Objective: We aimed to develop an EQ-5D-5L value set for Romania. Methods: In line with the EuroQoL standardized valuation protocol, computer-assisted interviews were conducted face-to-face in a representative sample in Romania (November 2018–November 2019). Valuation methods included composite time trade-off and discrete choice experiment tasks. Several models were tested, including models that accounted for data censoring, panel structure of the data, heteroscedasticity, conditional logit, and hybrid models. The final model was selected based on logical consistency, theoretical considerations, and use of all available data. We compared our value set with other value sets from Central and Eastern Europe region. Results: Data from 1493 respondents was used to estimate the value set. A censored hybrid model corrected for heteroscedasticity was selected to represent the value set. The highest decrements in utility were observed for the pain/discomfort dimension (0.375), followed by the mobility dimension (0.293). Health utilities ranged from 1.000 to − 0.323 and 1.3% of the values were negative. The model was corrected with survey weights to better reflect the representativeness of the sample, but the first two coefficients of the self-care dimension stopped being logically consistent. Differences were found between the Romanian, Hungarian and Polish EQ-5D-5L value sets. Good agreement was noted with the Romanian EQ-5D-3L value set, with a swap between pain/discomfort and mobility in ranking of dimensions. Conclusion: A value set for EQ-5D-5L is now available for Romania. This will push one-step further the development of health technology assessment and encourage more health-related quality-of-life research to be conducted locally.

Fertility intentions are considered an important determinant of behaviour. Using binary logistic regression on a sample of 1851 women aged 18-44 years from the Generations and Gender Survey 2005 wave in Romania, the present paper analyses the factors influencing intentions to have a child on the short-term. The results indicate that age and the number of children already born to a respondent, together with her attitude and the woman's perception of her significant others’ attitude towards having a birth in the near future are important in determining the odds that a woman will intend to perform the analysed behaviour. Also, the use of contraception plays an important role, but its impact is complex

The strong interdependency between economic growth and conventional energy consumption have led to significant environmental impact, especially with respect to greenhouse gas emissions. Conventional energy-intensive industries release increasing quantities every year, which has prompted global leaders to consider new approaches based on sustainable consumption. The main purpose of this research is to propose a new energy index that accounts for the complexity and interdependences between the research variables. The methodology is based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and combines the key components determined into a score that allows for both temporal and cross-country comparisons. All data analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25™. The main findings show that most countries improved their economic performance since 2014, but the speed of the improvement varies a lot from one country to another. The final score determined reflects the complex changes taking place in each country and the efficiency of the governmental measures for sustainable economic growth based on low energy consumption and low environmental pollution.

Background: The majority of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) don’t have population norms in Romania. This is the case with the EQ-5D as well. Therefore, we aimed to estimate population norms for the Romanian versions of the EQ-5D-5L, EQ-5D-3L, their indexes, and the EQ-VAS.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in all regions of Romania from November 2018 to November 2019. A three-stage probability sampling procedure stratified by region and settlement size was used to select a representative sample. Interviews were computer-assisted and conducted in respondents’ homes by trained interviewers. Health status was assessed with the EQ-5D-5L, the EQ-5D-3L and the EQ VAS. Descriptive statistics were used to estimate population norms by age groups and sex for the EQ-5D-5L, the EQ-5D-3L, their indexes and the EQ VAS. Population norms were weighted using survey weights. Indexes for the EQ-5D questionnaires were estimated using the recently developed Romanian value sets.Results: Data from 1,649 interviews was analysed in the present study. Survey weights were used so that sex and place of residence ratios for the weighted sample matched the Romanian general population distribution. Participants’ mean age was 47.4 years (SE = 1.157) and 50.3% of them reported being in good health. The dimension for which people reported the highest number of problems for both questionnaires was the pain/discomfort dimension. Men aged 35 plus reported fewer problems with pain/discomfort than women for both the EQ-5D-5L and EQ-5D-3L. Health decreased with age as shown by the decrease from age group 18–24 to age group 75 plus in the indexes of both questionnaires: from 0.977 (SE = 0.005) to 0.765 (SE = 0.017) for EQ-5D-5L and from 0.981 (SE = 0.005) to 0.784 (SE = 0.019) for EQ-5D-3L. There was 29.9 points drop in the EQ VAS score between the youngest and oldest group.Conclusions: Population norms for the Romanian versions of the EQ-5D-5L, EQ-5D-3L, their indexes, and the EQ VAS are now available. These can now be used as reference values by healthcare professionals, researchers and decision-makers leading to a further development of health-related quality of life research in Romania.

Value proposition can be an important source of competitive advantage for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Unlike large companies which follow a rational and sequential process, developing a value proposition in an SME is instead a trial and error process. Therefore, those companies are experimenting with various options. The purpose of this paper was to identify the value strategies used by SMEs based on value dimensions and attributes and to find specific groups of SMEs with a similar market approach. We present a theoretical framework on customer value creation and customer value communication, followed by a quantitative research on 399 Romanian SMEs. We used a principal component analysis to reduce the number of choices and afterwards we ran a cluster analysis to identify the distinct groups of SMEs using specific value propositions. We found that there are three major strategic options based on customer experience, affordability and customization, and four distinct clusters: customer delight (A), multiple sources of differentiation (B), one-to-one marketing (C) and cost—effectiveness (D). Three groups use distinct value propositions—A focuses on customer experience, C on customization, D on affordability—while B mixes all of them.

Recent increase in peer-to-peer lending prompted for development of models to separate good and bad clients to mitigate risks both for lenders and for the platforms. The rapidly increasing body of literature provides several comparisons between various models. Among the most frequently employed ones are logistic regression, Support Vector Machines, neural networks and decision tree-based models. Among them, logistic regression has proved to be a strong candidate both because its good performance and due to its high explainability. The present paper aims to compare four pairs of models (for imbalanced and under-sampled data) meant to predict charged off clients by optimizing F1 score. We found that, if the data is balanced, Logistic Regression, both simple and with Stochastic Gradient Descent, outperforms LightGBM and K-Nearest Neighbors in optimizing F1 score. We chose this metric as it provides balance between the interests of the lenders and those of the platform. Loan term, debt-to-income ratio and number of accounts were found to be important positively related predictors of risk of charge off. At the other end of the spectrum, by far the strongest impact on charge off probability is that of the FICO score. The final number of features retained by the two models differs very much, because, although both models use Lasso for feature selection, Stochastic Gradient Descent Logistic Regression uses a stronger regularization. The analysis was performed using Python (numpy, pandas, sklearn and imblearn).