The analysis of the poverty level in Romania involves numerous aspects, from poverty of material means, to the lack of employment opportunities on a labor market characterized by an imbalance in supply (of jobs). In this context, the level of education could constitute the defining component for increasing the chances of reducing poverty, under the conditions of a functional economy, in which...
The title of the book aims at the normative layer of Economics, specifically focusing on the area of environmental policies; uninterrupted, however, by a generous theoretical register drawn from various economic, social and political doctrinal directions. It is, par excellence, a heterodox and pluralistic study. Within this context, a clearly defined dilemma emerges, demanding urgent...
Abstract:
In times of financial constraints, people tend to change their consumer behavior in such ways that this adds even more complexity to the planning process of the companies that try to constantly adapt to those changes from their working environment. In these circumstances, for a cultural organization like a museum it's even more important to develop resilient marketing strategies...
This study explores AI integration maturity and task-level AI usage in workplace settings across industries and organization sizes. Rather than treating adoption as a simple yes/no measure, it studies how frequently professionals use AI, which tasks are supported, the typical depth of assistance (from suggestions to automation), and how governance and readiness mechanisms (official AI...
This study investigates the validity of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) in contemporary financial markets by examining short-term return dynamics across six international equity indices over the period 2015–2025. The analysis aims to assess whether stock returns exhibit serial dependence and whether deviations from the random walk hypothesis persist in modern market conditions...
This chapter examines how economies can be provisioned sustainably in the face of ecological constraints while maintaining full employment and price stability. It argues that the prevailing macroeconomic frameworks misdiagnose both the nature of inflation and the constraints facing currency-issuing governments, leading to policy responses that rely on unemployment, suppressed demand, and...
The car-sharing sector is undergoing a rapid global evolution which shows a movement away from traditional vehicle ownership toward integrated "Mobility as a Service" ecosystems. The transformation in Romania received a major boost when Uber and other major platforms launched their services in 2015. The Romanian market has established different ride-hailing services but research on how...
This research aims to create a strictly quantitative mapping of the global scientific landscape regarding SMEs placed in the context of innovation and regulatory frameworks. Compared to traditional literature reviews, this paper does not focus on the qualitative content of the research, but on the metadata of the targeted field of study. Specifically, the study aims to identify information...
Sustainability has evolved from a peripheral concern into a central pillar of economic and organizational strategy, requiring a redefinition of leadership and value creation in complex, globalized markets. This paper explores how simulated environments can enhance the development of sustainable leadership competencies, bridging the gap between theoretical frameworks and real-world...
In a recent contribution to environmental policy, Thomas Pogge recommends an Ecological Impact Fund (EIF). The fund could, he suggests, play a pivotal role in enabling greater diffusion of green technology in less developed regions. A defining feature of the EIF is that innovators retain patents on new technologies but must price at unit cost. Compensation for foregone monopoly rents comes...
Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases remain a leading cause of mortality worldwide, which makes early risk identification a major clinical and public health priority. Reliable risk estimation depends not only on the selected model, but also on the quality and consistency of the underlying data.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the needed ETL procedures for...
The practical implementation of the principles of sustainable development has created several fundamental challenges. One of the most deeply debated topics in the academic environment is the direct relationship between economic growth and energy consumption, as economic development leads to a significant increase in energy consumption, which leads to increased carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂)....
The relevance of this study is driven by the rapid growth of smart technologies, as well as the worsening situation with environmental problems, the energy crisis and economic disruptions, which affect not only individual enterprises and countries, but the global economy as a whole. Under these circumstances, a legitimate question arises: can smart technologies become a real tool for...
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in multinational companies and workforce restructuring, with a focus on the effects on household financial distress and perceived welfare strain in Western Romania. The research is set against recent layoffs in Arad and Timiș counties and explores whether AI-driven restructuring creates measurable...
The concept of secular stagnation has re-emerged as a central framework for understanding the prolonged weakness in economic growth observed in advanced economies since the 2008 global financial crisis. Originally introduced during the Great Depression and later revitalized in contemporary macroeconomic debates, secular stagnation describes a persistent and structural slowdown in growth with...
This paper provides a critical examination of Social Ecological Economics (SEE) as articulated by Clive Spash, tracing its emergence as a dissident movement within ecological economics. The primary aims are threefold: (1) analyse Spash's three-pronged critique of mainstream ecological economics, namely methodological pluralism, fragmentation, and mainstream takeover; (2) articulate the...
