Valentin Cojanu

Economics education from scratch: a view from post-communist Romania

Two decades elapsed since economics had to replace Marxist political economy and be taught from scratch. This paper gives an account of the consequences and implications of this process in career advancement, research output, and teaching experiences for the economics community in Romania. Our study also parallels the proposed reforms with the international experience in the field of evaluating academic and research performance.

Georgescu‐Roegen's entropic model: a methodological appraisal

Purpose - This paper aims to tackle in turn the merits and limits of Nicholas Georgescu-Roegens entropic model, as well as its implications for the methodological discourse in economics. This appraisal of the Georgescu-Roegens work emphasizes the emergence of the entropic nature of the economic processes as a paradigm Design/methodology/approach - This work provides a critical assessment of the entropic models main conceptual pillars, namely the role of mathematical formalism and the natural imagery of Findings - The focus of this work is that the proposed epistemological reconstruction of economics is vulnerable to attacks from two methodological objections. The first deals with the change of metaphor from the “pendulum” of mechanics to the “hourglass” of thermodynamics. The second refers to the changes this replacement of metaphors brings about as to the relevance of the formalism of the discipline. Originality/value - This material has gathered arguments to show that the intellectual concurrence of the arguments onto the field of physics makes the methodological value of the new paradigm of entropy not transcend into a new logic of reasoning in economics. The limits of this approach stems from the same rationale for which it has got its revolutionary stature: what it proposes consists of a scientific discourse based on a mixture of evolutionary biology, economics and thermodynamics, which may open up new original and insightful perspectives, but which has never been justified on terms of

A democratic view on prosperity

Purpose – This paper aims to advance the argument that the process of wealth creation predominantly originates from the economic system of democracy. It seeks to put forth the concept of economic democracy and understand as the process enabling the opportunities for welfare gains to multiply in favour of ever-larger parts of population. Design/methodology/approach – The paper questions the main insight of the conventional view on the benefits of specialisation according to which a nations prosperity becomes inevitable under the circumstances of efficient allocation of available resources. It takes instead account of how economic interests intertwine with political processes and proposes an analytical deconstruction of the economic influence of political decisions with extensive consideration to Olsons perspective on collective action. Findings – The argument is that the conventional prediction is necessarily limited by several particular occurrences that make the process of wealth creation take a course dependent on the democratic organization of economic activities. The set of policy actions, as well as its underlying principles rest on the understanding that diversification of sources of economic gains should stand as option number 1 on any governmental priority list in order to achieve a better standard of living. Originality/value – The paper sheds light on a different perspective, which does not take for granted the principles of free market and open society as determinants of a countrys prosperity and proposes instead an understanding of the sources of prosperity based on occupational diversification as a practical consequence of the economic democracy.

Self-interest and the modernity of homo economicus

Purpose - Criticism directed at neoclassical economics has failed to replace it with a similar grand theory. The authors argue that one possible explanation may lie in the failure of economists to formulate an opinion as to the philosophical foundations of the author’s object of study. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach - The argument proceeds in two steps. First, the authors review the prevailing philosophical view of “the self-interest theory (S)”, which is one of the most powerful constituents of today’s economics, and social theorizing in general. Second, the authors present a reasoning framework in which rationality becomes intelligible within a schema of integrating the self’s external and internal conditionalities into a unified view of human reasoning. Findings - Self-interest has been supposed to give the authors direction about what, concretely, to do, but, on the way, the authors have learned that defining rationality is necessarily a life-dependent process. The conflicts of reasons call for a revised S according to which rationality implies consistency among a person’s competing behavioural drivers rooted in three ontological realms, natural, social, and cultural. Originality/value - First, understanding the purpose of one’s actions in rational terms demands redirecting attention from outcomes in terms of utility, profits, or welfare to a social profile of a rational person, with real life coordinates in space and time, as well as the personal histories of that individual. A change in explaining aspirations leads, and this is the second implication, to change in defining the meaning of economic (or social) behaviour. Decision making is not necessarily a process of virtuously selecting the best available options, but assessing and acting according to the opportunity of choice; it is not about freedom of choice, but about the degree of freedom a person is willing and is able to take advantage of.

