This study aims to examine the link between foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and economic growth, also considering several institutional quality variables, as well as sustainable development goals (SDGs) set in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. By estimating panel data regression models for a sample of 11 Central and Eastern European countries, from 2003 to 2016, the empirical outcomes provide support for a non-linear relationship between FDI and gross domestic product per capita. Regarding institutional quality, it is found that control of corruption, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and voice and accountability positively influence growth, while political stability and absence of violence/terrorism is not statistically significant. Moreover, SDGs such as poverty, income distribution, education, innovation, transport infrastructure, and information technology are noteworthy drivers of growth. The outcomes of panel fully modified and dynamic ordinary least squares partly confirm the findings. The panel vector error-correction model Granger causalities provide support for a short-run one-way causal association running from FDI to growth and a long-run two-way causal connection among FDI and growth. Furthermore, in the long run, unidirectional causal relationships running from each institutional quality indicator to economic growth and FDI are set out.

Winter sports are the main attraction for many tourist areas in Romania, contributing significantly to the development of local economies. Based on this, the study aims to analyze the ski areas in Romania, as well as the extent to which they contribute to the sustainable development of the local economy. This is particularly important as, in recent decades, climate change has significantly affected winter sports, especially skiing. Thus, an analysis of the physical characteristics of ski runs in Romania (number, length, width, level difference and slope) is accompanied with an analysis on the dynamics of the share of tourism in the local economy of winter sport locations, based on tourism turnover relative to total turnover in the local economy. Both graphic and cartographic methods were used in this study, based on an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data available for ski slopes in Romania and the host localities. We used ArcGIS 10.6 software for the preparation of graphical representations and other software to process large databases. The research results showed a great diversity regarding counties, localities and ski slopes depending on the characteristic features of ski slopes (number, length, width, level difference and slope). In our study, the evolution of the share of turnover in tourism in terms of total turnover presented several categories of localities based on their economic dependence on winter sports; the impact in this regard was found to be very differentiated between localities.

The emergence and development of smart cities represent a significant challenge for the post-modern world. Generation Z members currently entering adult life will play an important role in the implementation of the concept of a smart city. The objective of this study is to identify and analyze Generation Z students’ perceptions and attitudes towards the responsible management of smart cities. Following a quantitative approach, the authors designed and applied an online survey in order to reach the purpose of the study. The research sample comprised 468 representatives of Generation Z final-year undergraduate students at a university located in a smart city in the making, Bucharest (Romania). The data were statistically analyzed and interpreted using various tools and methods, such as Cronbach’s alpha and correlational analysis. The results show that students are aware of the role played by the city government in ensuring responsible management of the economic, social, and environmental issues of a smart city. Also, they emphasize that most of them are involved in or would like to be involved in different projects specific to smart cities. These results may represent the starting point for understanding Generation Z students’ expectations regarding responsible management in the context of smart cities.

Last decades have witnessed that exposure to business activities, through family and direct experience, positively influences students’ entrepreneurial intention (EI). The paper aims to present and analyze the relationship between business experience (BE) and EI in the case of final-year university students, specialized in business administration and marketing, resorting to this end to a standardized questionnaire, developed by the authors and finalized following a pilot survey. The hypotheses considered, centered on the study of the existence of any contingency or correlational relationship between the BE of students, and their EI, based on related coefficients applicable in such case, have been confirmed, in line with similar studies. Theoretically, this paper contributes to the enrichment of the literature on students’ EI in higher education institutions (HEIs). Practically, students’ EI can be stimulated and encouraged by a deeper involvement of HEIs in entrepreneurship education, thereby creating a challenging entrepreneurial academic environment through a plethora of measures, such as establishing university spin-offs and closer relationships with their specific external stakeholders (e.g., entrepreneurs, businessmen).

This paper aims to reveal the dynamic behaviour of the Romanian economy over a period of 14 and a half years, from 2000Q1 to 2014Q2, considering the stochastic action of 20 structural shocks. The study is based on a well-known dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model developed for the Swedish economy, which is adjusted to allow the author to capture the essential characteristics of the target country. Subsequent to the selection of the equations to be implemented for the effective estimation, the calibration of several parameters and the setting of the prior distributions for others, a Monte Carlo Markov Chains method is used, namely the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm, in order to reveal the overall results of the estimation process, thereafter properly construed considering their manifestation context.

The present paper has as main purpose to reveal, in a new-Keynesian manner, the evolution of the Romanian economy, as compared to that of the Eurozone, for a period of 14.5 years, since 2000 to 2014. The analysis is based on dynamic modelling, considering price and wage stickiness, as well as the manifestation of 20 structural shocks acting on and altering the model variables, all captured in the context of the general equilibrium of markets. The estimation of parameters and the standard deviation of shocks, achieved by resorting to the Bayesian approach, via the use of the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, a Markov Chain Monte Carlo instrument, was rendered and construed accordingly, revealing compatibility not only with other authors’ results, but also with the economic reality of the time.