Public Procurement: How open is the European Union to US firms and beyond? CEPS Policy Insights No 2020-04 / March 2020

A recent report on public procurement published by the United States Government Accounting Office (GAO) attempted to provide a range of estimates for the EU and the US, among others, and argued that the EU awarded a low share of public procurement contracts to US firms ($300 million) compared to a much higher value of US public procurement ($3 billion) awarded to EU firms (GAO 2019). However, the methodological approach used by GAO was partial and misrepresented the level of EU openness, as it only looked only at the ‘tip of the procurement iceberg’ and missed out other main avenues for international government procurement. Once these other two main procurement modes are taken into account, EU openness in procurement is much higher, vis-a-vis both for US and third countries. Overall, the EU has awarded over €50 billion worth of public contracts to foreign firms, out of which €11 billion to US firms. Comparable data across all modalities do not yet exist for the US, but we do have clear evidence that, since 2009, the US has introduced the largest number of protectionist procurement measures severely affecting international procurement

THE OZ BEHIND THE CURTAIN EFFECT: ETHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE ASSESSMENT OF SCIENTIFIC MERITS

There is a genuine desire in Romanian research institutions to follow the rules of scientific evaluation tested over the decades in stronger academic and scientific communities such as those in the USA or the Western Europe countries. The main objective of our paper is to show that before enthusiastically embracing such rules of scientific merits evaluation a closer analysis of those norms is in order. Although the peer review system is the best method used so far, we have to analyse it and even criticize it in order to improve it. There are two points to be discussed in view of offering the right perspective on how the rules of scientific merits evaluation function: the peer-review system and the number of citations criterion. In the first part of our paper we shall investigate the shortcomings of the peer-review and the particular situations proving that the double blind review system does not always work to the benefit of scientific progress. In the second part of our study we shall examine the formalism undermining the number of citations criterion and show that we can find better alternatives. Those alternatives are not mere speculations: even prestigious institutions such as “Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada” for example are giving up on the “classical” way of evaluating the scientific merits of researchers by shifting towards the content of the articles and not the number of their citations

Impact of mixed modes on measurement errors and estimates of change in panel data

Mixed mode designs are receiving increased interest as a possible solution for saving costs in panel surveys, although the lasting effects on data quality are unknown. To better understand the effects of mixed mode designs on panel data we will examine its impact on random and systematic error and on estimates of change. The SF12, a health scale, in the Understanding Society Innovation Panel is used for the analysis. Results indicate that only one variable out of 12 has systematic differences due to the mixed mode design. Also, four of the 12 items overestimate variance of change in time in the mixed mode design. We conclude that using a mixed mode approach leads to minor measurement differences but it can result in the overestimation of individual change compared to a single mode design

THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL ACTIVISM

One of the first moments when the new information and communication technologies were used in a political protest was the Orange Revolution that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005. Ever since that moment social media proved to be an important tool of political revolt. The London protests, the Arab Spring or Moldova’s Twitter Revolution are only a few of the most representative moments when digital media were used in organizing political protests. Obviously, the new communication tools paved the way for a new type of organizing collective action and political uprising. Once the Orange Revolution took place, media theorists and political philosophers emphasized the role of the new media in political reform. Most of today’s articles analyzing this phenomenon share a rather optimistic perspective on the role the new social media is playing in political reform, offering a “microphone to the masses”. My perspective is rather pessimistic. I think that, before enthusiastically embracing the benefits of the new digital media, we must acknowledge the indisputable dangers that threaten the ideal of liberating technology. What I try to prove in my article is that there are two types of challenges when it comes to the role the new information and communication technologies play in political protests. First of all, there are state regulations used by the political leaders to restrict access to the new technologies, to identify those opposing their regime and to use the new media as a propaganda tool. These bear direct negative influences on the way the new digital media are used. But, as I shall try to prove in my article, there is also another type of challenge that could endanger the ideal of liberating technology. The neoliberal deregulation of media led to a so-called “feudalization” of the Internet, whereby huge media trusts try to control important parts of the information market, transforming it into a closed and controlled environment

Is the concept of sustainable tourism sustainable? Developing the Sustainable Tourism Benchmarking Tool

