Asa cum ai aflat odata cu inceperea programului “Discover the UN.”, in perioada 7-11 decembrie te invitam sa participi la primul proiect ce are ca tema centrala asistenta pentru dezvoltare, ODA School, bineinteles sub marca Econosofia.

Vei avea parte de 5 seri de seminarii, workshopuri, proiectii de film si discutii cu profesionisti in asistenta pentru dezvoltare de la PNUD (Programul Natiunilor Unite pentru Dezvoltare), MAE (Ministerul Afacerilor Externe) si FOND (Federatia Organizatiilor Neguvernamentale pentru Dezvoltare din Romania). Alaturi de acestia vei afla tot ceea ce implica ODA, iar cunostintele dobandite le vei pune in practica rezolvand studii de caz alaturi de alti studenti cu interese interdisciplinare. Studiile de caz vor avea in vedere tarile in care Romania a inceput sa ofere asistenta – Serbia, Republica Moldova si Georgia, si vor fi prezentate in data de 14 decembrie.

Cum aplici? AICI gasesti FORMULARUL DE APLICARE pe care trebuie sa-l completezi si sa-l trimiti pana pe 3 decembrie 2009, ora 23:59.

It’s our time to give back! Get involved!

PS: Pentru orice intrebari referitoare la proiect iti stam la dispozitie la adresa contact@econosofia.org.

Working for the UN is indeed a mighty goal. You need language skills, excellent training, experience, a thorough education and a bit of luck. Whether you want to work at one of the main headquarters in NY, Vienna or   Geneva or for one of the local agencies you need determination, the right skills at the right time and know-how.

The UN System has been the major player of development assistance in Romania for the last decades, and it still keeps this role at international level. It is part of UN’s mission to promote its principles and aims and to encourage the young generation to take up its goals and, as Romania is undergoing a historical shift to its new status of emerging donors, the UN System gradually decreases its activity in the country.

It is a new generation of Romanian development professionals that will implement Romania’s ODA policies and represent the country in international organizations such as UN. However, as youngsters take up their most important decisions on their career orientation during their higher education period, it is of utmost importance that they have a chance to meet the professionals and that could help and inspire them fulfill their choice.

So why are we telling you all of this? Because this is your chance to find out exactly what makes the UN tick. Whether its about development aid, health issues or refugies Econosofia’s “Discover the UN” Programme will give you a glimpse of the international organisation,  and a unique interdisciplinary perspective into what the UN deals with.

“Discover the UN” will start with the following series of conferences:

18th November – Conference on building a career in the UN, the UN system worldwide and development aid at the Academy of Economic Studies.

24th November – Conference on health policies, poverty, epidemics and the UN’s role throughout at the University of Medicine and Pharmaceutics “Carol Davila”

26th of November – Conference on emmigration and immigration, refugees and relating policies at the University of Bucharest. [Cancelled]

If you want to take part in the conferences please send an email with your name, the major you are studying and the conference/conferences you would like to take part in to contact@econosofia.org until the 17th of November.

The conferences will be followed by the ODA (Official Development Assistance) School which will take place between the 7th – 13th of December. The  ODA School will include a series of presentations and workshops on official development assistance, followed by case studies on Romania’s priority countries which will be tackled by interdisciplinary teams of young people studying economics, medicine, law and related disciplines. To find out more about the ODA School join us at the conferences.

UPDATE: The last conference was cancelled due to objective reasons. We sincerely apologize for all the inconvenience and we hope you will join us at the ODA School. We shall keep you posted with all the details.

De ceva timp lucrez la un raport despre relaţiile de comerţ şi investiţii dintre România şi Republica Moldova şi sunt câteva lucruri care m-au surprins în cercetarea pe care am făcut-o. Cum Moldova a fost un subiect fierbinte pe tot parcursul anului 2009 din cauza crizei politice, a protestelor de stradă şi a neaşteptatei victorii în alegeri a necomuniştilor, vă invit să citiţi câteva dintre ele.