The aim of this study is to compare the organizational structures of the cooperative banking sector in Denmark, Finland, and Poland, as well as their role and importance in the banking systems of these countries. The research covered the changes and current organizational structure of the sector, the number of branches, their share in the banking sector, and the scope of their operations....
This study investigates the relationship between data analytics adoption and organisational performance, with a particular focus on the moderating role of industry-level gender composition. Prior research suggests that analytics rarely has a direct impact on business performance, but instead, it creates the appropriate conditions that lead to value realisation. Considering this, this paper...
Realized volatility forecasting remains one of the most active research frontiers in financial econometrics, as volatility governs option pricing, risk-parity allocation, Value-at-Risk estimation, and macroprudential stress testing. Classical linear models, especially the Heterogeneous Autoregressive Realized Volatility (HAR-RV) model, remain notoriously difficult to beat at short horizons,...
This paper examines the applicability of machine learning techniques to spatial data modeling and the identification of urban patterns using a limited set of demographic and geographic indicators. Drawing on sector-level data for Bucharest obtained from the National Institute of Statistics of Romania, the analysis incorporates variables such as surface area, total population, population...
Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly the rapid expansion of generative AI technologies, have intensified debates regarding their implications for labour markets and skill demand. Within the European Union (EU), increasing AI adoption is expected to reshape employment structures, particularly in knowledge-intensive sectors such as Information and Communication...
The paper examines the role of these key concepts in studying green policies aimed at achieving a more sustainable pattern of development. Contemporary capitalism has achieved a significant increase of well-being through a sophisticated division of labour and a systematic substitution of energy for labour. However, this progress has come at the cost of disregarding waste and environmental...
Aims. This paper aims to examine how narratives about artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and workforce transformation have been constructed, framed, and contested across European specialized press between 2022 and 2025. Specifically, the study seeks to identify the dominant discursive framings of AI-driven change in operations-intensive sectors, to trace their evolution over time, and...
The growing imperative for enterprises to align digital growth with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) commitments has placed sustainable digital transformation at the forefront of both academic and policy agendas. Within this context, Design Thinking (DT) - with its human-centered, iterative approach to innovation - has emerged as a promising methodology for embedding sustainability...
Abstract
Introduction: The distributional effects of environmental taxes are widely debated in fiscal policy and governance. Although essential for sustainability, these taxes may be regressive, disproportionately affecting low-income households. This study examines their impact on income inequality across the 27 EU member states over the period 2013–2023, with a particular focus on whether...
This paper investigates the ongoing reconfiguration of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) curricula in the Business and Administration study programs by examining how different stakeholder groups conceptualize competence formation and its relevance to contemporary occupational structures. Positioned within the framework of the Skills4Future program...
The aim of this study is to compare the organizational structures of the cooperative banking sector in Denmark, Finland, and Poland, as well as their role and importance in the banking systems of these countries. The research covered the changes and current organizational structure of the sector, the number of branches, their share in the banking sector, and the scope of their operations....
This paper explores the Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC) as a social economy actor, positioned at the intersection between traditional philanthropy and emerging forms of social enterprise. Building on recent reports that document the ROC’s extensive social‑philanthropic investments and its nationwide network of social and medical institutions, the study asks to what extent these activities can...
Abstract: The growing frequency of geopolitical disruptions and energy crises has reshaped the global economic landscape, reinforcing sustainability as a strategic imperative for resilient development. This study is based on a comparative empirical analysis of the ESG pillars ((Environmental, Social, and Governance) and macroeconomic performance, focusing on the 27 EU member states and...
This paper examines the dynamic interactions between green bonds and major traditional financial markets using a multivariate vector autoregressive (VAR) framework. The key questions are whether green bond returns are mainly driven by conventional fixed income and macro financial factors, and whether green bonds act only as shock receivers or also as transmitters within the global system.
The...
The accelerated integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into accounting practice is reshaping professional roles, task structures and required competencies. Automation of routine procedures has shifted the emphasis of accounting work toward analytical reasoning, ethical judgment and the supervision of AI‑generated outputs. However, many accounting programmes continue to rely...
In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly advanced across multiple domains, reshaping how individuals learn, work, and make decisions. While AI systems increasingly outperform humans in rule-based and pattern-recognition tasks, human intelligence remains diverse and multifaceted, resisting standardization. This raises critical questions about how “intelligence” is defined and...
