Recession of 2008–09 provided a fertile ground for protectionist pressures to increase. It caused a negative shock to the global economy that is comparable with the Great Depression of the 1930s. International trade suffered a historical collapse in 2009, but trade flows quickly rebounded thereafter. And unlike the Great Depression of the 1930s, the recent global economic contraction did not trigger a massive wave of protectionism as expected. Despite important adjustments in many countries’ trade policies during the crisis and, hence, a quite notable increase in the incidence of protectionist measures, there is a widely shared belief that crisis related protectionism has been kept under control, being rather modest and limited compared with both the negative effects of the crisis and the initial concerns. A large agreement emerged also among analysts on the important role of WTO’s multilateral rules and disciplines in preventing exacerbation of economic nationalism and protectionism. The views on intensity, dynamics and potential impact of current contemporary protectionism continue, however, to diverge as they reflect in part the significant differences between the results of the different monitoring exercises, carried out particularly by the WTO and Global Trade Alert. But beyond these differences, the latest monitoring reports contain alarming signs of escalating protectionism over the post-crisis years due to the growing difficulties in the world economy. This paper takes a look at the main trends in global protectionism during and after the crisis and some of its potential implications. In doing so, the paper starts by contrasting protectionism that accompanied the Great Depression of the 1930s with the present-day protectionist phenomenon in order to briefly outline the peculiarities of the latter. Then it addresses the main factors contributing to staving off trade protectionism during the recent crisis. Relying on the results of the latest monitoring reports published by the WTO and Global Trade Alert, it takes stock of the protectionist trade policy measures in order to disentangle the salient features of contemporary protectionism and consider its outlook and some of its implications. Finally, the paper stresses the importance of concluding urgently the Doha Round as the most meaningful way of reducing protectionism’s threat to the global recovery.

56-71

Authors: Radu Gheorghiu

Higher education plays an increasing role for national competitiveness, fact also acknowledged by its presencs as one of the 12 pillars in the Global Competitiveness Index. From this perspective, Romania provides the image of a rather imature higher education market, chracteristed by dominant low cost services, with limited relevance for the labour market . The article builds a SWOT of the Romania higher education system in view of its contribution to national competitiveness.