1. ISD
Deşi relaţiile comerciale sunt destul de bune şi România este principala destinaţie a exporturilor moldoveneşti, nu acelaşi lucru se poate spune despre investiţiile moldoveneşti în România. ISD-urile au crescut mult mai lent decât comerţul şi particularitatea lor este că sunt realizate de cele mai multe ori de investitori individuali care deschid sau cumpără afaceri în România. Foarte rar se întâmplă să fie companii moldoveneşti care “branşează” peste Prut – din cele mai mari 50 de firme româneşti cu capital majoritar moldovenesc, sunt doar 5 deţinute de alte firme.

Cei mai mari investitori moldoveni sunt nu în domeniul agroalimentar, unde Moldova are avantaj comparativ, ci în mod surprinzător în domeniul energetic. Posibila explicaţie rezidă în relaţiile construite de investitorii individuali în zona serviciilor secrete, care le-a permis să deţină poziţii economice importante în acest sector economic cheie. Spre exemplu, cel mai mare investitor moldovean deţine un grup care, printre altele, aprovizionează cu păcură termocentralele româneşti şi are şi o licenţă de distribuţie a curentului electric.

Moldova prezintă avantaje certe pentru investiţii: costurile scăzute cu forţa de muncă şi cu construcţiile industriale, facilităţile fiscale (scutire de taxe pe profitul reinvestit), accesul firmelor pe piaţa CSI fără taxe vamale, apropierea lingvistică şi, surprinzător, predictibilitatea tranzitului vamal al mărfurilor. Spre deosebire de poveştile de groază ale antreprenorilor români din anii ‘90 despre comportamentul “rent-seeking” al vameşilor români – care fie îşi opreau din bunurile importate, fie creau diverse obstacole pentru a extrage mită – în cazul Moldovei nu se întâmplă lucruri de genul acesta.

2. Comerţul bilateral
În ciuda faptului că România a intrat în Uniunea Europeană şi acordul de liber schimb cu Moldova a luat sfârşit, comerţul bilateral a continuat să crească şi după 2007. Acest lucru pare paradoxal, ţinând cont că produsele româneşti au devenit relativ necompetitive ca preţ în raport cu cele din CSI şi din celelalte state în curs de aderare la UE (CEFTA), cu care Moldova are încheiate acorduri de liber schimb. Un frigider produs în România sau în oricare ţară UE este supus unei taxe vamale de 20%, însa unul produs în Croaţia, Ucraina sau Kazahstan este scutit de taxe vamale. În urma discuţiilor avute cu manageri de export a rezultat că o potenţială explicaţie este faptul că prin intrarea în UE produsele româneşti au trebuit să se alinieze unor standarde superioare şi acest lucru le-a făcut competitive sub aspectul calităţii.

În 2009 se preconizează că importurile moldoveneşti vor scădea o dată cu consumul. Această scădere este dată de criza economică pe care această ţară o traversează. Moldova are expunere la criza economică mondială nu atât din cauza scăderii pieţelor de export sau a fugii capitalului speculativ, precum alte economii emergente, ci din cauza scăderii economiilor ţărilor în care lucrează cetăţenii moldoveni. Moldova este a doua ţară din lume ca procent al remitenţelor în PIB (38,3% în 2007) şi scăderea economiilor vestice – cu precădere a sectorului construcţiilor – i-a forţat în şomaj sau le-a redus veniturile disponibile multor moldoveni plecaţi la muncă în străinătate.

3. Micul comerţ de frontieră
Deşi într-un numar mai mic, basarabenii sunt prezenţi în pieţele din Galaţi, Vaslui, Bârlad şi Iaşi şi după intrarea României în Uniunea Europeană. Întrucat nu exista un tratat care să faciliteze micul trafic de frontieră, moldovenii care locuiesc în apropierea graniţei trebuie să obţină viză pentru a putea intra în România. Cu toate că obţinerea unei vize este un proces costisitor, că au limitări drastice la cantitatea de produse pe care o pot transporta spre vânzare peste graniţă şi că oraşele româneşti în care îşi desfac marfa nu sunt nici pe departe unele bogate, pentru basarabenii din satele de lângă graniţă este în continuare profitabil să îşi vândă produsele agroalimentare în România.