Given the complexity of the issues surrounding the concept of sustainable tourism, the current paper tries to provide a unified methodology to assess tourism sustainability, based on a number of quantitative indicators. The proposed methodological framework (Sustainable Tourism Benchmarking Tool – STBT) will provide a number of benchmarks against which the sustainability of tourism activities in various countries can be assessed. A model development procedure is proposed: identification of the dimensions (economic, socio-ecologic, infrastructure) and indicators, method of scaling, chart representation and evaluation on three Asian countries. This application to three countries show us that a similar level of tourism activity might induce different sort of improvements to implement in the tourism activity and might have different consequences for the socio-ecological environment. The heterogeneity of developing countries exposed in the STBT is useful to detect the main problem of each country in their tourism activity.

The EU's Everything But Arms Initiative and the Least-developed Countries

EBA, LDCs, GTAP, SMART, trade preferences, sugar sector

RTAs and WTO compatibility: Catch me if you can? The case of EPA negotiations

There is an ongoing debate about best ways to assess the compatibility of RTAs with WTO rules and the possible negative impact that the proliferation of RTA formation may have on individual members and on the stability of the multilateral trading system as a whole. Therefore, rules defining the WTO compatibility of RTAs are one of the issues under in the WTO Doha negotiations. Taking the current EPA negotiations between ACP and EU as an example, this paper examines two sorts of questions: (i) the implications for developing country members of the current proposals to tighten the rules on WTO compatibility of RTAs; (ii) the impact that the proliferation of RTA formation may have on non-RTA members and on the stability of the multilateral trading system as a whole. More specifically, the paper assesses quantitatively using a partial equilibrium framework the implications for ACP countries of some of the proposals to reform GATT Art. XXIV, in particular the “substantially all trade” criteria. Based on a CGE approach, the paper then looks at the implications of EPA negotiations on third countries and its linkages with the ongoing Doha negotiations, in particular on how the future EPA agreements could be non-trade diverting, in line with Ohyama-Panagariya-Krishna version of the Kemp-Wan theorem.ACP; EPA; Kemp-Wan; partial equilibrium analysis; CGE; GATT Art XXIV

Is the concept of sustainable tourism sustainable? Developing the Sustainable Tourism Benchmarking Tool

Given the complexity of the issues surrounding the concept of sustainable tourism, the current paper tries to provide a unified methodology to assess tourism sustainability, based on a number of quantitative indicators. The proposed methodological framework (Sustainable Tourism Benchmarking Tool – STBT) will provide a number of benchmarks against which the sustainability of tourism activities in various countries can be assessed. A model development procedure is proposed: identification of the dimensions (economic, socio-ecologic, infrastructure) and indicators, method of scaling, chart representation and evaluation on three Asian countries. This application to three countries show us that a similar level of tourism activity might induce different sort of improvements to implement in the tourism activity and might have different consequences for the socio-ecological environment. The heterogeneity of developing countries exposed in the STBT is useful to detect the main problem of each country in their tourism activity

GLORIOUS DISCOURSES AND COMPLETE IGNORANCE: STUDENT PERCEPTION ON CANTEMIR’S WORK

Although the works of Dimitrie Cantemir and his son Antiloh are consideed among the most important in the fields of history and litterature, nowadays it is hard to find a research initiative or a research program specialized in the study of Dimitrie Cantemir’s work. It is the indisputable merit of a Romanian born historian like Stefan Lemny to offer a very complex and profound account on the life and work of Dimitrie and Antioh Cantemir. But, like other remarkable efforts, this is an individual research. It is my intention to focus on the recent works regarding the life and work of Dimitrie Cantemir in order to prove that beside the moments of celebration there is little or no interest in the work of this remarkable Romanian intellectual. I parallel this situation with the information students have on Dimitrie Cantemir. In the first section of my article I shall focus on how much information on Cantemir do our students rely have. Thus I shall make an empirical research questioning the students of the first year on the most common facts about Cantemir’s work and life. In the second section of my article, I shall try to answer questions like how many volumes having as main subject matter the works of Cantemir have been published recently. In what branches of science the works of Cantemir have been mostly analyzed? What is the ratio between the works concerning his personality and those concerning specific topics in specific works of Dimitrie Cantemir