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DEMAND FOR GOVERNMENT SPENDING: DO OUR BELIEFS ABOUT PUBLIC DEBT MATTER?

Author(s): Andreea Stancea,Cecilia Ciocirlan / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: public spending preferences; public debt expectations; economic knowledge; CESEE; public finance;

Macroeconomic expectations play a major role in predicting individual choices and behavior. This paper examines the effects of public debt expectations and knowledge on demand for government spending measured by individual preferences. Using a unique survey dataset applied in Central and Eastern Europe, the results show that the most knowledgeable citizens tend to support the increase in public spending. Debt expectations also have a significant impact on public spending preferences: citizens who have negative debt expectations are less likely to support public spending increases. The results shed light on the importance of economic knowledge and information provision for shaping public attitudes about future taxation.

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HERDING BEHAVIOR IN FRONTIER NORDIC COUNTRIES

Author(s): Arina Ivasiuc / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Herding behavior; Market states; Financial Crises; Cross-sectional absolute deviation of returns;

This paper investigates herding behavior of investors in three frontier Nordic countries from July 1, 2002 until July 30, 2021, under different market conditions and during three crises that occurred in this period. As estimation methods, we use both OLS and quantile regression and determine that both up and down market, high and low volatility induce a weak herding behavior for at least one quantile in almost all Nordic countries examined, except for Latvia. At the same time, we find that crises determine a more prominent herding behavior in Nordic countries, but do not influent the behavior of investors from Latvia, that tend to remain rational even in stressful conditions.

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THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NORMS ON STOCK LIQUIDITY

Author(s): Andrei Dimcea / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: social norms; liquidity; trust; information asymmetry; financial literacy;

There is a growing body of research that shows the impact of culture on individual’s financial decisions. We aim to investigate how the strength of social norms and the tolerance for deviant behavior influence stock liquidity. Using a panel of 26 developed and 19 emerging countries we show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the measure of cultural tightness-looseness, developed by Gelfand et al. (2011) and stock liquidity. Additionally, our results suggest that financial literacy has a moderating effect on the relationship between social norms and liquidity.

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THE WITCH’S BODY AS A NARRATIVE AND SYMBOLIC TOOL

Author(s): Ioan Pop-Curşeu,Rareş Stoica / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: witches; body; narration; symbolic; visual arts; literature; cinema;

This paper aims to propose an exploration of the corporeality of witches insofar as it has been used as a medium or nexus for narratives, or as a symbolic sign in various artistic forms and arrangements. The starting point is the highlighting of an antithesis, which is permanently nuanced and overcome in the long evolution of culture, namely between the beauty of young witches and the ugliness of old ones. A first section of the article focuses on painting, looking at works by Baldung Grien, Salvator Rosa, Frans Francken, Luis Ricardo Falero. A second section looks at the corporeal duality that characterizes witchcraft and its resolution in synthesis in Vasile Voiculescu’s short story Magical Love. The last section is devoted to cinematographic works and how they have incorporated in their complex visual and textual narratives an ancient representational and iconographic tradition with roots in Renaissance and Baroque painting and in the literature of Greco-Latin Antiquity.

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SPECTRAL BODIES AND SUPERIMPOSITION IN PHOTOGRAPHY AND FILM

Author(s): Daria Ioan / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: transparency; blur; superimposition; vanishing acts; post-mortem photography; spirit photography; ectoplasms; fantastic film; magicians; spectrality;

During the Victorian age, post-mortem and spirit photography became increasingly popular so that those who had lost dear people were offered an extended mourning ground. These types of images were produced in great number in order to prove the existence of the other world. It is natural that many of these dead people portraits deal with transparency, blur and diffusion, as the result of superimposing reality and spectrality. Later on, ectoplasms were caught on photosensitive materials by a great number of spirit hunters, aiming at the same purpose of demonstrating the physicality of the invisible order. Cinema imported the spiritualist themes and the subjects related to them and continued the same tradition of revealing to the common eye of the spectator a supernatural realm. Our paper analyses the aesthetics of different styles and techniques of working with these delicate subjects in photography and film throughout the ages, from Mumler to Méliès.