Laurenţiu Ţîrcă

Cu mândrie îi anunţăm pe recruţii econosofişti ai acestui an:

1. Popescu Roxana-Andreea
2. Cernea Mircea-Petre
3. Tiseanu Cătălin
4. Ioan Anca
5. Vasilescu Vlad
6. Zechiu Marian-Alexandru
7. Rîjniţă Valentina Corina
8. Popescu Andreea Victoria
9. Gonţilă Alina-Maria
10. Ţuţui Dorin
11. Dumitru Oana Roxana
12. Niculae Ana-Maria
13. Holban Elena
14. Vulpescu Alina
15. Marin Ionuţ Georgian
16. Costache Dragoş Eduard
17. Petri Radu
18. Todirică Denis-Constantin
19. Guţă Bianca
20. Caiali Metin
21. Sbora Viorel Marian
22. Belu Eva Suzana

Felicitări şi baftă!

Let`s make sense of today’s economy!

În octombrie, hai să descifrăm tainele economiei!

În Econosofia ai şansa să descoperi oameni cu adevărat pasionaţi de economie, cu spirit polemic, deschişi şi mereu informaţi, ce luptă zilnic cu mediocritatea ce îi înconjoară. Oameni ca tine!

Aplică la Econosofia şi vei intra într-un mediu dinamic în care învăţăm şi ne dezvoltăm constant, iar cu fiecare proiect realizat devenim mai buni în ceea ce facem. Iată cum:

Primul pas – Completează formularul de aplicare VIP pe care îl găseşti AICI trimite-l pana pe 21 octombrie la hai@econosofia.org, iar apoi programează-te la interviu într-una din zilele de 23, 24 sau 25 octombrie în funcţie de disponibilitatea ta. Nu uita să bifezi Econosofia la sfârşitul formularului.

Al doilea pas – După interviul VIP, dacă te afli printre recomandările pentru Econosofia, vei fi contactat în cel mai scurt timp via e-mail pentru a te înscrie la cel de-al doilea interviu ce va avea loc pe 27 sau 28 octombrie, la ora aleasă de tine.

Everyone’s talking about it – it’s been a year since the crisis officially started and while any possible aspect of it has been deeply covered in the media, in politics and just about anywhere else its truly surprising effects are just making themselves known.

One of the most surprising ones is that of Gazprom – world famous energy giant whose income suffered a substantial drop of 40% compared to 2008. This is mainly due to its main customer, the European Union. According to the latest estimates of the Administrative Board, exports have dropped by 35-40% in 2009 first quarter and Gazprom’s EU share went from 31% to 16%, while incomes from the same quarter dropped by 40%. Two months ago the president of the board, Aleksei Miller, showed optimism for the future in light of future growth of demand in the EU by 2010 and of a new surge in oil prices to 100$ a baril.

Idealistic? Optimistic? The Russians? I think not!

This may be all fine and dandy, but, aside from showing an optimistic perspective in the natural gas market, the Russians have recently made several tie breaking deals concerning the energy sector, the most important of which were the recent deal with Kazakhstan to create a civil nuclear energy company and a renewed oil delivery contract with Turkmenistan (which incidentaly has plans for a modern nuclear power plant at its Capian sea port Aktau).

A strong grasp on the energy market is not something you risk letting go of on account of having a trusting nature, especially not when what you have to trust is market fluctuations…

On that happy note, welcome to a new and exciting autumn term which, at least economically speaking, promises to be full of things worth talking and debating about.

…Curious to know why?

În contextul stării actuale, depăşind cu mult parametrii unei simple schimbări ciclice, criza economică cronică pare să răspundă stimulilor care vizează tratarea acesteia cu diferite politici care au efecte anti-depresive. Astfel, într-o lume descurajată, în vederea găsirii unor soluţii, care nu doar atenuează circumstanţele, clubul Econosofia, din cadrul organizaţiei studenţeşti Voluntari pentru Idei şi Proiecte, organizează, în perioada 4-8 mai 2009, cea de-a şasea ediţie a proiectului Economics through a Macrofying Glass.

