Cluster policy and the supporting organizations for transnational clusters promoting - Romanian initiatives

In some european areas there are thousands of active companies with quite similar profiles, but the information about the potential for cooperation among the countries in the area is scarce because of the lack of visibility of SME-s, in general, and of transnational connections between companies and the supporting organizations, in particular. To overcome the current situation which is characterized by this lack of an exchange of information among the european zones on the potential for antreprenorial cooperation, is necessary to have a common european concept and an active implication of the appropiate supporting organizations. On the basis of a context analisys our paper will try to highlighte the need for the following: • Stimulation of productive capacities of companies in order to create cluster networks in the strategic economic sectors, meant to improve the actual integration of the transnational competitive chains of SME-s and contribute thus to the narrowing of regional disparities and to an increase in the attractiveness of the regions lagging behind for FDI; • Improvement of information on the cross-border cooperation potential in theese areas of Europe and promote it, so that SME-s in the regions have a bigger visibility • Stepping up the development of some innovative economic policies, of vertical relations among companies, of the visibility and accessibility of local productive systems and continued growth at a regional level. As case study the author chose the Romanian initiatives for transnational clusters promoting in some of the strategic economic sectors.

Social Development Aspects by Regional Level in Romania

The economic transition was harmful all over, but even more harmful for Romania's social landscape. The total population decreased by both birth rate and emigration and the work force follows this trend, the remaining people get older and demographic perspectives are even worse for the following decades. The poverty also gets larger and much larger in Romania than elsewhere in Europe and Central and Eastern Europe. Data show differences on regions and district areas, but under such circumstances, the fact that students and persons attending higher education institutions' courses increase their number and ratio in the total population does no longer represent a full social improvement, but this will feed the future emigration from Romania. The healthcare, social insurance, as well as educational and human resource systems are called to act against this situation, and some undertakings are under way.human resources, poverty, emigration, labour market, immigrants, ageing index, activity rate, employment rate, unemployment rate, healthcare system, education system, social insurance.

URBAN COMFORT IN BUCHAREST.SOCIAL-ECONOMIC PARAMETERS

The undergoing concerns for local and regional development focus also on the territorial analyses. The local socio-economic analysis is naturally followed by the strategic planning of development during which the local public authorities initiate and organize, locally, the economic development of the respective territorial unit. This article is intended to analyze a concrete case, that of the Capital City of Romania, the Municipality of Bucharest. One of Romania’s objectives is to sensitize and educate the civil society, the private organizations and the public authorities towards understanding and observing the urban landscape. In the spirit of the aspects mentioned above, the authors have presented a case study, at the end of this article, in which the reconsideration of the urban architectural framework matches perfectly with the wish of introducing elements of spatial dynamics and of balance. In this spirit, the over-crowded City of Bucharest, which has a density of 9009 inhabitants/sq.km, will potentially be turned into an oasis of social comfort that will positively influence the urban organism.local economic development, urban comfort, Bucharest

Migratory flows and their demographic and economic importance in the Romanian regions. An analysis with special reference to the North-East and South-East Regions

The presentation intends to analyse population change in Romania after 1989 in a regional prospective. Absolute population change and the changes in the age structure as well as internal and international migrations are put into relation to the labour market changes. In the last two decades the Romanian regions experienced a decline of fertility and an increase in the share of the working age population. The share of the population 65 years and older is still relatively low. This demographic situation, combined with a weak labour market (low labour force demand) leads to various forms of underemployment of the active population and to high emigration. Romanians are the most numerous EU-immigrants to EU-27 Member States. The demographic and economic importance of these migration flows will be analysed and their mid- and long-term sustainability will be discussed. The demographic outlook for the future decades and the possible consequences for the labour force supply are based on the various scenarios and international and national population projections for Romania at regional level. The steep population decline projected in some of the scenarios could cause considerable challenges for the economic and social situation of the Romanian regions

The impact of poverty on mental health and well-being and the necessity for integrated social policies in Romania

