Radu Craciun

The process of quantitative tightening that the major central banks are currently engaged in makes many people worryingly remember one of Warren Buffett’s famous sayings: “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked”. Such concern is understandable. The decade of ultra-low interest rates has fueled risky behavior on the part […]

2022 was a truly historic moment for the demographic evolution of the world’s most populous country. For the first time in 60 years, China’s population recorded a year-on-year decline. The Chinese ended 2022 850 thousand fewer. Unlike 60 years ago, when the population decline was caused by the famine that followed the “Great Leap Forward” […]

We are probably facing one of the most anticipated recessions. There seems to be a general consensus that 2023 will be the year we see a negative GDP growth for at least two consecutive quarters in a sizable part of the world economy. The IMF estimates that half of Europe’s economy and a third of […]

Human civilization has reached the tipping point in an area vital for its very existence: energy resources. Undoubtedly, the main issue is not depletion thereof, but managing it in such a way that the planet’s climate deterioration is cut short. And to take the challenges even further, such a transition has to be managed in […]

“Economics is not an exact science. It’s a combination of art and elements of science”, said Paul Samuelson, the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Central banks seem to have forgotten this lesson in recent decades. Banning central banks from purchasing the debt of their own country has been, until the […]

The ESG acronym has become increasingly pervasive in corporate communication. “E” is the first letter of the word “environment”, suggesting the importance of environmental protection in conducting economic activities. “S” is the first letter of the word “social” and stresses the fact that businesses must attach due importance to the people and their relations with […]

In my comment called  “The war of the century which will define our future”, made at the end of 2016, I pointed out that globalization damaged the win-win balance between two essential factors of production: Labor and Capital. Basically, I explained that, while globalization boosted the number of opportunities/the demand for capital, the supply of […]

The economic and military armament of the big illiberal powers – Russia and China, in particular – was achieved with capital originating in liberal countries. The capital’s unscrupulous pursuit of globalization opportunities after the fall of communism thinned the middle class “at home” and created in autocratic countries economies so strong that the capitalist society […]