Invitatul nostru de tradiţie, d-nul. Lajos Bokros, va împărtăşi din cunoştinţele acumulate pe parcursul impresionantei sale cariere – profesor la Central European University, director la Banca Mondială, ministru de finanţe al Ungariei, consilier economic principal al prim-ministrului Croaţiei şi preşedinte al Bursei de Valori din Budapesta. Beneficiarii vor fi 40 de studenţi pasionaţi de macroeconomie si totodată motivaţi de dorinţa de a completa cunoştinţele dobândite în cadrul facultăţii, în vederea dezvoltării pe plan profesional.

Totodată, economişti de seamă vor oferi participanţilor oportunitatea de a a-şi forma noi perspective şi viziuni, care, cu siguranţă, vor depăşi limitele abordării la nivel pur teoretic. Printre aceştia se numără:

• Tony Lybek – reprezentant regional al FMI pentru România şi Bulgaria
• Bogdan Baltazar – consultant financiar şi fost preşedinte al BRD
• Valentin Lazea – economist şef la BNR
• Florin Cîţu – economist şef în cadrul ING
• Gabriel Sincu – senior manager Mazars România
• Camelia Săvoiu – communication manager Lafarge România

În urma acestei experienţe, tinerii vor acumula cunoştinţe solide pentru a găsi raspunsuri la intrebările pertinente, care, pâna acum, au fost adresate doar tagmei economiştilor şi isi vor forma o părere personală, obiectivă referitoare la consecinţele colapsului financiar, atât asupra celor uşor de anticipat, cât şi a celor imprevizibile.

Selecţia participanţilor se va face pe baza unui formular de aplicare ce trebuie completat până la data de 28 Aprilie 2009, fiind urmat de un interviu.

Mai multe detalii puteţi găsi vizitând site-ul emg.econosofia.org.

Economics through a Macrofying Glass are la temelie dorinţa de a transforma mediul economic, social şi politic, prin formarea unei comunităţi de tineri cu potenţial ridicat.

Parteneri EMG 2009: Raiffeisen – Banca pentru locuinţe, Expert Serv, Mazars, Lafarge, Libertas , Café Bohéme si Violeta’s Vintage Kitchen.

Nowadays, Europe manifests two completely different trends, one of them, integration through European Union and the enlargement process, and other, fragmentation by obtaining autonomy by some regions, the most recent example of this being Kosovo. On the other hand, to make part of EU, it’s necessary the dissolution of conflicts inside the state that wants to adhere to European Union.

Why the need for autonomy? Why do conflicts that lead to fragmentation appear? Or more exactly, what are the causes of those already existing?

Besides the case of Italy where the conflict is based on an economic one , in the other areas, in west of Europe (Belgium, Spain) and in east, conflicts are ethnic. For example, in Spain, Catalonia is already an autonomous region, and also Basque Country is asking for autonomy, even independece, on ethnic criteria.

A first problem that occurs is ignoring the issue of ethnicity and ethnic pluralism, beginning by the fundamental laws of the countries. In the case that it pass over the myth nation-state, based on ethnic hegemony, then the problem is approached, but at national level. Until now has not been a coherent policy at European level, a unitary view of ethnic conflicts in Europe. Reality says that Europe is a space where no ethnic-cultural community has got the majority, and in this context, the issue of minorities and the homogeneity requires a careful approach from persons who can decide at European level. Beside the issue of ethnic minorities, the oscillation between European values and homogeneity of each nation-state adds to the fear generated by the weakening of nation-state.

So, where do we sit on the map of Europe that oscillates between two poles: integration-fragmentation, and especially which are the reasons of fragmentation, which is hiding under the umbrella of ethnic identity and the need for autonomy?

A new trend, and also a fear, has been born in the scientific arena: demographic winter, which means the disappearance of the human race by slowly decreasing the number of people.