On almost every account people with mental health problems are among the most excluded groups in society and they consistently identify stigmatisation, discrimination and exclusion as major barriers to health, welfare and quality of life. The links between poverty and ill health are well known. Poverty and illness together make people much more vulnerable and needy at all stages of their lives, and even more so in old age. Mental health is often both a cause and a consequence of poverty, compromised education, vulnerability, difficulty accessing housing, health care and employment, and lack of access to welfare, social security, and community public services. Inequalities between social classes in the incidence of chronic illness and mental illness and in life expectancy are also well documented. The working class poor with health problems are a particularly vulnerable group. Moreover people with mental health problems are more likely to experience physical health problems, which can further compromise the efforts of the individual in an already disadvantaged situation. When the experience of mental illness is the cause or a factor in the experience of exclusion, the effects can be still more damaging. This mutual interaction linking mental health and development can work positively with good mental health facilitating the active and successful involvement of individuals and communities in development, and negatively with poor mental health increasing the risk of descending into a vicious cycle of poverty and adverse social and health outcomes. Designing social policies and interventions - both within and outside the health sector - which strengthen social inclusion, represent a key action recommended by the European Pact for Mental Health and Wellbeing. This paper explores the situation of persons affected by severe mental illness on regional level in Romania. The need for policy development and improvement strategies are also highlighted.

Cluster policy and the supporting organizations for transnational clusters promoting - Romanian initiatives

In some european areas there are thousands of active companies with quite similar profiles, but the information about the potential for cooperation among the countries in the area is scarce because of the lack of visibility of SME-s, in general, and of transnational connections between companies and the supporting organizations, in particular. To overcome the current situation which is characterized by this lack of an exchange of information among the european zones on the potential for antreprenorial cooperation, is necessary to have a common european concept and an active implication of the appropiate supporting organizations. On the basis of a context analisys our paper will try to highlighte the need for the following: • Stimulation of productive capacities of companies in order to create cluster networks in the strategic economic sectors, meant to improve the actual integration of the transnational competitive chains of SME-s and contribute thus to the narrowing of regional disparities and to an increase in the attractiveness of the regions lagging behind for FDI; • Improvement of information on the cross-border cooperation potential in theese areas of Europe and promote it, so that SME-s in the regions have a bigger visibility • Stepping up the development of some innovative economic policies, of vertical relations among companies, of the visibility and accessibility of local productive systems and continued growth at a regional level. As case study the author chose the Romanian initiatives for transnational clusters promoting in some of the strategic economic sectors

Possibilities for Cross-Border Cooperation in the Adriatic-Danubian Area

Although in this part of the European continent a series of success stories developed over the last years, such as the transnational automotive sector in the middle Danubian area, there is a lack of visibility of small and medium enterprises activity on transnational level. The main aim of our work is, by using adequate statistical methodologies and instruments, to find out which are the territorial concentrations of sectoral productive skills, in order to identify and define the strategic economic sectors at transnational level within the Adriatic-Danubian Area. We believe that by using territorial marketing techniques the competitive sectors, able to attract investment inflows and to have a positive impact upon the regional disparities, may be promoted in an objective manner. We intend to prove through the obtained results of our work that the cross-border cooperation could really improve the cohesion, stability and competitiveness of the Adriatic-Danubian Area, and could contribute to the integration process in the South-East Europe and to a balanced development of the whole European territory

The impact of poverty on mental health and well-being and the necessity for integrated social policies in Romania

On almost every account people with mental health problems are among the most excluded groups in society and they consistently identify stigmatisation, discrimination and exclusion as major barriers to health, welfare and quality of life. The links between poverty and ill health are well known. Poverty and illness together make people much more vulnerable and needy at all stages of their lives, and even more so in old age. Mental health is often both a cause and a consequence of poverty, compromised education, vulnerability, difficulty accessing housing, health care and employment, and lack of access to welfare, social security, and community public services. Inequalities between social classes in the incidence of chronic illness and mental illness and in life expectancy are also well documented. The working class poor with health problems are a particularly vulnerable group. Moreover people with mental health problems are more likely to experience physical health problems, which can further compromise the efforts of the individual in an already disadvantaged situation. When the experience of mental illness is the cause or a factor in the experience of exclusion, the effects can be still more damaging. This mutual interaction linking mental health and development can work positively with good mental health facilitating the active and successful involvement of individuals and communities in development, and negatively with poor mental health increasing the risk of descending into a vicious cycle of poverty and adverse social and health outcomes. Designing social policies and interventions - both within and outside the health sector - which strengthen social inclusion, represent a key action recommended by the European Pact for Mental Health and Wellbeing. This paper explores the situation of persons affected by severe mental illness on regional level in Romania. The need for policy development and improvement strategies are also highlighted