Behavioral finance has shaped recent years of research by shedding light on how financial decisions are influenced by investors’ cognitive and emotional biases. Our paper offers an integrative approach to recent literature, combining bibliometric and systematic perspectives to capture the dynamics of research and the emerging evolution of the field. The bibliometric component highlights an...
The concept of organizational culture is in continuous evolution, both theoretically and practically, through the development of research and analysis tools used today by organizations to enhance their performance.
Local business associations are important stakeholders with the capacity to bring together experts and expertise in attracting foreign investment, stimulating a dynamic business...
Abstract
This paper examines the main coordinates of educational management in the context of the institutional transformations affecting pre-university education in Giurgiu County, Romania.
The study is based on qualitative documentary analysis of the current Romanian legal framework, OECD and UNESCO policy documents, county statistical publications and public managerial documents issued...
The integrity and informational value of financial reporting are fundamental to the proper functioning of capital markets, as they shape the extent to which firm-level signals are embedded in equity prices. This paper examines how the qualitative characteristics of financial disclosures influence the degree of stock price co-movement, proxied by return synchronicity, within the context of the...
The increasing digitalisation of financial services has changed the way banks compete, intermediate funds, and transmit monetary and financial shocks across countries. In this context, the role of FinTech in shaping the integration of banking markets has become an important research question, especially for the European Union, where financial integration remains uneven across member states....
Abstract. The concept of innovation, linked to the idea of economic singularity, is becoming increasingly relevant in the context of the rapid transformations driven by digitalization, artificial intelligence, and globalization. This article aims to analyze how economic singularity—defined as the point at which technological progress produces exponential and irreversible changes in economic...
In the context of strengthening financial governance and aligning with European standards, the integration of human rights into the budget process becomes an essential direction for increasing the efficiency and equity of public finances. The concept of human rights-based budgeting is gaining increased relevance in emerging economies, including the Republic of Moldova, where challenges persist...
In the cities of today, place branding has evolved from a communication tool aimed at attracting tourists and investment into a strategic governance mechanism that integrates territorial identity, public policy, and sustainable development. However, most approaches to “sustainable” place branding remain grounded in output-based frameworks, such as triple bottom line indicators, and tend to...
In an era defined by permacrisis, global brands face the dual challenge of maintaining market relevance while supporting consumers through periods of intense psychological and economic stress. This research investigates the role of Generative Artificial Intelligence(GenAI) as a transformative tool for marketing resilience, focusing on its capacity to stabilize consumer-brand relationships...
This paper examines whether the predictability of WTI crude oil futures returns is a regime dependent feature of the market. Building on the theory of storage and risk premium explanations of commodity returns, we test whether a simple model using basis changes and realized volatility can deliver economically meaningful out of sample forecasts and whether its performance is concentrated in...
Abstract
Household purchasing power represents a key indicator of population welfare and economic stability. In the post-pandemic period, Romania has faced significant macroeconomic challenges, characterised by rising inflation and a sharp increase in interest rates following restrictive monetary policy measures adopted by the National Bank of Romania. Although necessary to curb inflationary...
The evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) represents a central trajectory in the redefinition of the role of business in contemporary economic systems. Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, CSR ushered in a shift away from an exclusively profit-oriented vision, promoting the integration of social, ethical, and environmental considerations into corporate...
Technostress, defined as the psychological strain arising from the need to adapt to rapidly evolving information and communication technologies (ICTs), has emerged as a critical challenge in remote work contexts. Rooted in job demands–resources theory, technostress reflects negative effects on individuals’ attitudes, behaviors, cognition, and overall psychological well-being, particularly...
The transition toward sustainable and digitally enhanced higher education ecosystems has become a critical priority in the context of global environmental and technological challenges. The GREENVERSITY project addresses this need by promoting the development of green competencies and digital laboratories as innovative infrastructures that foster both sustainability and entrepreneurial thinking...
The impact of banking digitalisation on retail and corporate client acquisition in Romania
Extended Abstract
This paper examines banking digitalisation in Romania from the perspective of financial institutions’ capacity to attract new clients — both individuals (retail) and legal entities (corporate) through digital channels. The study is motivated by the accelerated structural...
Nowadays, the hotel industry is undergoing a significant transformation, in which disruptive technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Assistants, Chatbots or Blockchain, contribute significantly to redefining the guest experience and the operational models of hotel groups. By adopting various artificial intelligence applications, such as automated guest communications, in-room...
