Moneychangers, Private Information and Gresham’s Law in Late Medieval Europe

En este artículo retomamos una vieja explicación de la Ley de Gresham, que descansa en el tráfico de monedas protagonizado por los cambistas. Centrándonos en la Edad Media, presentamos materiales que sugieren que los cambistas hacían uso de la información privilegiada de que disponían en relación con el dinero, para hacer beneficios a través de operaciones de arbitraje y de retirada de la circulación de las mejores monedas. En ambos casos, su actividad daba como resultado la desaparición parcial –y a veces total– de las monedas infravaloradas.In this paper we revive an old explanation for Gresham’s law that rests on the trafficking of coins by moneychangers. Focusing on the late Middle Ages, we present material suggesting that moneychangers used their private information on money to make profit through billonnage and arbitrage operations. In both cases their activity led to the partial –sometimes total– disappearance of the undervalued coins.Publicad

Ex-ante production, directed search and indivisible money

There always exists a monetary equilibrium when search is directed, money is indivisible and production is on demand (Julien Kennes King 2007). We demonstrate that when production takes place before exchange, forcing sellers to incur a sunk cost, there must be a minimum buyer-seller ratio for the monetary equilibrium to survive.

STRATEGIC ENERGY SOURCES AND TRENDS OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGIES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

The present dynamic security environment forced organizations or countries to radically restructure their objectives and strategies. In the last years, the European Union energy strategy has been in the process of a profound objectives transformation. The paper deals with the problem of the energy security in the European Union and the role of renewable energies to security supply in the context of the global energetic crisis, and the role of multiple factors which destroy the equilibrium among the energetic security, economical development and environmental evolution. There are a large range of proposed European projects in the energetic sphere that intend to fulfill the request to increase the security supply in order to weaken the dependence of European countries on the Russian energetic resources. European energy demand and import dependence continues to increase and primary energy sources are mainly used to cover European energy needs. Considering the energy security is very important for European Union, this paper presents an overview of strategic energy sources and underlines the importance of renewable energy in the way to ensure security supply of energy. Today, the international energy system is characterized by a high level of interdependence, the energy supply and climate change security are the central concerns for policy makers and they give significant dimensions of the long-term quest for a sustainable energy system. In this context one of policies developed by European Union is to promote the renewable energy.energy; security of supply; classical fuels; renewable energies; European Union

The tale of Gresham's law

Gresham’s law, which says that bad money tends to drive good money out of circulation, may account for many nations’ episodes of money troubles, as far back as ancient Athens. This Commentary discusses the two main explanations for Gresham’s law and suggests some circumstances in which the law does not apply.Gresham's law ; Money

PROSPECTS OF DESIGNING FLEXIBLE BUSINESS MODEL IN TURBULENT TIMES

The present study aims to analyze the current global context to capture the characteristics of the new type of volatile and turbulent business environment in which companies must operate nowdays and to bring some propositions in order to guide managers in designing or redesigning business models to achieve flexibility. The central message of this paper, that is a point of view one, is that, nowdays but also in the future, business models that are based on strategic, organizational and operational flexibility and on reaction speed will be those who will provide the greatest capacity to respond to change. Even if the international theory provides a multiple perspective analysis of business model concept, still how it can be achieved such flexibility remains an open issue in the academic debate, but also in the practice of companies. Thus, the paper contains some propositions in order to guide managers in the process of designing or redesigning the business model

On the recognizability of money

This paper develops a model of currency circulation under asymmetric information. Agents are heterogeneous and trade in bilateral matches. Coins are intrinsically valuable and are available in two weights, light and heavy. We characterize the equilibrium under complete information and under imperfect information about the quality of coins. We determine a set of conditions under which the two currencies circulate and are traded according to different terms of trade. We study how output, welfare, and the velocity of currency are affected by the recognizability of coins. We show that society's welfare increases as coins become more easily recognizable.Money

Contrasted sediment processes and morphological adjustments in three successive cutoff meanders of the Danube Delta

Since the 1980s intensive anthropogenic disturbances have affected the channel of the St. George branch, the southern distributary of the Danube River. The meander cutoff programme since 1984–1988 induced different hydrosedimentary impacts on the local distribution of river flow velocities, discharge, and sediment fluxes between the former meanders and the man-made canals (Ichim and Radoane, 1986; Popa, 1997; Panin, 2003). This paper selects three large cutoff meander reaches of the St. George branch (the Mahmudia, Dunavăţ de Sus, and Dunavăţ de Josmeanders noted here asM1,M2, andM3, respectively) as an example to analyse the human impact in the Danube River delta. The diversion of the flow induces strong modifications by acceleration of the fluxes through the artificial canals combined with dramatically enhanced deposition in the former meander where it was observed in two cases (M1 and M3) with slight modifications in M2. An exceptional flood that occurred in April 2006 offered a good opportunity for scanning different cross sections of the meander systems. Bathymetry, flow velocity, suspended-load concentration, and liquid and solid discharge data were acquired throughout several cross sections of both natural channels and artificial canals of the three cutoffs, using acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) technology, in order to investigate the distribution of the flowand sediment and its impact on the hydrosedimentary processes in each channelized reach and adjacent former meander. Therefore, the results obtained during the 2006 flood were referred to a long-term evolution (1970–2006), analysed by GIS techniques

Cross-Functional Processes in Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategic approach which involves creating a superior value for shareholders by developing relationships with certain categories of customers. CRM mixes the potential of information technology with specific relationship marketing strategies in order to create long term profitable relationships. CRM involves the management of customer relationship initiation, maintenance, and termination across all customer contact points to maximize the value of the relationship portfolio. Thus, CRM involves an integration of human resources, operations, processes and marketing capabilities, which is enhanced by information technology. To achieve superior performance, a growing number of companies are developing elaborate CRM systems and making creative use of sales force automation data warehousing, data mining and other query tools to better understand their customers. CRM systems are helping organization to identify and target their most valuable customers, to make more effective and efficient allocation of resources to achieve company goals. The literature notes a lack of CRM strategic framework that addresses management, technical and customer issues. This paper aims to emphasize the need for cross-functional approach to CRM which includes analyzing the five key processes: strategy development, value creation, integration of communication channels, information management and performance evaluation.Customer Relationship Management, processes, cross-functional, strategic framework

The Partnership between Academic and Business Environment

AbstractNowadays, the partnership between the economic academic institutions and the business environment is a core key performance indicator (KPI) for assessing the efficiency and accountability. Still, in many cases and for different reasons this partnership does not work well. As various international studies emphasized there is a certain gap between the competences and the skills acquired by the students and the requirements of the employers regarding the educational background of the graduates. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the perception of employers from the Arges County regarding the competences and the skill acquired by the economic students and to identify directions of improvement in teaching and practical training method from this perspective. In order to fulfill the purpose of the study, empirical data were collected in a survey that was conducted in the Arges County in the context of a project financed from European funds. The empirical findings emphasize the existence of a certain gap between the two parties – employers and university, regarding the competences and skills that should be developed in order to increase graduates’ competitiveness and effectiveness