Mass-media coverage of Sebastian Buhai

Below you can check out a selection of press/magazine articles and other news media, including television or radio talk-shows, where I have been interviewed/ covered (with saved PDF versions where possible—clicking around —should the direct links cease to function); although most articles are in Romanian, they have often got brief explanations in English below on this page (for newer items). Please note that the items are typically not updated/ rechecked after their initial posting. The starred ones are larger contributions (long interviews, live talk-shows, etc.). In reverse chronological order (and usually listed on this page with a time lag):

• Adevarul, 28 June 2024 — or download copy (also see tweet from then, announcing it): an interview in the Romanian MSM Adevarul, with Remus Florescu as interviewer, in which I briefly explain why the (re)introduction of a 6-day workweek does not have the potential to solve structural problems on the labor market—and may well be counterproductive—whether in Greece (which was preparing to enact it from July 2024), in Romania (as demanded by surprisingly many, following Greece’s example), or anywhere…
• Panorama, 27 August 2023 — or download simplified copy (& see also my tweet on that): an essay by journalist Răzvan Zamfir from online Romanian business/ economics magazine Panorama that contains, next to a couple of others’ perspectives, my view on some of Romania’s gravest economic errors within the last 3 decades (selected and exposed by the Panorama journalist from several of my earlier published essays/ interviews on these topics, and a brief recent correspondence with him). The Romanian title of the Panorama essay: “Marile greșeli economice care trag România înapoi de 30 de ani”.  NB. I am evidently only responsible for my own views — and not for those of any of the other discussants in this piece.
• PressOne, 26 June 2023 — or download a simplified copy (see also a tweet first announcing that): a material containing, inter alia, the summary of my brief discussion with journalist Răzvan Filip from Romanian online MSM PressOne Romania on whether and when a policy of VAT reduction (but also of capping prices, more generally) for basic goods would make sense (highlighting in particular the IO perspective of that ongoing debate, which is both the most relevant and typically the most ignored), focusing on the context at that time in Romania. The title of R. Filip’s piece, in Romanian: “Reducerea prețurilor la alimentele de bază: o idee bună sau un instrument cu două tăișuri? Argumente pro și contra de la doi experți”. NB. Obviously, I am only responsible for my own answers/ ideas — and not for those of the other invited discussant from the same essay.
• Adevarul, 7 February 2023 — and/or download simplified copy (& see also a tweet announcing this): an interview in the Romanian MSM Adevarul (R. Florescu interviewer) in which I explained inter alia why a year after the Russian criminal invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent calling for and partial implementation of economic sanctions against the aggressor, Germany/ the EU economy more generally is surviving just fine w/out any Russian gas — in spite of the doomsday “winter is coming” predictions from the Kremlin and their acolytes, as well as the many idiots from Germany/ EU/ elsewhere who couldn’t bring themselves to cease all imports of Russian energy on their own/ much earlier/ much more comprehensively and decisively. (Among the bullet points just below on this page, you can also search for related interviews from the same Adevarul newspaper in 2022, where I had argued for the imposition of sanctions and against doomsday economic fears.)
• Adevarul, 12 April 2022 (and/ or download simplified copy + see also my tweet announcing this), in Romanian: interview in Romanian MSM Adevarul, with Remus Florescu as interviewer/ editor, on (what-would-be-) the moral strategic and visionary decision (unfortunately without decision makers mature enough to take/ enable it…) of ceasing all imports of Russian energy in Romania (discussed also within the larger EU context); the price that Romania (or rather: its clueless, spineless, useless current political leaders) doesn’t seem so far to be prepared to pay is not more, in the worst possible case, than an average of about 80 euro/ capita, year (according to recent analyses by Langot and Tripier (2022) — which is very similar to Baquee et al (2022) or Bachmann et al (2022)– all of which I refer to in the interview)…  Here’s a short translated fragment to serve as conclusion/ main point of this interview: “Interviewer: What do you think is the price for not taking these measures [stopping all current RU energy imports]? Me: The price of inaction is the war crimes, massacres, horrors from Mariupol, Bucha, Borodyanka, Kramatorsk and the rest of Ukraine, many of which we have not yet heard of. Those who must decide and have not yet decided to do everything in their power to stop the Russians are complicit in these atrocities and will be judged as such by history. Interviewer: Do you think that Romania would benefit if it took the measure independently of the other European states? Me: Absolutely. It would be a moral, strategic, visionary act. But do we have leaders with these qualities? ….” This was a third interview in Adevarul about necessary economic sanctions on Russia in the context of the current invasion of Ukraine, see also the bullet points below on this page corresponding to earlier interviews on 11 Mar and 27 Feb.