International Economics: A Heterodox Approach

The prospect of adapting international economics for heterodox audiences is fraught with challenges. Such is the case with all disciplinary tracks, microand macroeconomics among them, as the fields so intimately and directly tied to the core of mainstream economic thought. To start with, international flows of goods and factors are theorized on the platform of comparative advantage, which makes generalized affluence dependent on the unrestricted exploitation of countries’ best use of resources on a global scale. While social sciences scholars are not unanimously enthusiastic of the realism of this assumption, mainstream economists, unrelenting, consider it to be “the deepest and most beautiful result in all of economics” (Findlay 1987: 514). Then the intended audience is not a homogeneous lot. This textbook encourages students to escape “the tyranny” of just one paradigm (i.e., neoclassical economics) and to embrace such diverse alternatives as “institutionalists, Marxists, Keynesians, behaviourists, libertarians, Austrians, structuralists, and dependency theorists” (28). With a stint in the U.S. diplomatic corps, followed by overseas positions with two American multinationals, and then graduating a Ph.D. programme in economics, Professor Van den Berg of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln seems particularly suited to embark on defying tasks. The publisher’s endorsement highlights “an exceptionally broad background to the study and teaching of international economics”, an accolade which is duly acknowledged by the wide span of his interdisciplinary undertakings and rigorous reality check of theory’s explanatory power. The twenty-first century undergraduate may find the textbook’s lack of visuals, dreary typesetting and large page format unappealing (although a web-based student study guide changes this for the better), but should rest assured that the value of studying it remains unaltered from aesthetic BOOK REVIEWS

ON ECONOMIC FRONTIERS: EXPLORING THE RATIONALE BEHIND MODERN MARKET INTEGRATION

Abstract This paper suggests that the benefits of market integration project reach an asymptotic limit in the realm of close communities when adherence to the same values is critical to achieve internal market reform rather than the other way round. An optimal context of market integration is hypothesized as a territory circumscribed by economic frontiers within which jurisdictions are willing, on the one hand, to share resources with other members to reap the benefits from externalities and economies of scale, and, on the other hand, are able to target policy initiatives at a geographical scale that reflect directly regional commonality. This theoretical framework is illustrated with a discussion of Romania as a country case by drawing on cluster analysis and trade integration data.

State vulnerability and the facets of development: Some lessons from transitional economies of South‐East Europe

Purpose - The overlapping measures of “state vulnerability” prompt a double interrogation: about their methodological validity, and analytical relevance. Against this epistemic framework, the purpose of this paper is to ask whether the relentless quest for precision may prevent obtaining meaningful and realistic policy implications. Design/methodology/approach - This paper contrasts various theoretical views of “state vulnerability” and explores their applicability for the development processes in south-east Europe. The argument proceeds along a comparative analysis of three categories of variables, of political (i.e. government effectiveness), economic (i.e. macroeconomic performance) and institutional nature (i.e. human development) over the last decade and the usefulness of available early warning indicators is examined. Findings - The findings point to the supposition that “vulnerability” is an elusive concept despite many attempts at quantifying fragility of statehood. The success of quantitative studies to generate practical comparative data undoubtedly plays a helpful role in designing state-building trajectories although they must be seen in a broader context. Without a key breakthrough in the way datasets of quantitative and qualitative nature are combined, their actual effectiveness would be seriously diminished. Originality/value - The choice to favour investigative breadth over analytical depth is intended to let the conclusions come up in the guise of a complementary and summative account of the amassing amount of scholarship that leaves the phenomenon of development exposed to disparate accounts, at least as far as the thin balance between fragility and viability is concerned. Critical points in development pass less visibly and are less tractable to identifiable sources than a conventional perspective may suggest.

State Vulnerability and the Facets of Development: Lessons from Post-Communist Evolutions in South-Eastern Europe

This paper contrasts various theoretical constructs of ‘state vulnerability’ and explores in a summary account their applicability for the development processes in South Eastern Europe.The findings support the supposition that ‘vulnerability’ is an elusive concept despite many attempts at quantifying fragility of a country’s political and economical construction. This paper provides a comparative analysis of three categories of indices, of human development, of governance (i.e. government effectiveness), and of economic performance. On the example of South Eastern Europe countries, it is argued that the varied facets of vulnerability enlarge the perspective of development, and also suggested that the expected correlations require an extension of the standard analytical framework.