No abstract

In a global market characterized by the trend of saving non-renewable resources, recycling has become one of the key factors that alleviates the rarity of resources and preserves existing ones. One of the largest industries that consumes natural resources is the automotive industry. This includes not only resource consumption but also the environmental effects of each new unit produced in this industry. As a result, recycling end-of-life vehicles has become an increasingly obvious and widespread concern. This paper proposes a preliminary analysis of the dismantling/recycling activities in Romania compared to other economies (e.g., USA). It aims to determine the impact that dismantling end-of-life vehicles has, according to the legislation in the field, on the economy and the environment. In order to obtain a complete picture, it is obvious that further research is needed.

In this paper, we test whether competitiveness matters for economic growth and regional convergence in the context of the European Union. We employ the Regional Competitiveness Index (RCI), the 2013 version, computed by the European Commission as a proxy for competitiveness and data on regional GDP per capita, for the period 2000-2013.We test several cross-section spatial models, controlling for the beta-convergence and we estimate the relationship for the 247 NUTS2 European regions and separately for 189 UE15 regions and 56 CEE regions. We control for spatial autocorrelation by employing either a spatial error model (SEM) or spatial lag model (SLM). When both beta-convergence and spatial dependence is accounted for, the relationship between RCI and growth becomes highly significant. When separate models are estimated for CEE and EU15, no relation is found in the case of EU15 regions. In the case of CEE regions, RCI is significant for growth (at a 10% level), when a beta-convergence model with spatial lag is considered. Our results also show that although a convergence process is indeed taking place at a Community level, there is a divergence process emerging within the EU15 regions and a lack of convergence in the CEE regions.

Nowadays, a very strong concern is coming from the fact that human intervention is heavily affecting the environment. In the past, the most harmful countries for the environment were the USA and Europe due to their development and level of industrialization. Today, the most impactful countries on the environment are the ones from across Asia, especially China and India. In order to interrupt these issues and to help prevent the further deterioration of the world, the UN redacted the 2030 Agenda. This presents a possible way in which countries might act against the effects of climate changes, reducing global warming and further world pollution. Being the most ambitious in this regard, the EU decided to implement the Green Deal. In our paper, based on the EU accomplishments in this direction, we try to build a scenario of how the world will look like if the three most polluting countries will apply the targets set by the EU. In this attempt, we used the Kaya Identity to measure the forecasted impact and arrived to the conclusion that, by applying this measures, energy consumption will be reduced, the consumption of renewable energy will increase, CO2 emissions will be reduced and the world can manage to come back to the level it had in 1990.

The present paper proposes an analysis of the behavioral factors relevant to economic growth and is based on the study of the relationship between the traditional economy and the behavioral economy. In this paper are presented different studies on some behavioral factors and how they have influenced macroeconomics and some recommendations for developing more effective policies to take these into account. Thus, it has been shown that there is a link between the level of intelligence, IQ, education and the welfare of a nation. This was an expected outcome as they contribute to increasing productivity and technical progress, fundamental elements for economic growth.