I remember a few years ago (like 7 years) watching a documentary on Discovery showed what the Earth would look like in future: cities on sees, huge blocks, every square meter was used to build something because ground wouldn’t be enough for the population.
At the beginning of the 90’s environmentalists were claiming that the health of our planet was affected by the increasing number of people living on it. So, they called for “population control” – part of their plan was to help women around the world to have as many or as few children as they wanted. Recently, they changed their mind. Why? Because of the alarming low fertility rate that developed and developing country face. But to make any prediction on any wave of massive population decrease is premature, because the phenomenon is “too new” according to Philip Longman.

The common ground that they came to: it is very hard to predict demographic trends. Whatever methods you use, history has shown us (or them) several times that human behavior over long periods of time (especially when it comes to family and money) is, more or less, unpredictable. For example, Philip Hauser projected in the 1940s that U.S. population would peak in 1990 at 190 million. In 2004, we’re more than 100 million past that “peak.”

Certain facts: ageing population – a concern of every government that also has a low fertility rate: the whole health care system and pensions is going upside-down: less youth and more elderly in a country means either a more efficient work of the youth or an increase in governments spending for supporting the elderly. A healthy economy can be drawn like a pyramid: its base is made of children, in the middle are the adults, and the elderly in the top. So that means: a well-functioning country has more children than old people. But in most of developed countries this pyramid is reversed.

One of the causes of this fact is life excepectancy (around 70 years for men and 80 for women in UE) due to the great technological improvements in health care systems. Another cause that became a controversy – is that countries don’t make lots of babies. The psychological studies  show that prosperity determines individualism. So, people don’t need to relate with the others and , of course, selfishness becomes the chief of their actions. But, though Western European countries apply to this rule (with a fertility rate of 1.6 children per woman), the USA surprises the demographers with a fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman.

Of course, the number of births and deaths is a governmental matter.  A low fertility rate is affecting worse the countries with a maternal role incompatibility. This means that public policies don’t motivate (directly or indirectly) the women to have babies. Countries like Spain or Italy have no flexibility in working schedule for women, there are less benefits for children or the schedule of stores in not accessible for workers.

This issue takes place in the circumstances of a very strong sexual revolution. The greatest consequence of the sexual revolution (from the ’60) is the contraceptive pill. And the problem is that contraceptive pills are taken by married women (70% of married women use these pills).

So, if prosperity means individualism and this individualism is encouraged by medicine – is there any doubt concerning the demographic winter?

Diana Moldovan

The concept appeared in earlier decades due to a high number of environmental movements. It was first defined by World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) as the development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This definition is clear enough, no need for further explanations. But there are two more questions worth thinking about: Why should we think about the future generations and how do we implement sustainable development?

Concerning the first problem, we have to take into consideration that sustainable development not only helps our children, grand-children, grand-grand-children and so on, but also helps us. It helps us to live a better life in a better by reducing pollution, uncontrolled waste, controlling the resources which, in the end, influence the length and the quality of our life. Moreover, from the economics point of view, we all, as individuals, as long as we take into consideration a good management of our personal resources and we maintain our consumption rational, we will be able to fulfill better our needs.

However, how do we get to the sustainable development? Starting with 1992, with the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, the EU identified the need for sustainable development in Europe. There has been developed a strategy (which was renewed in June, 2006) that focuses on climate change and biodiversity. The challenges identified which European Union has to face are:

Climate change and clean energy
Sustainable transport
Sustainable consumption and production
Conservation and management of natural resources
Public health
Social inclusion, demography and migration
Global poverty

Unfortunately, although the first summit concerning sustainable development took place 17 years ago, the progress in this direction is still not very significant. This is also because of the different understanding and implementation of the concept of sustainable development in EU’s state members, and the reticence especially of the poorer countries regarding this concept. Many state members tend to believe that the implementation of a good sustainable development strategy is expensive, or they even consider it “a brake to development”. In this situation, it is no wonder that the strategy did not achieve its goals. Still, new goals have been set, among which the limitation of the climate change and the reduction of the greenhouse gases by 20 percent by 2020. How and if this targets will be met, remains to be seen.

Irina Harau