BUSINESS CYCLES AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN EUROPEAN UNION. A SURVEY

AThis paper explores the evolution of the European Union economy during the last contraction, between 2007 and 2009. Assuming that the signs of recovery visible in the third quarter of 2009 will be sustainable, year 2010 will be the end of the crisis for the European and world economy. Looking at short-term evolutions we find out that business cycles in European Union are not really synchronized. Moreover, the amplitude of business cycle, determined as difference between growth rate in peak and growth rate in trough (annually data) is very different. UE27 is yet a two speed economy, with big differences between Old Member States and New Member States. The economic policies during the recovery will have to adapt to these differences.business cycle, crisis, recovery, European Union

THE EFFECT OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC EVOLUTION OF THE RURAL AND URBAN ENVIROMENT IN ROMANIA

The problem of population as we are used to call it belongs to different areas of interest for scientists of different fields for quite some time. The never ending growth of population has turned global. Threats generated by the population's evolution for economic, social or eco systems can be analyzed in two distinct ways: overpopulation and demographic growth in developing countries and aging demographics in developed countries. With a negative demographic evolution during the 20th century, Romania entered the 21st century with a more accentuated tendency of negative growth because of natural demographics phenomena and migration resulting in aging demographics. Migration and aging population tend to differ from region to region and even more from rural to urban environment.demographic evolution, internal migration, rural and urban environment

Causes and effects of capital concentration in modern economies

Preoccupations determined by measuring the level of concentration are fully justified taking into consideration the effects of concentration over the competitive environment. Studies made in different periods and countries show that the occurrence of concentration and its effects can be explained by different causes. This paper is focused on concept of capital, on causes and effects of capital concentration, and also on different ways of measuring capital concentration in different sectors and industriescapital, sector concentration

Measurement of the W+W- production cross section in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s=1.96 TeV using dilepton events

We present a measurement of the W+W- production cross section using 184 pb(-1) of p (p) over bar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. Using the dilepton decay channel W+W-→ l(+)ν l(-)(ν) over bar, where the charged leptons can be either electrons or muons, we find 17 candidate events compared to an expected background of 5.0(-0.8)(+2.2) events. The resulting W+W- production cross-section measurement of σ(p (p) over bar → W+W-)=14.6(-5.1)(+5.8)(stat)(-3.0)(+1.8)(syst)± 0.9(lum) pb agrees well with the standard model expectation

REAL CONVERGENCE IN EUROPEAN UNION

In the last three years the European Union has succeeded in integrating twelve new members. EU declares that “enlargement is one of the EU’s most powerful policy tools”. After one year from Romania and Bulgaria’s accession, the main challenge is now to reduce the gap between the New Member States and EU 15, and this could be possible only by achieving nominal and real convergence. This study is focused on real convergence and its determinants. Our aim is to propose a composite index that measures real convergence. This index is based on some traditional views and measures (income, productivity, employment) but also includes some other issues like competitiveness and knowledge society. We have four areas of interest - economic growth, efficiency, competitiveness and information society - and for these four areas we determine the gap between Old and New Member States and we are suggesting some policy measures to reduce this gap.real convergence, European Union, real convergence index

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CLUSTERS – A THEORETICAL APPROACH

This paper offers a conceptual framework on cluster concept, focusing on advantages and disadvantages of a cluster – based economic development. For many people, the evidence on the economic benefits of clusters shows that we should focus on policies that create or support clusters. But it is very important to understand that there are possible disadvantages related to clusters and a cluster - based development policy should focus on the advantages and disadvantages in the same time.cluster, competitiveness, development

Health Spending Patterns and COVID-19 Crisis in European Union: A Cross-Country Analysis

The COVID-19 virus outbreak generated new questions about the health policy all over the world. Last several years’ evolutions proved that short-term financing solutions could help health systems to deal with shocks, but the research regarding the relationship between the ability to react to unexpected events such as pandemics and steady long-term health policies is limited. The purpose of this paper is to study if EU countries that were consistent in financing national health systems were more prepared to deal with the pandemic shock. Using Current Health Expenditures for 2000–2019, a K-means cluster analysis was conducted, and the 27 EU countries were classified into three groups: high, medium, and low health spenders, with 10, 7, and 10 countries per group, respectively. one-way ANOVA (analysis of variance with one dependent variable) was carried out to identify if there are significant differences between the three groups during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the general level of preparedness (measured by the Global Health Security Index), impact (measured by excess mortality), and digitalisation as a key factor in implementing successful health and economic policies (measured by the Digital Economy and Society Index). The conclusion was that health systems of the countries from the high health spenders cluster performed better for all three dimensions, followed by medium and low health spenders, showing that better financing could increase the performance and the resilience to future shocks of the health systems

GLOBALIZATION AND ECONOMIC CRISIS IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

The paper analyzes the relation between degree of economic globalization and the impact of economic crisis for developed and emerging European countries. We measure economic globalization through indexes based on share of external trade in GDP and FDI intensity (% of FDI inflows and outflows divided by GDP). The complexity of current economic and financial crisis could be evaluated through GDP growth rate, inflation rate, unemployment, public debt, budget deficit, balance of payments, exchange rate, etc. For the purpose of this paper we used GDP growth rate as a measure of economic crisis impact on national economies

Revealing microscopic origins of shape coexistence in the Ni isotopic chain

In a two–neutron transfer experiment, performed in Bucharest in July 2016 at sub–Coulomb barrier energy,a photon decay hindered – solely – by a nuclear shape change was identified in the 66Ni nucleus. Such a rare process, at spin zero, was clearly observed before only in actinide nuclei in the 1970’s,where fission isomers were found. The experimental findings on 66Ni have been well reproduced by the Monte Carlo Shell Model Calculations of the Tokyo group, which predict a multifaceted scenario of coexistence of spherical, oblate and prolate shapes in neutron–rich Ni isotopes. The results on 66Ni encouraged a comprehensive gamma–spectroscopy investigation of neutron–rich Ni isotopes, in particular 62Ni and 64–Ni, at IFIN–HH (Bucharest), IPN Orsay and ILL (Grenoble), employing different reaction mechanisms to pin down the wave function composition of selected excited states. The aim is to shed light on the microscopic origin of deformation in neutron–rich Ni nuclei, possibly locating other examples of “shape–isomer–like” structures inthis region

New high-spin isomer and quasiparticle-vibration coupling in Ir-187

The high-spin structure of the Z = 77 nucleus Ir-187 has been studied using the fusion-evaporation reaction W-186(Li-7, (6)n) at a beam energy of 59 MeV. The excitation scheme of this nucleus has been extended by more than 110 new states, including extensions of all previously established rotational bands. The band crossing region of the h(9/2) negative-parity yrast band has been revised and new intrinsic high-K states have been identified. In particular, a 29/2(-) isomeric state [T-1/2 = 1.8(5)mu s] at an excitation energy of 2487 keV has been observed for the first time, and on top of it, a rich level scheme reaching up to spin (59/2(-)) and excitation energies around 7 MeV has been established.The authors would like to thank Professor Herbert Hübel, University of Bonn, for providing the 186W target. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under Contract Nos. FPA2007-66069 and FPA2009- 13377-C02-02 and by the Spanish Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Program CPAN (Grant No. CSD2007-00042).Peer reviewe