MIHAI VLADIMIR TOPAN | The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies (original) (raw)
Papers by MIHAI VLADIMIR TOPAN
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Nov 1, 2022
International Journal of Public Law and Policy, 2011
Economic Computation and Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research, Mar 19, 2019
This article is focused on an important financial issuethe gap between the interest rate required... more This article is focused on an important financial issuethe gap between the interest rate required for granted loans (ask interest rate) and interest rate paid for demand and term deposits (bid interest rate) in the banking sector. This interest rate gap represents the profit associated to commercial banking sector and it is, according to economic theory, sensitive to various factors. This paper discusses the theoretical background of the interest rate gap and a few related concepts: time preference, interest rates, capital, banking profits, etc. The research hypotheses are derived from the theoretical background and are empirically tested by using panel data analysis methodology (fixed and random effects). The paper provides a perspective from global financial markets by using a panel of 78 countries with data covering the period between 1999 and 2014. The conclusions of the research confirm the hypothesis that the interest rate gap is influenced by monetary expansion and by financial development and sophistication of countries included in the study. The empirical test results do not confirm the influence of government or state activity in general on such gap.
Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence
This article analyses the justifications for the creation of central bank digital currencies – CB... more This article analyses the justifications for the creation of central bank digital currencies – CBDCs – and their anticipated features with the aim of looking at them from two different and somewhat opposing perspectives. These perspectives define the two broad historical and logical currents that emerged in the Banking School versus the Currency School debates. We are going to investigate to which extent can the concept of CBDC be embedded into the Banking School’s body of thought and to which extent can it be criticized with the arguments of the Currency School.
The market for ideas" is placed by scholars and commoners between literary metaphors and catchy p... more The market for ideas" is placed by scholars and commoners between literary metaphors and catchy paraphrases. However, economics and political science, in addition to the sciences of cognition and communication, have at least something to say about the concept. The marketplaces of ideas entail a mixture of "cathedrae" (governed by the rigors of epistemological adequacy in finding scientific truth), "bazaars" (governed by profit-seeking in the confines of the law of demand and supply), and "agorae" (governed by the democratic rule of law or by the despotic rule of men). Ideas usually become scientific knowledge only after passing the test of reason, which needs to be informed by properly selected methodological toolkits. Far from being scarcity-proof objects, ideas are (serviceable) products (calculatedly) produced by (resourceful) producers, subject to economic scrutiny. Also, ideas are the offshoots of the more often than not overrated freedom of expression (tempered in the political arena by the power of either blunt majorities or active minorities). Thus, it is legitimate to continuously question which are and ought to be the mechanisms for securing the quest for truth, since only true ideas are ultimately prone to sustainable prosperity and peacefulness, though shortsighted profiteering and forced (or accomplice) obedience might suggest otherwise. Scientific truth (i.e., in social sciences) is caught amongst epistemic, as well as (pseudo-)economic and (poor) political filters. The purpose of this paper is to identify and investigate the frameworks for the evaluation and explanation of the markets for ideas, at the crossroads of the "true-false", "profitable-unprofitable" and "approveddenied" mingled filters. The approach is equally conceptual (theoretical) and contextual (historical), and whilst being inevitably interdisciplinary, it ultimately relies on economic science, serving a dual role: as scientific decoder as well as decodable case study.
The purpose of the present paper is to present the inherent theoretical presuppositions of the EU... more The purpose of the present paper is to present the inherent theoretical presuppositions of the EU Competition Policy (ECP) and to offer a critical appraisal of them. In addition, the paper advances the catallactic competition model as a possible alternative theoretical framework to be used in enforcing ECP. The research is divided into three main parts.
Panoeconomicus, 2016
The current economic crisis emerged from a particular financial crisis that started in the United... more The current economic crisis emerged from a particular financial crisis that started in the United States and being rapidly propagated all over the world. It did not affect a limited region or a limited economic sector. This crisis induced significant changes in all management areas, including financial management. This study is focused on financing strategies adopted by shipping companies during the crisis, analyzing relevant factors for a specific issue - the capital structure. The research methodology proposed for this analysis on relevant factors that could explain the capital structure of shipping is OLS regression applied on selected variables derived from the financial statements of the major shipping companies. The dependent variables reflecting capital structure are book value to total liabilities ratio and book value to total debt ratio. The explanatory variables are derived from the theory of capital structure. This study empirically illustrates the relevance of the capita...
