Luminita Chivu

About Industrial Structures Decomposition and Recomposition

Abstract In the past 23 years, Romania has gone through a thorough and multi - facetted economic, institutional, legal, and ownership restructuring process, which has greatly reshaped the landscape of its economy, by changing the place and the role of certain economic branches, activities and companies, the drastic effects of which have also left a mark on its industrial structures. This article approaches the restructuring of the Romanian industry in respect of the number, size, and ownership of the companies, the changes in the value structure of industrial output by groups of products and branches, the course followed by physical production expressed in physical units, the number of employees, the salaries, and wage costs. Our analysis tackles the process of decomposition and recomposition of Romanias industrial structures from a national perspective, without ignoring the trends in the European industrial strategies and policies.

Consequences of Wage Gaps in the EU

Abstract This article dwells on a local specificity with apparently little interest for the European construction, but which we deem to be on at least an equal footing in importance with the issues of monetary, budget, and fiscal coordination: the effects of wage gaps between the EU member states. The data and information considered for the writing of this article indicate that, although the gap seems to be diminishing, the still wide differences between member countries have led (and continue to do so) to major consequences in terms of competition and competitive edge in their domestic markets, to imbalances in their budgets, fiscal, and labour policies, but also in the quality of their citizens’ lives.

Romania's Deindustrialisation. From the “Golden Age” to the “Iron Scrap Age”☆

Abstract In the long evolutionary course of human civilisation, the past two centuries have been characterised by the theory of industrialisation. After 1990, a new reality gave birth to the opposite term: deindustrialisation. The primordial foundation underlying the development of industry in the 20th century, and particularly in its mid-third, was the manufacturing of metal, and especially steel. Following the two shock-waves in 1973 and 1978, when rocketing prices shook the oil industry, the production of steel reversed its trend in the majority of the developed countries, and mostly in the European Union member states, where, after 1990, steel production had a much lower, or, sometimes, a negative, rate of growth. This was paralleled by a growing volume of the trade in scrap iron. Encouraged by the generous principle of free circulation of products, such a trade seems, however, to be in contradiction with the principles of sustainable development, reduction of carbon emissions, and energy saving, promoted by the EU.

About Agrarian Structures and Economic Advantages

Abstract The main purpose of this study is to demonstrate the effect the reforms undertaken in the Romanian agriculture have had upon the revenues and the competitive edge of Romanian farmers. While, statistically speaking, the social and economic structures of Romania and the other EU member countries appeared to display a certain degree of convergence along some four decades towards the end of the previous century, the indicators of the past two decades reveal a wide gap between Romania and the EU countries, the fact being indicative of the existence now of economic, technical and institutional asymmetries and divergences, rather than convergences. At present, Romanian agriculture and Romanian farmers are at a strong disadvantage from their European counterparts in respect of competitiveness. In Romania, the economic and institutional mechanisms created over the past twenty years have most often favoured subsistence farming, leaving the door open to the added value to migrate to other sectors, which was to the detriment of agricultural production.

Economic Dynamics and Sustainable Development – Resources, Factors, Structures and Policies

The book is dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Romanian Academy. It contains the most valuable 100 papers presented at the International Conference «Economic Scientific Research – Theoretical, Empirical and Practical Approaches» (ESPERA 2015). The event is initiated annually by the National Institute for Economic Research «Costin C. Kiri?escu» of the Romanian Academy. ESPERA aim to present and evaluate the economic scientific research portfolio as well as to argue and substantiate development strategies, including European and global best practices. ESPERA intend to become a scientific support for the conceptualization and the establishment of policies and strategies and to provide a systematic, permanent, wide and challenging dialogue within the European area of economic and social research.

Household Income in Romania. A Challenge to Economic and Social Cohesion

Abstract Statistic data seem to indicate that the trend in household revenues in European Union is not of a nature to sustain economic and social cohesion. In Romanias case, such a conclusion is a solid reason to reconsider the fundamentals of the concept of economic and social cohesion at national level and, why not, at EU level. The studies carried out so far show a growing gap between the annual average total and money revenues of households/persons, one the one hand, and the annual average level of the gross domestic product per capita, on the other. Significant differences can also be seen between the amount and structure of individual revenues in the rural and urban areas. At a daily financial income of only 2.0 euro in 2005, and of 3.7 euro in 2013, the 9.2 million persons living in rural households in Romania are perfectly right to wonder if this should be the effect of the much acclaimed economic and social cohesion.