• Profit News, 4 April 2022 (between approx. 0.34-0.48) – or, for faster loading/ download, see just my own intervention here, separately saved on YouTube  (also about it on my twitter) – recording of a live interview on the RO national TV channel Profit News about some of the humanitarian and economic impacts of the Russian criminal invasion in Ukraine, with Raluca Al Haddad as interviewer/ moderator. It turned out that I had less time for this than I had thought I would have, hence eventually I just managed to gloss over the humanitarian crisis aspect (e.g., concerning the refugee inflow from Ukraine into the neighboring countries/ Europe more generally, the difficulties with coordinating/ allocating all that influx– inter alia, comparing with the previous Syrian refugee crisis that EU had to deal with–, while ensuring the basic, immediate needs for all those people), plus extremely briefly over the direct damages to the Ukraine economy/ infrastructure, the regional/ global effects in terms of propagating negative food supply shocks, etc.
• Adevarul, 11 March 2022 (downloadable copy, also my tweet about this), in Romanian: interview in RO national journal Adevarul, with Remus Florescu as interviewer/ editor, about the most efficient economic sanctions against Russia, e.g., cutting the almost €1 billion per day(!) at the time of the interview still transferred to Putin for energy imports (oil, oil derivatives, and gas), and the hypocrisy/ lack of vision of EU leaders (DE particularly) for not having already applied them — essentially continuing to finance Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while at the same time decrying it… Referencing/ citing Luis Garicano + a bunch of recent studies on Russia’s depending on its energy exports, the effect of the eventual sanctions on Germany’s economy, etc. This interview was also extremely mediatized/ cross-promoted on several online news sites, as well as on various social media (NB. mea culpa for not having the time to address… or even read… the hundreds of questions/ comments raised on those sites, as well as to me individually…). See also the bullet point just below for an earlier interview on initial/ possible economic sanctions against Russia.
• Adevarul, 27 February 2022 (print simplified copy), in Romanian: interview in national MSM Adevarul discussing early economic sanctions applicable to Russia in order to compel it to desist and stop its invasion of Ukraine. Inter alia, this is about my being utterly amazed that the exclusion of Russian banks from SWIFT is still met with some reticence and that some of the more effective means within the full arsenal of possible punitive economic measures (including seizing the assets of Russian oligarchs supporting/ enabling/ financing the Kremlin) have to date not been seriously considered. There is absolutely no time to waste, and economic sanctions can be extremely effective to stop Putin’s criminal insanity before it scales up: if only decision makers (especially those from the EU states, many of which have a lot of commercial links with Russia) had/ found the, now sine qua non, long-term vision and leadership qualities! See also an EconAcademia tweet about this interview.
• Adevarul, 16 February 2022 (or download simplified copy), in Romanian; published interview in this major Romanian MSM, Adevarul (Remus Florescu interviewer), about Romania’s *total lack of* preparation/ even willingness in the fight against global warming/ transition towards a “green economy”, despite it being a signatory to the EU’s “Fit for 55” ambitious program; I have also discussed a bit about the lack of progress in this realm at the global level: COP26 an utter failure not unlike previous ones, with the first, “COP1”, of the fruitless yearly meetings already 3 decades ago this year… A considerably longer, unedited, earlier version of this interview is available on my blog (inter alia including much more on the economic instruments needed to fight climate change, many further references, answers to questions raised in the comments, etc). See also my tweets (thread) about the published version.
• Profit News, 24 January 2022 (between approx. 0.37-0.51), or, especially for those with slower connections, you can see just my intervention here, placed on YouTube, recording of a live interview on the economics/ business- related RO national TV channel Profit News about minimum wages in Romania/ EU/ world, with Adriana Nedelea as moderator– see also about that via my twitter. Among others (but do listen to the interview, if you understand Romanian, there is more there), I’ve explained a bit why the debates around a decent minimum wage are misinterpreted outside the academic literature (in particular why in a realistic labour market monopsony/ oligopsony the usual– badly understood outside the academe– facts about the tradeoff between employment/ level of minimum wages in purely competitive markets *do not apply* to the same extent, or are even muted); why the Romanian minimum wages, even though they increased over the last 15 years, are still very low compared to what they ought to be for a decent society welfare — or compared to the rest of the EU, including some of our CEE neighbours (in addition: why people, including idiotic Ministers of Finance, confuse gross and net rates, even though in Romania with contributions shifted mostly to the employees since 2018 this matters greatly), why *complementary* socio-economic policies are obviously desirable but never *substitutable* to decent minimum wages — especially so in a country like RO, with high and increasing inequality, huge rate of poverty and risk of social exclusion, extremely low labour force market participation among some of the vulnerable groups, a huge and constantly growing workforce deficit, and weak and purely formal employer-employee collective negotiations; I’ve also discussed about the EU recent initiative of a directive on minimum wages, etc. NB. See also the links with interviews from below or my essays webpage for more information/ details on all these topics.