International Journal of Private Law, 2014
Financial crisis became one of the most debated subjects during the last few years. Succeeding mo... more Financial crisis became one of the most debated subjects during the last few years. Succeeding more or less to identify its real causes, a lot of specialists proposed different solutions to this turmoil. This paper is focused on the discussion of the most important financial contracts used in banking sector: demand deposits and term deposits. Moreover, this paper will reveal why these contracts could be considered to be the source of financial crisis and why such instruments should be quickly adapted to the conditions of sound banking. As a case study, we proposed a comparative analysis of the provisions of these banking contracts used by three different Romanian banks. This reform of such banking contracts could induce more stability in the financial system and it is a sound solution to the current crisis.
There are several economists who argue that an activist antitrust policy could lead to significan... more There are several economists who argue that an activist antitrust policy could lead to significant economic development. Today, countries which actively enforce such antitrust policies, such as United States of America, seem to experience higher economic growth than countries with less activist antitrust, such as the member states of the European Union or Japan. Even some developing economies enforce antitrust policy with the goal of economic growth in mind. Enforcement agencies claim that such a public policy promotes a better (allegedly optimal) allocation of resources and, in consequence, maximization of not only consumer welfare but even of total welfare. From a theoretical perspective, economic development derives from this situation. We argue however that such a perspective overstates the role of such a public policy. The traditional theory of economic development has put a strong focus on other factors as critical for economic growth. They stem from social institutions such as private property and the ability of legal system to defend and enforce such institutions to time preference at social level and propensity for saving. Or, in this respect, consumer welfare standard is not a direct causality. Moreover, we even advance the idea that, in certain cases, a too activist antitrust policy and the narrow focus on strict consumer welfare could lead to an inhibition in economic growth.
Sustainability, 2019
The drivers of economic growth and development are among the most important issues explored by ec... more The drivers of economic growth and development are among the most important issues explored by economic theory. Sustainability of economic development was previously linked by various economic schools of thought to natural resources (agriculture, land, minerals, metals etc.), labor force (including skills, productivity, and education), entrepreneurship or technology and innovation. Capital was later introduced by classical economic theory as the key element. Without significant capital accumulation, all other production factors remain idle. The value added of the production process is a result of the existence, the accessibility and the cost of capital. Therefore, the development and the sophistication of the financial sector has gradually become very important for any nation interested in sustainable growth. This paper investigates the impact of financial sector development, sophistication and performance on economic growth based on a panel regression methodology. We found statisti...
International handbooks in business ethics, 2022
Revista Oeconomica, 2012
One of the theories widely discussed and used to explain the phenomenon of international producti... more One of the theories widely discussed and used to explain the phenomenon of international production is the “eclectic paradigm” put forward by John Dunning. In this research note, some aspect of this theory/paradigm will be critically assessed or pointed to: the difficult and elusive jargon; the problematic fundamental classification; quasi-complete elimination of the human intentional factor.
Journal For Economic Forecasting, 2013
Inflation is considered one of the most sensitive macroeconomic phenomena in modern economies (in... more Inflation is considered one of the most sensitive macroeconomic phenomena in modern economies (inducing significant distorsions in the productive structure of the economy and social injustice in the market). Three of the most important theories that explain the nature and the causes of inflation are: the Keynesian approach that considers inflation as an effect of higher costs or as one of the demand side (an increase in money supply, according to Keynes, will lead to an increase in the volume of transactions due to an extra demand that will push the economy closer to full employment); the monetarist approach (starting with Fisher) that approximates inflation through an index of prices and considers it a result of changes in the velocity of money, transactions volume and the money supply (M x V = p x T); and the Austrian approach that defines inflation exclusively as a monetary phenomenon and a result of expansionary monetary policies of the Central Banks. Based on these main theories, the present paper analyzes the relationship between broad money dynamics and CPI, in order to ilustrate the monetary causes of inflation in Romania.
Were we to resume the most general methodological principle of the Austrian School it would be tr... more Were we to resume the most general methodological principle of the Austrian School it would be truth seeking. Without such an orientation the scientific enterprise (and much more than that) becomes meaningless qua scientific endeavor.
Journal of Entrepreneurship, 2015
This article advances a blueprint for understanding the function entrepreneurs perform in interna... more This article advances a blueprint for understanding the function entrepreneurs perform in international trade, by drawing on the connection between comparative advantage and entrepreneurial judgement. The mutual benefits of specialisation and exchange are demonstrated whenever we find a minimum relative difference between the productivity of resources; however, we argue in this article that the concrete pattern of specialisation—manifest in exchanges between individuals, firms or states—cannot be discovered from outside the market. Rather, comparative advantage has an irreducible entrepreneurial component, and international specialisation is an entrepreneurially driven phenomenon. We explain this by unearthing the connection between entrepreneurship (understood as judgement of the allocation of resources under uncertainty), the heterogeneity of capital and comparative advantage.
Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Mar 22, 2012
In his Man, Economy, and State, Murray Rothbard introduces the catallactic function of decision-m... more In his Man, Economy, and State, Murray Rothbard introduces the catallactic function of decision-making owner, and the correspondent income of decision-making ability rent. These are supposed to exist both in ERE (they are, therefore, distinct from the capitalist function and his income, from labor and wages, or land and the corresponding rent) and in the real world permeated by uncertainty (they must also be different from the entrepreneurial function and profit and loss). Even though these concepts seem to suggest an important breakthrough into the theory of the firm, we argue that they are problematic. They must dissolve into (at best, be elaborations of) either the standard economic functions present in the ERE (such as labor, for instance), or the entrepreneurial function.
In this paper I try to refute the thesis that European integration – the way the European states ... more In this paper I try to refute the thesis that European integration – the way the European states embarked upon with the creation of The European Coal and Steel Community – was indispensable for the preservation of peace among the continent’s nations. The main line of argument is that, instead, the integration process was a logical consecquence of the reluctance of states to renounce domestic interventionist policies inherited from the war (and interwar) period. The beginnings of European integration are usually presented under the form of a dilemma: integrate or fight. I believe that this is a false alternative, and that the dilemma was actually a “trilemma”: integrate, fight or return to the sound policies of free trade and laissez-faire. Liberalism, that is.
A Note oN two erroNeous wAys of
Amfiteatru Economic, 2015
Mature capitalism and market economy realities become intelligible also by scrutinizing their “pr... more Mature capitalism and market economy realities become intelligible also by scrutinizing their “prodigal children”: modern business corporations. But these are not some undivided entities. Beyond the place in the global division of labour, they are fiefs of in-built specialization among the corporate governance stakeholders, each of them representing individual-based aggregations of pure catallactic functions. With an atomized, anonymous, asymmetrical and amalgamated ownership in a globalized capital market, with the multi-level directorship, delegated to harmonize profit-orientated investment interests, with creditors, but also with other suppliers of factors of production, modern corporations seem to have overshadowed both the real entrepreneurs-actors as well as the pure corresponding function. Our article is a (praxeo)logical exercise to pinpoint and reveal the realistic field of definition of the “entrepreneurship function” within the modern corporate spectrum, delimiting and po...
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Nov 1, 2022
International Journal of Public Law and Policy, 2011
Economic Computation and Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research, Mar 19, 2019
This article is focused on an important financial issuethe gap between the interest rate required... more This article is focused on an important financial issuethe gap between the interest rate required for granted loans (ask interest rate) and interest rate paid for demand and term deposits (bid interest rate) in the banking sector. This interest rate gap represents the profit associated to commercial banking sector and it is, according to economic theory, sensitive to various factors. This paper discusses the theoretical background of the interest rate gap and a few related concepts: time preference, interest rates, capital, banking profits, etc. The research hypotheses are derived from the theoretical background and are empirically tested by using panel data analysis methodology (fixed and random effects). The paper provides a perspective from global financial markets by using a panel of 78 countries with data covering the period between 1999 and 2014. The conclusions of the research confirm the hypothesis that the interest rate gap is influenced by monetary expansion and by financial development and sophistication of countries included in the study. The empirical test results do not confirm the influence of government or state activity in general on such gap.
Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence
This article analyses the justifications for the creation of central bank digital currencies – CB... more This article analyses the justifications for the creation of central bank digital currencies – CBDCs – and their anticipated features with the aim of looking at them from two different and somewhat opposing perspectives. These perspectives define the two broad historical and logical currents that emerged in the Banking School versus the Currency School debates. We are going to investigate to which extent can the concept of CBDC be embedded into the Banking School’s body of thought and to which extent can it be criticized with the arguments of the Currency School.
