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The role of entrepreneurship in economic growth and development has been largely debated and acknowledged, both in literature and in policy making. Wihin the context of the present crisis, at a European level, entrepreneurship development is seen as the main solution for job creation and sustainable economic growth. As a consequence, there have been several calls and initiatives to make entrepreneurship the growth engine of European economy and to put the principle of ''think small first'' at the core of national and European policies. This paper discusses the challenges and the perspectives for entrepreneurship development in European countries from the point of view of the three areas of intervention proposed by Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan. The research methods are the analysis of different reports and policy papers and comparative analysis of statistical data from international databases. The main findings confirm the differences in entrepreneurial activity, level and nature of entrepreneurship existing at European level during the crisis, and also point out the strengths and weaknesses of European countries in the three areas proposed by the 2020 Action Plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environment is a comprehensive category of the economic development which it should be managed at the level of several policies, including economic and trade policies. Therefore, this paper focuses on: economic and sustainable development according to the indicators Human Development Index (HDI) and Environmental Performance Index (EPI), measures of the economic policies that enable efficient waste management, as well as, the impact of the mass tourism, the growing number of population in cities and development of eco-tourism on the reduction pressures on the environmental. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the European Union’s (EU) economic governance framework as a key component and driver of the EU - Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Considerable measures to strengthen the EMU have been undertaken in recent years. In spite of this, its effectiveness in tackling challenges that might appear especially in times of crisis, is still called into question. The creation or reformation of institutions seems to be the most efficient manner in which the Eurozone can advance policies and mechanisms meant to stimulate economic growth. We have found that the major obstacles to more efficiency are two components: 1. the political dimension of the EU – or better said political interference of MS’s to protect their own interests; 2. weak EU leadership and vision – this, together with political interests, dilutes significantly the building of institutions, creation and enforcement of policies. Ultimately the question of improving effectiveness of EU economic governance lies in the EU’s ability to build a stronger foundation for its institutions. As a modern political and economic entity, subjugated to the MS’s, the EU must maintain a balance between state powers and institutional powers, a legal and democratically accountable system of governance, the enforcement and respect of law, whilst also protecting economic growth and the right for a better future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human innovation in the field of monetary freedom takes shape in the virtual communities. Developed and implemented through a decentralized algorithm, the bitcoin project has so far proved itself a success in the field of virtual currency. Beyond the technical part of operation, in this paper we will analyse the theoretical principles underlying the bitcoin. This study shows that the bitcoin largely meets the role of natural money of gold and silver, in compliance to the free market's behaviour. This allows us to observe the fact that people are aware of the negative implications the state's intervention has in the monetary filed, thus deciding to create and use their own currency in online transactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As history proves, any enlargement of an overstate structure produces disarticulation and an increase of pressure on the borders of it. On the other side the economy produces integrative effects along the border despite of the original significance of separation that a border has. The crossborder policies of the European Union as regional player are meant to contribute to the economic structure building and enhance the stability inside and outside the Union area. Setting up the normative framework for crossborder relations is a very present-day field, being subject of study and research in all Union bodies, in the Member States governments, candidate countries or beneficiaries of the relations with the Union as well. This normative framework is meant to propel the economic increase and the raise of the daily life conditions in the neighbor countries. Alongside the border there are happening complex phenomena, some of them easy to be quantified, such as economic ones, some of them more difficult that cannot be controlled but only sociologically researched, such as cultural-identity-emotional ones. The paper aims to draw the guiding marks of the European Union external crossborder areas and the crossborder cooperation frame for Romania, to identify already visible and potential effects of the enlargement on the external borders and to make an inventory of policies that should integrate the crossborder economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic development is one of the main aims of economic policy in many countries around the world. By strengthening the process of economic development, we can bring the state on the path of sustainable growth and ensure stability and security in it. The paper analyzes the main indicators of socioeconomic development in the EU's Eastern Partnership countries in the period 2000-2015. It also examines the current state of relations between the Eastern Partnership countries and the European Union. The main purpose of this paper is to determine the current state of affairs and prospects of economic development in the EU's Eastern Partnership Countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Trust" is a versatile instrument which is suitable for a great variety of purposes. Many scholars believe, that the original form of this institution appeared in common law, while in the 20th century the process of globalization stipulated the "internationalization" of the trust mechanism. The starting point of this process was the conclusion of the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition. Initially, the civil law jurisdictions were unable to adopt "trust" structure in which common-law power and equity power belonged to separate entities. Despite this fact, in the recent years, trust-like devices have been introduced in certain economic-juridical systems of Europe. Their rapid implementation raised the question of the establishment of innovative policies. This paper will discuss the latest achievements and existing challenges based on the example of the German juridical-economic system. The aim is to make useful proposals for the successful planning of the European entrusting processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that there have been many institutional studies over the past two decades and the role of institutions in economic life is extremely high, we could state that modern economic theory of institutions is in its infancy. Institutions organize the relationship between people as well as determine and limit the set of alternatives in the economic behavior. This paper aims to investigate and to understand the impact that formal and informal institutions induce on the broader growth of economic resilience capacity and the development outcomes as well as to consider ways of prospect measuring of this institutional approach. Content analysis of fundamental research papers on the issue of resilience and institutional theories has been carried out. According to the result, we state that formal and informal institutions retain their backbone role, even under strong external influences. Also, the long-term differences in the functioning of economic systems are shaped by a very deep influence of institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on sustainability is now fast approaching half a century of dedicated work. Although there have been significant breakthroughs, sustainability and its corollary, sustainable development, have proven a tough nut to crack. In our paper, we have started from some fundamental questions, which have yet to be answered and analyzed the implications that stem from these questions. Going past the problem of weakly quantifiable concepts in the definition, a very important issue is that of individual and community preferences. Specifically, these are all short to mid-term lived, while some sustainability problems, particularly those relating to the environment require a significantly longer time period. Another implication is that, given our limited resources, sustainable development would require a careful balance between investments among the three pillars of sustainability, and not follow a maximization policy. Lastly, we conclude that basing our sustainability policies on premises of linear evolution is a dangerous undertaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Once it was introduced as an instrument for deepening European integration, the legitimacy, opportunity and utility of European Semester were repeatedly questioned from the perspective of its contribution to the institutionalization of European governance. Also, there is a strong and direct link between the further deepening of the European Union's political and economic integration on the one hand, and the development of a culture of evaluating policies and programs on the other. Taking these aspects into account, the following questions arise: does the European Commission have, in its position as manager of the European Semester, a real capacity of evaluating all aspects regarding the deepening of European integration? Can the European Semester be a means for diffusing evaluation practice at the level of Member States? This is why, in this paper, we propose to give answers to these questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Testing the hypothesis of informational efficiency is a permanent preoccupation of researchers because the theories and the models of modern finance are based on it. This paper presents the results obtained after testing the efficiency hypothesis, in the weak form, for the European stock market of the companies that belong to the economic steel sub-sector. Following the use of both linear and non-linear tests of autocorrelation of returns we can conclude that the European stock market in the economic steel sub-sector is inefficient from an informational point of view and the investors in these stocks may obtain better results than those of the European market in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current economic and financial crisis gave room for the theoretical debates to reemerge. The economic reality challenged the mainstream neoclassical approach leaving the opportunity for the Austrian School, Post Keynesianism or Institutionalists to bring in front theories that seem to better explain the economic crisis and thus, leaving space for more efficient economic policies to result. In this context, the main assumptions of the mainstream theoretical approach are challenged and reevaluated; behavioral economics is one of the main challengers. Without developing in an integrated school of thought yet, behavioral economics brings new elements within the framework of economic thinking. How are the main theoretical approaches integrating these new elements and whether this process is going to narrow the theory or enrich it to be more comprehensive are questions to which this paper tries to answer, or, at least, to leave room for an answer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both concepts, integrity and public integrity, are always asked qualities in the social and economic environment, but they are never well defined. In this context, finding precise definitions and offering an ample explanation of the concepts are desired and useful for both economic theoretical and