• Profit News, 10 January 2022 (between approx. min. 0.34-0.49), or, better for those with slow connections, see here just that fragment alone placed on YouTube, recording of a live 15-min interview on the economics/ business- related RO national TV channel Profit News, with Adriana Nedelea as moderator (see also a sequence of announcements about that via my twitter). I’ve discussed, among others: facts concerning the current Romanian labour market (e.g., disparities regarding labour force participation by age, gender, education; large and pandemic-exacerbated earnings inequality, etc.); projections concerning the envisaged future of the labour market, on the background of the population ageing, automatization/ digitalisation, decarbonisation/ transition towards a greener economy, including the sectors/ occupations/ jobs most in demand; how (dis)connected are the current education/ training and the expected labour market skills (with some detail on the disastrous situation concerning basic know-know relevant to the digital economy/ society dimension); the total lack of competence/ preparation/ even interest of the Romanian policy maker concerning social, health and education policy (with focus on a specific case, typical of the general chaos reigning there: they’ve ex post realised that *nobody* internally employed at the Authority for the Digitalisation of Romania, newly inaugurated part of the RO Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalisation, had any, whatsoever, training/ competence to even *understand* what they need to do to fulfill the objectives stipulated in the large ‘digitalisation’ chapter of the NextEU plan for economic recovery and resilience); general recommendations concerning competencies and skills to try to acquire, for both younger generations and older participants on the labour market, etc.
• Adevarul, 4 January 2022 (or simplified copy on my website), in Romanian, an interview in this major MSM, Adevarul, entitled “Joburile viitorului: ce se cere pe piata muncii in urmatorul deceniu in Romania si de ce nu suntem pregatiti” (en: The jobs of the future: what is on demand on the future labor market in Romania in the next decade and why we are not prepared for that). I’ve answered questions about some of the projections concerning jobs/ occupations which will be on the greatest demand within the next decade (inter alia, discussing about the forecasts of the US BLS, McKinsey, or the World Economic Forum in that regard), as well as on the skills/ competences needed for that. One particular domain, of serious concern in Romania given its current status quo, is the digital competences register, but also the general adult/ life-long education (the lowest within the EU, for instance). For more details and an unedited version of this published interview with Remus Florescu, you can also read this blogpost, which also links to some of my previous interventions concerning the Romanian labour market (see also twitter announcement).
• Adevarul, 8 December 2021 (simplified copy on website), in Romanian, also announced on my twitter: an interview in one of the Romanian main newspapers, Adevarul, about the large and by now long-lasting workforce deficit in Romania (and not only in Romania—though in Romania/ Eastern Europe this problem is arguably much older than in other parts of the EU, or the USA, not just a recent post-pandemic restriction phenomenon, etc.), at all skill levels, as well as what are some of the potential solutions, at both corporate and public policy level, to solve or at least alleviate that problem (with thanks for the questions and the final edit to journalist Remus Florescu).
• Adevarul, 24 November 2021 (simplified copy on my website), in Romanian, see also on my twitter: an interview with Remus Florescu for Adevarul, one of the main national newspapers in Romania, entitled “Viitorul muncii este hibrid” (=”The Future of Work is Hybrid”). I’ve answered some questions concerning the spread/ dynamics of telework (pre- and especially since the Covid-19 pandemic), zooming in on EU/ Romania, and trying also to forecast a few trends for the future in this context. Among others, it is obvious that telework is here to stay and shape the structure of future labor markets, including, indirectly, for sectors where it cannot be readily utilized (for instance, by shortening the duration of the working week); at the same time, particularly with respect to knowledge-intensive industries and occupations, it is also clear to me that the enormous positive externalities of face-to-face interaction will not be substitutable too soon.