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BODY, VOICE AND NOISE: ACTING FOR SOUND FILMS AS DEBATED IN THE INTERWAR ROMANIAN PRESS

Author(s): Delia Enyedi / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: acting; sound cinema; sound film; spoken film; silent cinema; theatre; Romanian press; interwar period;

Sound cinema arrived on Romanian screens in 1929 to a moderate response. Critics and artists alike pondered over their status as an altered version of silent cinema, filmed theatre or a new art form. All three alternatives were further confronted to the status of the actor, as delineated by theatre, in an attempt to clarify the uncertain future of the film actor who used both his body and voice. This paper conducts a survey of articles on these issues published by Romanian interwar newspapers. Their authors reached various conclusions, from predicting the imminent failure of sound cinema and, thus, the disappearance of the spoken film actor, temporarily subjected to enacting on celluloid a shadow of his defining stage performance, to examining solutions that conciliated spoken dialogue with the sound dimension of film.

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THE RHINOCEROS AND THE REGIME POSTHUMAN BODIES ON STAGE AND SCREEN

Author(s): Alina Gabriela Mihalache / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: posthumanism; performative body; postdramatic theatre; Eugène Ionesco; Rhinoceros;

Ever since its first representation on stage, Ionesco's play Rhinoceros became a mirror to the anxieties haunting the societies that it was held up to. Back in the 1960s, it would symbolize (Neo-)Fascism and Far-Right dangers in the Western countries, while subversively pointing at Communism and Far-Left ideologies in the Central-East European cultures. The text's versatility was highly praised by the literary and theatrical criticism, and allowed for its re-enactment in shows and films produced over the globe, in the most diverse social-political contexts. This study aims to revisit some of the first play stagings from the current perspective of post-theatre, pointing out how the early post-War productions are contributing to rewriting of the performative code in the language of posthumanism and post-drama.

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INTIMATE TRAGEDIES: BODY POLITICS AND NARRATIVE INTERRUPTIONS IN CONTEMPORARY REWRITINGS OF SHAKESPEARE’S RICHARD III

Author(s): Dana Monah / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Richard III; rewriting; body; narrative; the avant-garde; women;

When they set Shakespeare’s Richard III into one night and eliminate most of the male characters, Italian actor and playwright Carmelo Bene’s Richard III or the Terrible Night of a Man of War (1977) and Flemish dramatist Peter Verhelst’s Richard III (2004) turn Richard’s story into an intimate, private tragedy. This article argues that, influenced by ideas and concepts developed by the theorists of the historical avant-gardes, both practitioners condense, fragment, atomise the story they borrow from Shakespeare, shifting the focus from the events themselves to the characters’ perception of the events, and foregrounding the image of the suffering or disabled body.

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DEVELOPING STREET THEATER ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN A MULTILINGUAL COUNTRY: AN INTROSPECTIVE ARTICLE

Author(s): Dana Rufolo / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: street theatre; mime; amateur actors; Amnesty International; human rights;

This article looks at different approaches to staging Street Theater about Human Rights in a multilingual environment. Theater on the streets intended to convince passers-by to stop and watch a short skit needs to attract with visual and theatrical techniques, but since Human Rights are conceptual, the actors need to get their message across using words audience members can mull over. How can a maximum number of passers-by be reached in an urban environment where there are three, even four, national languages? Research is ongoing.