The market for ideas" is placed by scholars and commoners between literary metaphors and catchy p... more The market for ideas" is placed by scholars and commoners between literary metaphors and catchy paraphrases. However, economics and political science, in addition to the sciences of cognition and communication, have at least something to say about the concept. The marketplaces of ideas entail a mixture of "cathedrae" (governed by the rigors of epistemological adequacy in finding scientific truth), "bazaars" (governed by profit-seeking in the confines of the law of demand and supply), and "agorae" (governed by the democratic rule of law or by the despotic rule of men). Ideas usually become scientific knowledge only after passing the test of reason, which needs to be informed by properly selected methodological toolkits. Far from being scarcity-proof objects, ideas are (serviceable) products (calculatedly) produced by (resourceful) producers, subject to economic scrutiny. Also, ideas are the offshoots of the more often than not overrated freedom of expression (tempered in the political arena by the power of either blunt majorities or active minorities). Thus, it is legitimate to continuously question which are and ought to be the mechanisms for securing the quest for truth, since only true ideas are ultimately prone to sustainable prosperity and peacefulness, though shortsighted profiteering and forced (or accomplice) obedience might suggest otherwise. Scientific truth (i.e., in social sciences) is caught amongst epistemic, as well as (pseudo-)economic and (poor) political filters. The purpose of this paper is to identify and investigate the frameworks for the evaluation and explanation of the markets for ideas, at the crossroads of the "true-false", "profitable-unprofitable" and "approveddenied" mingled filters. The approach is equally conceptual (theoretical) and contextual (historical), and whilst being inevitably interdisciplinary, it ultimately relies on economic science, serving a dual role: as scientific decoder as well as decodable case study.
The purpose of the present paper is to present the inherent theoretical presuppositions of the EU... more The purpose of the present paper is to present the inherent theoretical presuppositions of the EU Competition Policy (ECP) and to offer a critical appraisal of them. In addition, the paper advances the catallactic competition model as a possible alternative theoretical framework to be used in enforcing ECP. The research is divided into three main parts.
Panoeconomicus, 2016
The current economic crisis emerged from a particular financial crisis that started in the United... more The current economic crisis emerged from a particular financial crisis that started in the United States and being rapidly propagated all over the world. It did not affect a limited region or a limited economic sector. This crisis induced significant changes in all management areas, including financial management. This study is focused on financing strategies adopted by shipping companies during the crisis, analyzing relevant factors for a specific issue - the capital structure. The research methodology proposed for this analysis on relevant factors that could explain the capital structure of shipping is OLS regression applied on selected variables derived from the financial statements of the major shipping companies. The dependent variables reflecting capital structure are book value to total liabilities ratio and book value to total debt ratio. The explanatory variables are derived from the theory of capital structure. This study empirically illustrates the relevance of the capita...
International Journal of Private Law, 2014
Financial crisis became one of the most debated subjects during the last few years. Succeeding mo... more Financial crisis became one of the most debated subjects during the last few years. Succeeding more or less to identify its real causes, a lot of specialists proposed different solutions to this turmoil. This paper is focused on the discussion of the most important financial contracts used in banking sector: demand deposits and term deposits. Moreover, this paper will reveal why these contracts could be considered to be the source of financial crisis and why such instruments should be quickly adapted to the conditions of sound banking. As a case study, we proposed a comparative analysis of the provisions of these banking contracts used by three different Romanian banks. This reform of such banking contracts could induce more stability in the financial system and it is a sound solution to the current crisis.
There are several economists who argue that an activist antitrust policy could lead to significan... more There are several economists who argue that an activist antitrust policy could lead to significant economic development. Today, countries which actively enforce such antitrust policies, such as United States of America, seem to experience higher economic growth than countries with less activist antitrust, such as the member states of the European Union or Japan. Even some developing economies enforce antitrust policy with the goal of economic growth in mind. Enforcement agencies claim that such a public policy promotes a better (allegedly optimal) allocation of resources and, in consequence, maximization of not only consumer welfare but even of total welfare. From a theoretical perspective, economic development derives from this situation. We argue however that such a perspective overstates the role of such a public policy. The traditional theory of economic development has put a strong focus on other factors as critical for economic growth. They stem from social institutions such as private property and the ability of legal system to defend and enforce such institutions to time preference at social level and propensity for saving. Or, in this respect, consumer welfare standard is not a direct causality. Moreover, we even advance the idea that, in certain cases, a too activist antitrust policy and the narrow focus on strict consumer welfare could lead to an inhibition in economic growth.
Sustainability, 2019
The drivers of economic growth and development are among the most important issues explored by ec... more The drivers of economic growth and development are among the most important issues explored by economic theory. Sustainability of economic development was previously linked by various economic schools of thought to natural resources (agriculture, land, minerals, metals etc.), labor force (including skills, productivity, and education), entrepreneurship or technology and innovation. Capital was later introduced by classical economic theory as the key element. Without significant capital accumulation, all other production factors remain idle. The value added of the production process is a result of the existence, the accessibility and the cost of capital. Therefore, the development and the sophistication of the financial sector has gradually become very important for any nation interested in sustainable growth. This paper investigates the impact of financial sector development, sophistication and performance on economic growth based on a panel regression methodology. We found statisti...