•  FinEco24News, 8 November 2021 (simplified copy on my website), in Romanian—see also short description on twitter: wide-ranging discussion on Norel Moise’s popular “FinEco24News” blog (N. Moise is the chief editor of ‘Piata Financiara’, well-known Romanian economic & finance MSM) about, among others, Romania’s consumption-led, unsustainable economic growth; its striking inequality, poverty, and social exclusion problems; its 3-decade long twin deficit dilemma, on the background of the continuous, staggering decision makers’ ignorance and incompetence; the potential impact of the NextGenerationEU package on the Romanian economy, though plenty of vagueness and incoherence in the plan for economic recovery and resilience (particularly egregious is, e.g., the climate/ environment chapter) submitted by Romania to—and somehow, barely, eventually approved by— the EU Commission; the sheer absurdity of funding/ governance pertaining to scientific research and more generally R&D in my birth country; what we have learnt/ should learn from the ongoing global supply chain crisis and the need for strategic industrial policy; etc. This interview was also publicized by the Business Report of HotNews, as well as other outlets.
• HotNews, 28 October 2021 (simplified copy on my website), in Romanian—see also a short description on twitter, at the time of its publication: an interview on HotNews.ro (major Romanian MSM), with Ramona Florea as interviewer, about my perspective on the notion of “respect” in general (it even includes a tad moral philosophy 1.0.1 flavour!), as well as respect applied in more specific contexts, such as respect for work in Romania (got quite specific on work environment conditions/ satisfaction with them in RO vs elsewhere); or respect for economists/ economic education in Romania (which domestic “economists”? will the real economists please stand up?… who should and who can teach/ disseminate economics in RO? who should be hailed a public intellectual among these “economists” and economists?…  can you trust an “economist” Prime-Minister who hasn’t got a clue about the price of a loaf of bread? or an “economist” Minister of Finance who doesn’t know the minimum wage in his country? how about the zillion econ “professors” and “academicians” in my fascinating country of birth who never published in any scientific outlet that you ought to care about?…)
• VICE Romania, contributions to two interesting essays by Stefan Alin Dragomir about socio-economic systems then and now, inter alia debunking some myths and other widely held beliefs, published on 20 August 2021 (titled “Ce nu înțeleg acei români anti-capitaliști când se închină la Marx și comunismul lui Ceaușescu”) and respectively on 13 September 2021 (titled: “Am vorbit cu tineri români care vor să salveze lumea de capitalism”), see also my short twitter announcement on this latter one. NB. Those interested to read more about the economic dimension of capitalism can also consult this older, short essay of mine on that theme (referenced also in the first essay from Vice mentioned above), also aimed for a general audience.
• HotNews, 10 August 2021 (simplified PDF on my website), in Romanian (see also short description on twitter, at the time of the publication): ample, wide-ranging interview/ discussion with Dan Popa on HotNews.ro (a major Romanian MSM) about, among other things, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on various personal and aggregate dimensions; why one should vaccinate anti Covid-19; the (inexistence of relevant) Romanian domestic economic research; even about some recent recommended books and movies (linked to the other points raised in the interview): among others, I’ve praised and strongly recommended recent econ-based books for a general audience by Dani Rodrik, Jean Tirole, or Christian Gollier. NB. This interview has also got plenty of references to other material, including to older interviews that can be also found below on this page, or to essays/ articles that can be found on other pages of my website.
• VICE Romania, 27 May 2020, 45 min live interview in Romanian on their instagram, as part of their series “Expertul VICE” (VICE RO interviewers/ hosts Cosmin Pojaranu and Razvan Baltaretu); see also my twitter announcements (with links) related to this event, from 26 May and 27 May. Among other things (all chosen by VICE Romania or sent in by their audience) I briefly tackled: the type of economic crisis originating with the Covid-19 pandemic; the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in Romania (and elsewhere) and economic policies to mitigate it; (the—specific and general—unsuitability of) Universal Basic Income; sustainability of fiscal debt and pensions; personal finance, in the crisis and beyond, etc.