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REDEFINING BIOLOGICAL HORROR: THE AESTHETIC EVOLUTION OF AN INFECTED BODY IN HBO’S THE LAST OF US

Author(s): Flavius Floare / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: horror; television; video game; body horror; adaptation;

The post-apocalyptic genre has seen a resurgence in 2023 due to HBO’s The Last of Us, a television adaptation based on Naughty Dog’s video game of the same name, where the society has collapsed due to an infection that causes human bodies to gradually mutate and become violent. There have been debates on whether the infected humans should be called “zombies”, as the word was banned on the production set and the creative director of the video game has refused numerous times to use the word when labeling the infected bodies. In this article, I am taking a closer look at the infection presented in the series, its impact on the human body, the mutation and transformation that precedes it, and the question of zombification in relation to an existing and real-world infection, as in the case Cordyceps fungus. Moreso, I will discuss the validity of considering analyzing The Last of Us through the body horror filter, due to the exploration of an infection that happens in stages, and the different anatomical and aesthetical changes it provokes to the human body.

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IN-BETWEEN WORLDS: A COMPLEX TRANSMEDIA UNIVERSE ABOUT MYTHS, CREATURES AND TRADITIONS

Author(s): Adelina Laura Bulibașa / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: transmedia; storytelling; myths; creatures; exhibition;

The In-Between Worlds Transmedia Universe started out as a blank whiteboard. Sixteen students, three coordinators and multiple contributors and collaborators created this Universe together, during one full semester (from October 2022 until February 2023). The project culminated with an exhibition that lasted one week, with the opening on 11 February in the Ethnographical Museum of Transylvania located in the heart of Cluj-Napoca city, Romania. The project revolves around the subject of mythological creatures, myths and traditions from the territory of Romania. The exhibition was meant to showcase the ephemeral parts of this project, such as: several interactive installations, projections, photography exhibition, Virtual Reality experience, but also the more permanent parts of the project, such as: the feature documentary and the card game. It is important to understand what exactly means the domain of the Transmedia, what are the elements and components that build a Transmedia Universe and how exactly this project encompasses each one of those, in order to achieve a complex and complete structure, and to also understand the reasoning behind each artistic product.

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THE DECLINE OF SIGNIFICANCE IN TODAY’S DIGITAL MEDIA FORMATS

Author(s): Alexandru Sterian / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: intermediality; transmediality; analogue format; digital media; ontic values;

Does modern digital media reconfigure the film’s message? The ubiquity of interactive screens alters the social and emotional human interactions. Through the advent of digital media within the film workflow, the ontological referentiality of the analog support becomes obsolete. The medium digital support can influence the meaning and structure of the message, which gradually starts losing its primary meanings due to the shallow, inattentive film viewing. Starting with the aesthetic approaches and visual codes, the movie’s distribution begins to replace some disputable values which the film as an art has preserved within its DNA, emotion and empathy. How much of the iconic stage of a sign is still embedded within a support without an ontic representativity, expressed today through mathematic algorithms and digital codes?

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VOCAL COMPOSITION IN CREATING THE COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE CHARACTERS

Author(s): Oana Pocan / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: acting; character; training; speech/language disorders; rhythm and fluency disorders; Commedia dell’Arte;

The paper presents a possible approach to the construction of a comic character from both a vocal and a verbal point of view, by using various language disorders. For the scenic procedure of language composition, voice and pronunciation as well as rhythm and influence disorders can be important tools for students in their creating a comic character, since these techniques have a significant potential also outside the Commedia dell’Arte. Hence, conscious training and practice of speech/language disorders, such as dyslalia, as well as of rhythm and fluency disorders, develops and improves both the students’ voice usage abilities and their vocal creativity, so that they can manifest themselves artistically in a more expressive way.

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THE ACTOR'S BODY AS AN INSTRUMENT: EXPRESSION, MIND, HOPE. A DIALOGUE WITH ACTRESS MAIA MORGENSTERN

Author(s): Sorin-Dan Boldea / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: theatre; film; actor; performer; body; motivation; emotion;

A conversation with Maia Morgenstern prompted interesting reflections about what it means to be an actor. In it, subjects such as fear, motivation, desire, and even the differences between stage and film acting are touched upon. We explore both surface matters as well as profound and extremely sensitive aspects about the actor in general and his instrument. Maia Morgenstern is a celebrated theatre and film actress, known for theatre productions such as An Antique Trilogy (Andrei Șerban, 1990) and films such as The Oak (Lucian Pintilie, 1992) and The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson, 2003).