This research aims to analyze the structural impact of market deregulation on consumer behavior, specifically focusing on the "paradox of fulfillment". The paper explores how the elimination of scarcity—traditionally a core driver of economic value—alters the psychological and social utility of goods. By examining contemporary economic models that prioritize immediate satisfaction, the study...
The enforced collection of tax receivables represents the final stage of tax administration, through which the state forcibly recovers owed amounts (taxes, duties, contributions) if they have not been paid voluntarily. The procedure is primarily regulated by Law no. 207/2015 on the Tax Procedure Code.
The tax authority may use the following methods, successively or...
As digital technologies restructure labor markets, business models, and the conditions of economic participation, digital literacy has shifted from a marginal competency concern to a central research priority in business and management (B&M) literature. Yet the construct remains conceptually fluid, continuously redefined in response to technological change and lacking clear analytical...
Decentralized finance (DeFi) is increasingly discussed as a successor to traditional financial intermediation, yet its significance for investment capital depends on whether protocol-based mechanisms can deliver durable improvements in settlement, governance, and market integrity rather than episodic gains driven by speculative cycles. This article evaluates DeFi as an alternative financial...
The present paper aims to assess the efficiency with which European Union Member States transform the adoption of artificial intelligence at the enterprise level, under ESG constraints, into sustainable economic, social and institutional outcomes. In the current context, characterized by the acceleration of digital transformation processes, artificial intelligence is widely recognized as a key...
In the last ten years, marketing research has shifted in response to artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, and the growth of digital platforms. One key change is the rise of AI-driven personalization. What started as a helpful tool is now central to shaping customer experiences. With machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing, companies can send tailored...
This research provides a comprehensive analysis of the information architecture governing public sector transparency in Romania, with a primary focus on budgetary reporting and fiscal accountability. In the context of increasing European demands for financial discipline, the study maps the complex circulation of data between critical operational systems, specifically Forexebug and PatrimVen,...
The restaurant industry has historically resisted wholesale automation — not for lack of technological capacity, but because hospitality, as a commercial practice, has been understood to require irreducibly human interaction. That assumption is now under sustained pressure. Chatbots have emerged as the leading AI application in food service, with roughly six in ten restaurant operators...
Abstract
The agricultural sector in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), with a particular focus on Romania, is characterized by a structural paradox: high agricultural potential coupled with a limited capacity to generate value added along the production chain. Although transitioning towards high-performance agribusiness requires significant capital infusions, access to traditional bank lending...
The accelerated expansion of artificial intelligence across the tourism and hospitality sector has reignited the debate on how digital technologies translate into sustained competitive advantage. Although AI investments have grown substantially among European tourism organizations from hotel chains and online travel agencies to destination management organizations empirical evidence suggests...
Public sector transparency bears a significant importance in the underlying processes that foster advancing democratic governance, building trust in public systems and institutions, all while mitigating negative phenomena such as corruption and misinformation. Current developments reveal a straining concern for core themes surrounding public trust and comprehension of public systems, while...
The study explores the evolution of the research on the Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) through a exhaustive bibliometric analysis, using SCOPUS platform, aiming to map its theoretical foundations, empirical contributions and emerging research directions. The EKC hypothesis, originally introduced by Grossman and Krueger in 1991, proposes an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic...
Tourism scholarship has long operated under the normative horizon of sustainability — a framework that, however well-intentioned, encodes a fundamentally defensive logic: reduce harm, minimize footprint, sustain the status quo. This paper argues that such a logic is structurally insufficient. Not because sustainability has failed as a policy aspiration, but because it was never designed to...
The business environment of the 2020s no longer follows the familiar pattern of alternating between crisis and stability. For many entrepreneurs, uncertainty has become a constant reality shaping everyday decisions. Geopolitical shifts, rapid technological change, economic pressures, and evolving consumer behavior are challenging traditional management approaches. In this context,...
The rapid expansion of cross-border e-commerce has renewed academic interest in how cultural values shape online purchasing decisions. The cultural dimensions framework developed by Geert Hofstede remains one of the most widely employed perspectives for explaining cross-cultural variation in consumer behavior; however, the literature has become increasingly fragmented across methodologies and...
Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly the rapid expansion of generative AI technologies, have intensified debates regarding their implications for labour markets and skill demand. Within the European Union (EU), increasing AI adoption is expected to reshape employment structures, particularly in knowledge-intensive sectors such as Information and Communication...