• Adevarul, 6 May 2020 (saved PDF on my website), in Romanian (see also a short description on twitter): the third and last of the separately published parts of my ample interview about the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and measures to save/ restart the economy (interviewer: Remus Florescu) given on April 13 2020, this chapter was entitled “The EU coronabonds would be one of the most efficient instrument of the UE to fight the pandemic crisis; Germany’s attitude in that respect not only egoistic, but puerile” (translation of the original title in RO).  Inter alia, I tackled in this bit of the interview the largely unjustified “inflation phobia” (particularly great among decision makers in Romania); the necessity of rethinking globalization, in particular with accent on the strategic value chains (something that the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted very clearly) and on compensating those negatively affected (something clear since ever, but never properly addressed); and the expected, but so far little materialized, leader role of the European Union in this crisis (in many ways this being a test for the solidarity the EU was projected to stand for, and which Jean Monnet had so clearly and unequivocally emphasized). This interview part was actually published so much later than the date of the interview per se (13 April), to be closer to the Europe Day on May 9 (unfortunately, just days before, the German constitutional court managed to give another blow to what European solidarity ought to mean, in any language…).
• Revista Sinteza, 4 May 2020 (saved PDF on my website), in Romanian (see also short twitter description ), long and wide-range interview (interviewer: Ruxandra Hurezean) entitled: “A big advantage of the current pandemic crisis is that it is not structural” (translated from RO).  Among other things I discussed my impression of Paris under the pandemic; asymmetric effects of the pandemic crisis—including the amplification of the existing social inequality, in several dimensions; how to think of (modern times) fiscal deficits in general, and under the current crisis; will there be a food crisis linked to this pandemic crisis and how can we think to manage that, if so; what are the necessary steps to relax the confinement/ social distancing measures so far, and what are the currently proposed solutions/ plans ahead to restart the heavily hit economies. The interested reader can also deepen his/her perspective by consulting the further references I offered in this interview.
• Adevarul, 28 April 2020 (saved PDF on my website), in Romanian (see a short twitter description, also in RO): a second published out of three successive parts of an ample interview (interviewer: Remus Florescu) given on April 13,  entitled “The lesson of the previous pandemics: the social distancing/ pandemic containment measures are justified both medically and economically” (paraphrased from the tile in original Ro); this part is about what we know (and what sometimes we ignored) from the study of previous pandemics, a general discussion about the mechanisms through which the pandemic crisis affects the economy, and the policy measures most economists currently agree on to alleviate the negative shocks, and to restart the economy once that is possible. I also gave plenty of further references for details/ specifics regarding most of my arguments put forward in this interview.
• Adevarul, 26 April 2020 (with saved PDF on my website), in Romanian (see also a short description on twitter also in RO): the first of three separately published parts of an ample interview (interviewer: Remus Florescu) that I had given on April 13 (chronologically, this was the *third* part of the interview…)—  entitled “Forget about the 60% public debt rule or the 3% fiscal deficit rule: when Covid-19 knocks at your door, these do no matter any longer” (translated from the original title in Romanian), this is essentially about (some of) the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic inside Romania, with discussion of the policy measures taken up to that date by the RO government, and that in comparison with what other European states (including Romania’s Eastern/ Central EU neighbors) had done. In particular, I mentioned the many misunderstandings of the RO government in power (a clique with close to zero competence in economic policy, and a merry-go-round group of ‘advisers’ who proudly describe themselves as Austrian economists—though fail to understand even what that niche entails), resulting in a chaotic (euphemism) management of the crisis so far, on the background of already very bad management of the country prior to the crisis, in several respects. Luckily, at least the social distancing measures were taken relatively early in the crisis.
• Stirile ProTV, 19 April 2018 (includes video material)—with saved PDF version of its transcription—realized by Cosmin Savu: “Evaluarea unuia dintre cei mai importanţi economişti români: “Suntem pe la jumătatea Africii”“. This is a more detailed continuation/ expansion of the interview bits included in the Romanian national ProTV- “Romania, Te Iubesc!” program’s “Economie, Caut Strategie” edition from a few days earlier (see the bullet point below), with further excellent discussion points raised by my interlocutor Cosmin Savu; inter alia, we briefly covered the dismal state of the scientific research in Economics in Romania, the role/ reception of the ERMAS academic conferences in Economics, the (pervasive lack of) academic integrity in Romania, the under- or badly- utilised resources in academe—and in the economy more generally, the general incompetence and/ or special interests aiming the capture of rents rather than improving productivity/ welfare, etc.  The transcribed material was also covered/ adapted/ summarized subsequently by other media, e.g.:  monitorul.com.ro, bzk.ro, portal-ro.com,  stiriziare.com, xgc.ro, etc.