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THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS THE HEAVINESS OF EXISTENCE AS A HUMAN BEING LIVING IN AND FEELING RESPONSIBLE FOR TODAY’S WORLD

Author(s): Ramona Tripa / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Interview; Theatre; Çağlar Yiğitoğullar;

Interview with Çağlar Yiğitoğulları, about THE QUEST, a Shaman-Punk performance inspired by Farid ud-Din Attar’s poem The Conference of the Birds, at the National Theatre in Cluj-Napoca, Spring 2023

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A DIGITAL INTERACTIVE EXHIBITION FROM THE INSIDE OUT

Author(s): Cristina Pop-Tiron / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Digital World; Performing Arts; review;

Review of : Human Presence in a Digital World showcase by the Digital Interactive Arts Master Program and the Performing Arts and Film Master Program, Faculty of Theatre and Television, Babeș-Bolyai University. Coordinators: Professor Rodica Mocan and Cristina Pop-Tiron. Central Shopping Center (3 February 2023)

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The impact of the pharmaceutical industry on the innovation performance of European countries

Author(s): Szabolcs Nagy,Sergey U. Chernikov,Ekaterina A. Degtereva / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2023

Keywords: pharmaceutical industry; innovation performance; Global Innovation Index; R&D; Europe; life expectancy

There are significant differences in innovation performance between countries. Additionally, the pharmaceutical sector is stronger in some countries than in others. This suggests that the development of the pharmaceutical industry can influence a country's innovation performance. Using the Global Innovation Index (GII) and selected performance measures of the pharmaceutical sector, this study examines how the pharmaceutical sector influences the innovation performance of countries from the European context. The dataset of 27 European countries was analysed using simple, and multiple linear regressions and Pearson’s correlation. The findings show that only three indicators of the pharmaceutical industry – pharmaceutical Research and Development (R&D), pharmaceutical exports, and pharmaceutical employment – explain the innovation performance of a country largely. Pharmaceutical R&D and exports have a significant positive impact on a country's innovation performance, whereas employment in the pharmaceutical industry has a slightly negative impact. Additionally, global innovation performance has been found to positively influence life expectancy. The authors further outline the implications and possible policy directions based on these findings.

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Exploring the profile of innovative enterprises in high-tech manufacturing sectors: The case of the regions of Madrid and Catalonia in 2016

Author(s): Betsabé Pérez Garrido,Viktoriia Semenova,Szabolcs Szilárd Sebrek / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2023

Keywords: innovation performance; product innovations; regional implications; discrete choice models; fixed and random parameters