practical levels and become the aim of the present paper. Without a good understanding of a concept, no one is capable to attain it. In this context, it is impossible to ask for a public sector of integrity if both public actors and the citizens do not know what it really means. Therefore, the public actors first have to understand what integrity really supposes, and, then, to be capable to respect its principles. Taking into consideration the effects of public integrity or, on its opposite, of the divergence from it, especially represented by the phenomenon of corruption, on the economy at the macro, but also, on the micro level, public integrity in itself becomes a real economic problem that is aimed to be extensively analyzed through our interdisciplinary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the theoretical approaches of the „strategic partnership” concept, and then applying them to the relationship and cooperation between the European Union and the Russian Federation, thus emphasizing its evolution. The base of this article lays on a literature review that gathers recent articles and several studies of some researchers in the field, providing some professional information on the subject. Findings reveal that there has not yet got to a general definition of the concepts, researchers and not only would agree upon, and, when applying it to the EU-Russia relation, that there are some mutual benefits as a result of the cooperation. This article shows that, despite of the fact that the startup of the cooperation between the two major global powers was a good one, it now has reached some kind of dead moment, when policy contradictions block the evolution of the partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europeanization is a valuable concept for explaining the impact of EU policies at domestic level and especially of regional policy development in Romania. The relative low discrepancies and the low levels of development that Romania faced after almost fifty years of centralized planning resulted apparently in no need for a regional policy. This policy was 'built' in order to meet the EU financial assistance and Romania had to re-think its centre-region relation and to acquire a new vision over the policy of regional development. The following paper will try to analyze whether the current regional policy managed to have the expected impact in Romania, with short emphasis on the concepts of regionalism, regional competitiveness and economic agglomerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU multilevel governance is a theoretical standpoint that allows us to measure the costs of nowadays European integration. This article addresses current issues of the EU institutional Agenda regarding the logic beyond the changing nature of the economic climate. Our contribution aims to analyze the impact of economic and financial reforms upon the institutional framework of the European Union. In this article we will explore how the post crisis economic agenda is being forged and which are the consequences of following different integration paths. It is also important to determine if a working scenario build around the Community method will address pressing issues in a successful manner or will the intergovernmental standpoint prevail? Is this crisis close to a positive response, is the EU economic governance an endangered construction, or can it be the rise of a great opportunity for the European integration process, a new boost each member state seeks and might nurture?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2014 became a turning point in the history of the EU Eastern Partnership (EaP), marked by the signing of the Association Agreements with three EaP states and a conflict in Ukraine. In view of the above, current research focuses on assessing the feasibility of scenarios of the EaP future, discussed in scholarship, based on the assessment of the EU's foreign policy successes and challenges in Eastern Neighbourhood. EU's internal issues, re-emerging geo-strategic threats and domestic challenges in the EaP states are analyzed. The considered scenarios include the EU's acceptance of the status quo in the region, taking a stronger stance on the integration of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, as well as building "a shared European home" by promoting a rapprochement with Russia. The single scenario for the EU's policy in the EaP states is suggested, and the reason why the EU will try to "build a shared European home" is explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Parliamentary Assembly of the European Communities was the precursory body of the European Parliament, but it lacked the legitimacy the latter would gain starting with 1979, the year when the first European elections were held. The two entities differ in many ways, such as the internal organization, the competences and the connections with other European institutions, but the fundamental difference is the one that also determined the rest of the previously mentioned aspects, specifically the way their members were appointed. Although this aspect may seem solved, it will not be so until the suffrage for the European Parliament will not only be direct, universal and secret, but also accessible, assuring all interested stakeholders the same fair conditions for participation, thus eliminating all formal and informal obstacles for independent or party candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic cooperation, the engine of relations of international economic cooperation, is an insufficiently defined, dynamic concept. The transformations of the international environment, globalization and the intensification of economic interdependencies render economic cooperation a must, and not just an option within international relations. Similar to the international environment, economic cooperation undergoes a process of redefinition, of adjustment to the new realities. This article aims at identifying and analyzing the approaches of economic cooperation in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study presents literature survey on enterprise logistic system adaptive management place and structure in the