The study is based on the critical observations that the competitive market forces alone are not able to assure the convergence with the developed countries. 

The liberalisation of capital flows makes in the Romanian economy vulnerable to the important and presumably unstable capitals.

The study defines the three types of convergence – institutional, nominal and real ones –, the connection among them and their main measurement indicators. 

The present paper sets out a presentation and an analysis of the patent system in the European Union in the context of the new economic policies accompanying the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy.

This study offers from the beginning a survey about the institutional construction in the pre- and post-adhesion stages to European Economic and Monetary Union, about the exchange rate mechanism applied by the different countries and about convergence criteria.

Real convergence represents an essential objective for Romania\'s integration into the EU.

The process of adhesion to the European structures imposes a certain direction to the capital markets and by this to the economic development. 

Irrespective of their size, companies seem to be more efficient when they compete with one another, and more creative when they co-operate.