In this paper we wish to suggest that: "obsession" with competitiveness and trade openness, together with "hands off" type of economic policy, may hardly lead a country towards "real income" convergence on her long-run development path. Moreover, such an obsession may have deflationary impact...

This paper examines the Romanian economy and its version of capitalism from a long-term perspective and in a broad context. It focuses on economic prospects in the face of a legacy of backwardness and the endurance of domestic weaknesses, in the context of the Great Recession and the eurozone...