This study explores the innovation profiles of Spanish enterprises operating in high-tech manufacturing sectors. Firms with corporate headquarters in one of two prominent regions are considered: Madrid or Catalonia. The innovation profiles describe a firm’s capacity to engage in radical, continuous, or no product innovation and represent distinct degrees of innovation performance. They are elaborated by applying two types of discrete choice models: (a) a multinomial logit model, which permits only the estimation of fixed effect parameters, and (b) a flexible mixed-logit model that permits the simultaneous specification of fixed and random parameters. The mixed logit methodology indicates that internal research and development (R&D) funds play no role in innovation in Catalonia. Meanwhile, Madrid-headquartered enterprises are associated with a preference only for incremental rather than radical innovation. The impact of external R&D is significantly more important for Madrid-based firms than for Catalonian ones, but the situation with expenses dedicated to technological development is the reverse. The size of researchers’ salaries plays a relevant role in innovation in both regions: in Madrid, radical innovation over incremental innovation and non-innovation are unanimous preferences. However, there are roughly equal chances for both product innovation outcomes in Catalonia. Firm size proves to be a meaningful random variable in relation to innovation performance in both Spanish regions. Concerning its association with the radical/‘no innovation’ outcome, the results are the same in the focal regions, which display an equal preference for the two choices. Larger size induces Madrid firms to prefer radical innovation to incremental innovation, while Catalonian enterprises consider the latter equally important. Although there is no significant effect in Catalonia, firm size in the Madrid sample is associated with equal preferences for incremental innovation and no product innovation. This study describes firm attributes that enhance product innovation performance in high-tech manufacturing sectors in two distinct regions with above-average within-country per capita gross domestic product (GDP). Methodologically, this shows the importance of using enriched alternative computational approaches, where a mixed logit specification along the multinomial one allows for the simultaneous estimation of fixed- and random-effect parameters in the model, generating additional insight into enterprise attributes regarding the innovation performance phenomena under analysis.

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Comparative analysis of labour markets in Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, and Estonia: Institutional approach, 1995–2020

Author(s): Aliaksei Zhurauliou,Jordan Palomino,Olena Gulevych,László Vasa / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2023

Keywords: labour market; institutional economics; unemployment; regional features; transition of different speeds; life expectancy

The study investigates the labour market and economic transformation in Armenia, Estonia, Moldova, and Ukraine. After the 30th anniversary since gaining independence. all 15 former Soviet states demonstrated different speeds and results of economic transition. While Estonia is known as the most successful post-Soviet state, Ukraine and Moldova are still transforming their economies towards joining the EU, and Armenia is part of the pro-Russian economic bloc. This study aims to compare labour markets through the prism of institutional transformations. The econometric modelling revealed the relationship between institutional aspects of the labour market and further economic development. The labour market of the post-Soviet countries in general, and those of Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, and Estonia in particular, do not constitute a significant part of the global labour market. However, their important regional features allow us to assess the level of institutional transformations of the economies of these countries. The tools and methodological approaches used in this study can be used for further research in the field of labour and institutional economics to understand the transformational processes of different speeds that are taking place in the post-Soviet space.The choice of countries for research is due to their inclusion in the economic complex of the former USSR, being in Europe, the polarity of the integration course, similar demographic trends, and since the authors of this study had the opportunity to visit these countries in 2020–2021. The random-effect regression model results indicated that the life expectancy at birth has a statistically significant impact on GDP, unlike traditional labour market indicators such as years of schooling, unemployment, and female participation in labour force.

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Performance of enterprises in cultural and creative industries in large Hungarian cities between 2008 and 2018

Author(s): Petra Kinga Kézai,János Rechnitzer / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2023

Keywords: cultural and creative economy; urban research; urban development

Unquestionably, the creative economy’s weight and importance in nation-states’ economies are increasing. This study examines the performance of partnerships belonging to creative industrial branches in Hungary between 2008 and 2018. Research questions are as follows: What economic potential does the creative economy represent in Hungary, particularly in certain large cities? What tendencies exist regarding temporal changes? What are the professional branches in cities that defy the creative economy, and how has their performance changed during the period examined in this study? This analysis deals with partnerships in the creative economy in Budapest and eight Hungarian cities with a population greater than 100,000. Dun & Bradstreet Hungary, Ltd., provided the database used as the basis for the statistical analysis. The data of companies operating on the last day of the given year were collected based on valid Hungarian activity classification (TEÁOR’08) codes and according to the indicated registered office, thus guaranteeing full national coverage. Regarding headcount data, only reports for the entire calendar year were included in the study, based on the statistical headcount for the given year. Within the study’s 11-year reach, research has shown that there were no significant territorial changes in the creative economy and that Budapest still dominates the landscape, with the other eight cities playing minor roles (11%–12%). During the study period, all the cities had individual development paths.

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