This paper provides a stylized model of the workings of a global economy where one of its key driving factors is economic agents' continuous struggle to find assets in which to park financial resources. This struggle naturally comes with euphoria and disappointments, as many of the "parking...

We have to consider that natural laws dictate all aspects of our life. These are the First and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It is therefore necessary to look into details of this fact in order to avoid making mistakes redarding the future life of mankind. To violate these laws could have...

We provide, for the first time, comparative evidence of the impact of various types of extreme events – natural disasters, terrorism, and violent conflicts – on the perceptions of entrepreneurs concerning some key entrepreneurial issues – such as fear of failure in starting a business...

We investigate the determinants of public support for EU membership using a panel of fifteen countries over the 1974 - 2008 period. The results indicate that increases in inflation and unemployment rate generate a decrease in support for EU membership, while growth of GDP growth increases...

In order to explore the prospective effects of what hails as the Beijing consensus, a conceptualization arguably near-synonymous with Beijing's export-oriented strategy, the Article first discusses the state of the Chinese economy in the post-global financial crisis era. After reviewing some key...

This paper extends the Dincer and Eichengreen (2007) index of central bank transparency. Improvements in transparency are notable in Central and Eastern Europe, while the index has shown much smaller rises in most other parts of the world. The pattern observed by Dincer and Eichengreen,...

Over the past century the global economic scene has undergone numerous rapid and ongoing transformations. The consequences of these changes are reflected in problems linked to organizational and qualitative adaption that companies must carry out in order to compete successfully. The goal is to...

Three important external determinants of sovereign spreads in emerging countries are reviewed: balance sheet effects, global risk aversion and contagion. While there are ways to reduce the detrimental impact of balance sheet effects, these are either hard to implement or costly. Insurance...

Orthodox and heterodox theories of financial crises are hereby compared from a theoretical viewpoint, with emphasis on their genesis. The former view (represented by the fourth generation models of Paul Krugman) reflects the neoclassical vision whereby turbulence is an exception; the latter...

Offshoring is generally believed to be productivity-enhancing and this belief is underpinned by economic theory. This article contributes to the growing literature that tests empirically whether offshoring does indeed help to improve productivity. Estimating the impact of materials and business...