general enterprise management system. The theoretical basics of logistic system functioning, levels of its management and its effectiveness had been investigated. The role of adaptive management and its types had been scrutinized. The necessity of creating company's adaptive regulator such as its economic mechanism had been proved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, more than ever, economic relations between states are the ones that define the general character of the relations between them and establish economic security as a concept which cannot be neglected anymore. Globalization, the process that shapes the international environment, undermines the old definition of economic security and forces its redefinition. The article aims to identify and analyse the effects of globalization on economic security and the new approaches it takes in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of the Western world has drawn on theoretical structures of classical and neoclassical liberalism for its explanatory support and sources of inspiration for centuries. Against this ideological background, institutionalists aim at showing that growth is a process of transformation, a double change: an economic and an institutional one. In this analysis, our purpose is to highlight the importance of informal institutional arrangements and their quality in explaining the disparities of revenues and developments between countries. In our approach, we will consider several indicators meant to highlight various aspects of research. The approach proposed is a transversal-comparative one and static methods pertain to uni- and multivariate analysis. The results obtained suggest the existence of major differences within the Central and East European area as far as informal institutions are concerned; moreover, the analysis conducted confirms the existence of a significant relation between the level of development and the structure of informal arrangements such as: trust level, bribe culture and corruption control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of the European policy in the field of research, development, innovation reflects the maturity process of the European construction, through the very understanding of the particular role of knowledge in economy. An important aspect is the connection with the acknowledgment of the professional's diplomas, which is based on the principle of automatism, on the mutual trust of the Member States in the qualifications obtained within the territory of any of them, on the tradition regarding the existence of a democratic and elitist education system. The improvement of the quality of education and the avoidance of sideslips are required. For the existence of a functional Euro-market in the field of research, development, innovation the differences between the European Union Member States have to be reduced, before attempting to catch up with the United States of America, Japan or China. Because knowledge is the inexhaustible resource of mankind in general, of the European Union, in particular, we should talk about a Union of Research, as we talk about the Monetary Union, for example. The strategy of economic growth in Romania was based on encouraging the consumers to spend money, but they didn't consider a coherent policy ba sed on innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strategies for structural-systemic crisis management have generated, to a geographical level, a number of differences between EU countries. These cleavages are the result of differential macroeconomic policies. In this context, this article has the aim of achieving a comparative approach between countries of the south, west and east of the EU space. Also our approach is focused on observing the nature of macroeconomic policies and also on identifying a "pattern" associated with a common ideal -type of "rational choice" in the efficient and effective management of systemic crises. This article aims to identify areas of growth and economic stability of a particular model of public policy and political-economic ideology, to set up a mechanism for "economic engineering". From the methodological point of view, this article uses a quantitative methodology, derived from mathematical analysis, statistics and stochastic, in order to explain, understand and predict the possible evolution of the systemic crises in the EU countries. The interest lies in the possibility of giving a model of macroeconomic policy for the adjustment of inflationist imbalances, labor market and price policy, and also in regulating the equation of production-consumption [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent series of EU initiatives gradually have changed the meaning of growth initiatives whereby the options of economic policy became more closely linked to the needs of development at ever smaller territorial units. The present research attempts to contribute to the discussion about the competitive potential of economic growth at territorial level. We introduce a methodological model to evaluate the conditions under which economic growth may generate opportunities leading to self -sustained economic development. The hypothesis is discussed at both national and regional scale and tested with a set of socio-economic variables including indicators relative to economic growth, economic functionality and spatial networks. Our findings suggest a huge potential in terms of capitalization of different types of capital (territorial, human, cultural), but also in terms of achieving mutual reinforcement of links between advanced and less advanced industries. Most of the national territory contributes insignificantly to the economic use of resources through exports and advanced manufacturing. All this means resources which do not currently contribute to economic growth. Integrating the new concepts of territorial planning is gradual, long term oriented, and with significant learning economies. The objectives to pursue can be suggested from such measures as mapping of business operations in the target area or establishing non-governmental institutions with observation and monitoring roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]