Territorial Competitiveness in Romania – The Role of Economic Clusters

Analyzing the competitive performance of Romanian industry, one may say that Romania has an economy based mainly on the manufacturing industry, characterized by features such as: • high labor intensity, especially in industries such as textiles, knitwear, apparel, leather and footwear; • high capital intensity, especially in industries such as metallurgy, yarns and fibers, cement, petrochemicals, milling; • high energy consumption in almost all industries. The result is a manufacturing industry with quite low level of labor skills and low level of the research-innovation-development triad. However, due to structural changes one may witness, on the one hand, the decline of the Romanian traditional industrial specializations and, on the other hand, the creation of modern industrial entities similar to the economic clusters promoted in the European economies. In this line of argument, the current paper attempts to answer questions such as: to what extent do clusters impact on territorial competitiveness in Romania and, in which areas of activity. The correct identification of the current and potential comparative and competitive advantages and of their factors (costs, diversification, technological level, labor skills, innovation, etc.) at national, regional and intra-regional level and their use as bases for future actions, measures and policies in the domain of competitiveness are, in our opinion, some of the employable instruments required by the current economic crisis. An adequate diagnosis of the internal resources and competencies (especially of potential and underdeveloped advantages), of external opportunities and threats, and of their inter-linkages is necessary to set the competitiveness policies, strategies and actions on more sound foundations

Real and structural convergence in the Romanian counties in the pre-accession and post-accession periods

In the European Union, one of the primary goals of integration is the convergence of the regional income per capita (and of other significant socio-economic indicators), and hence, how to generate a process of convergence. In the economic literature, theories of convergence and divergence examine the reasons for diminishing or increasing the disparities between the rich and the poor re¬gions, and in the case of divergence, explain the persistence of such disparities. In particular, the real convergence approaches are connected to the study of long-term economic growth, economic development and the dynamics of complex economic sectors with high economic and social impacts, and also to the supporting/unsporting institutions and economic mechanisms (market structure, distribution of economic results). Concomitantly, the structural convergence has deserved less attention; although it is an important process for both building and functioning of the single economic and monetary area and for the development of the Member States and their regions. Studies have found that there is a correlation between structural convergence and income (real) convergence, though the findings differ in what regards the strength and direction of such a connection. Starting from the concepts of real and structural convergence, the paper presents an analysis of the real and structural convergence processes in the Romanian counties during the pre-accession and post-accession periods, based on specific indicators (GDP per capita, gross speed of convergence, variation coefficient, gross labor productivity, gross productivity growth rate). Also, with the help of real convergence indices and structural coefficients, the presence and evolution of the relationship between real and structural convergence at sub-regional level is revealed. The results show that the analyzed convergence processes had different speeds in Romania, and that counties have adapted differently to the new economic environment of the EU single market, conditional on their pre-accession development level. The counties which during the pre-accession period recorded good performances have usually strengthened their positions after the EU accession, while the counties with lower performances generally revealed slower growth and convergence, despite recording faster growth rates over certain short periods. Especially regarding productivity convergence, the situation is worrisome for the poorest counties of Romania, but also for some of the counties with higher development level. The real convergence was generally aligned with the structural convergence in the Romanian counties, but again only the most developed counties recorded post-accession progresses in both the convergence processes. Such results are in line with the findings of other studies on the economic and structural convergence of the Member States and/or their regions, but also reveal the sub-regional peculiarities of the catching up and development processes going on in the Romanian economy, and call for more effective implementation of the national and EU development policies at all levels