International handbooks in business ethics, 2022
Revista Oeconomica, 2012
One of the theories widely discussed and used to explain the phenomenon of international producti... more One of the theories widely discussed and used to explain the phenomenon of international production is the “eclectic paradigm” put forward by John Dunning. In this research note, some aspect of this theory/paradigm will be critically assessed or pointed to: the difficult and elusive jargon; the problematic fundamental classification; quasi-complete elimination of the human intentional factor.
Journal For Economic Forecasting, 2013
Inflation is considered one of the most sensitive macroeconomic phenomena in modern economies (in... more Inflation is considered one of the most sensitive macroeconomic phenomena in modern economies (inducing significant distorsions in the productive structure of the economy and social injustice in the market). Three of the most important theories that explain the nature and the causes of inflation are: the Keynesian approach that considers inflation as an effect of higher costs or as one of the demand side (an increase in money supply, according to Keynes, will lead to an increase in the volume of transactions due to an extra demand that will push the economy closer to full employment); the monetarist approach (starting with Fisher) that approximates inflation through an index of prices and considers it a result of changes in the velocity of money, transactions volume and the money supply (M x V = p x T); and the Austrian approach that defines inflation exclusively as a monetary phenomenon and a result of expansionary monetary policies of the Central Banks. Based on these main theories, the present paper analyzes the relationship between broad money dynamics and CPI, in order to ilustrate the monetary causes of inflation in Romania.
Were we to resume the most general methodological principle of the Austrian School it would be tr... more Were we to resume the most general methodological principle of the Austrian School it would be truth seeking. Without such an orientation the scientific enterprise (and much more than that) becomes meaningless qua scientific endeavor.
Journal of Entrepreneurship, 2015
This article advances a blueprint for understanding the function entrepreneurs perform in interna... more This article advances a blueprint for understanding the function entrepreneurs perform in international trade, by drawing on the connection between comparative advantage and entrepreneurial judgement. The mutual benefits of specialisation and exchange are demonstrated whenever we find a minimum relative difference between the productivity of resources; however, we argue in this article that the concrete pattern of specialisation—manifest in exchanges between individuals, firms or states—cannot be discovered from outside the market. Rather, comparative advantage has an irreducible entrepreneurial component, and international specialisation is an entrepreneurially driven phenomenon. We explain this by unearthing the connection between entrepreneurship (understood as judgement of the allocation of resources under uncertainty), the heterogeneity of capital and comparative advantage.
Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Mar 22, 2012
In his Man, Economy, and State, Murray Rothbard introduces the catallactic function of decision-m... more In his Man, Economy, and State, Murray Rothbard introduces the catallactic function of decision-making owner, and the correspondent income of decision-making ability rent. These are supposed to exist both in ERE (they are, therefore, distinct from the capitalist function and his income, from labor and wages, or land and the corresponding rent) and in the real world permeated by uncertainty (they must also be different from the entrepreneurial function and profit and loss). Even though these concepts seem to suggest an important breakthrough into the theory of the firm, we argue that they are problematic. They must dissolve into (at best, be elaborations of) either the standard economic functions present in the ERE (such as labor, for instance), or the entrepreneurial function.
In this paper I try to refute the thesis that European integration – the way the European states ... more In this paper I try to refute the thesis that European integration – the way the European states embarked upon with the creation of The European Coal and Steel Community – was indispensable for the preservation of peace among the continent’s nations. The main line of argument is that, instead, the integration process was a logical consecquence of the reluctance of states to renounce domestic interventionist policies inherited from the war (and interwar) period. The beginnings of European integration are usually presented under the form of a dilemma: integrate or fight. I believe that this is a false alternative, and that the dilemma was actually a “trilemma”: integrate, fight or return to the sound policies of free trade and laissez-faire. Liberalism, that is.
A Note oN two erroNeous wAys of
Amfiteatru Economic, 2015
Mature capitalism and market economy realities become intelligible also by scrutinizing their “pr... more Mature capitalism and market economy realities become intelligible also by scrutinizing their “prodigal children”: modern business corporations. But these are not some undivided entities. Beyond the place in the global division of labour, they are fiefs of in-built specialization among the corporate governance stakeholders, each of them representing individual-based aggregations of pure catallactic functions. With an atomized, anonymous, asymmetrical and amalgamated ownership in a globalized capital market, with the multi-level directorship, delegated to harmonize profit-orientated investment interests, with creditors, but also with other suppliers of factors of production, modern corporations seem to have overshadowed both the real entrepreneurs-actors as well as the pure corresponding function. Our article is a (praxeo)logical exercise to pinpoint and reveal the realistic field of definition of the “entrepreneurship function” within the modern corporate spectrum, delimiting and po...