• “Romania, Te Iubesc!” at Stirile ProTV, 15 April 2018 (45 min video material), by Cosmin Savu: “Economie, Caut Strategie!”. Together with others (academics, politicians, managers, workers, etc.), I was interviewed for this superlative edition of the well-known, popular investigative program “Romania, Te Iubesc”, of the national Romanian TV channel Pro TV, this time interpreting/ discussing the overall state of the Romanian economy, with focus on the sheer incompetence and general lack of any viable strategy/ vision at governmental level (since 1989 and until today…), and that despite a few success stories at the level of some industries or particular companies. You can watch my interventions in the video linked above from minutes 31 and respectively 41 or, separately structured within the (partly transcribed) third part of that program—saved PDF version of that transcript; you can also see a couple of separate photos from that video-interview (NB. the youtube version linked here does not appear to work any longer; see instead the main link to the entire 45 min program, from above). This 3rd section of the program, mainly tackling the loss of the country’s qualified human capital, was subsequently covered/ adapted/ summarized also by, among others, extranews.ro, bzk.ro, informateca.ro, reporterromania.ro, or stiriactuale.ro. The “Economie, Caut Strategie” edition of ProTV’s “Romania, Te Iubesc” program was number 1 in the overall TV audience top, of that day.
• Hotnews, 10 April 2018 – saved PDF version – by Dan Popa: “Sebastian Buhai, cercetator roman in Stockholm, ridica o intrebare simpla: e normal ca un laureat Nobel sa nu poata trece de criteriile impuse de autoritatile universitare romanesti pentru a preda la noi? De ce suntem la pamant cu cercetarea economica?“. This is a very good (and very swift!) sum-up for the popular national news site Hotnews of the second part of a talk I gave at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (Academia de Stiinte Economice Bucuresti, in Romanian), about the truly parallel (i.e. parallel not only to excellence and merit, but even decency…) universe in which Romanian research in Economics finds itself, a consequence of the (dis)incentives implemented at the national level by those who do not have any interest for it to prosper. Partly based on two reports by myself and others: Buhai et al (2016) and respectively Buhai, Litan and Silaghi (2015) – see also the links to the press materials immediately below for other coverage of those-  and an intensive mini-course I gave at the Advanced Institute for Science and Technology of Babes-Bolyai University (UBB-STAR) in Cluj, Nov 2017, the Hotnews material was also covered/ adapted/ summarized by Romania24.net, TheWorldNews.net, StiriZiare.com, ZiareLive.ro, etc.
• Piata Financiara, 28 February 2018 – saved PDF version – by Moise Norel (see also the cover of that edition): “Cercetarea economica romaneasca ne plaseaza la jumatatea nivelului Africii” , an interview (within an excellent series of interviews on the Romanian Econ academe initiated by Moise Norel: see a couple of those within the “leadership” category of Piata Financiara) on the absurd state of domestic Romanian research and education in Economics (to a large extent based on this report/ manifesto by Buhai et al, 2016), and on attitude and aptitude (or rather: lack of those…) in managing/ organizing scientific research and higher level education in Romania, more generally (see also a grouping of several press interviews with me on that same topic, on my blog). In the end of that interview I also offered my very brief (in-a-tweet!) recipe for what I think my country needs in terms of a viable academe, economy, and society.
• Actual de Cluj, 15 August 2017—saved PDF version—by Kristina Restea: “Din grupul economiştilor care au declarat război imposturii în mediul academic din Romania, tara unde premianţi de Nobel nu au loc în Universităţi. Sebastian Buhai, cercetător român la Stockholm: “Vorbim de o lume paralelă, asta e şocant!””. This interview with excellent questions by journalist Kristina Restea takes on, inter alia, expected eventual changes in the Romanian academic system following our Buhai et al (2016) report and manifesto: “The Rise for Academic Integrity in Romanian (Domestic) Economic Sciences” (see also the 4 Dec 2016 entry on my “essays” page for further details; for other extensive coverage in the Romanian mass-media about that report please see below on this “media coverage” page the entries dated 14 Dec 2016 and 6 dec 2016); the Actual de Cluj article was also taken over, in various formats, by, among others, InsideCluj.ro, Romania24.net, CentruldePresa.ro, PortalZiare.ro, I-ziare.ro, Index-stiri.ro, etc. Unfortunately, despite the extensive media coverage and the thumbs up from many academics (economists and beyond) inside and outside Romania, Romanian decision-makers in context did not do almost anything to address and correct the absurdities (inter alia, “academic prostitution” is but an euphemism to picture what is asked from our economist colleagues inside Romania to be successful and to promote within the current system) that we pointed out in that report (as well as in reports from previous years, e.g., this one…). Surely then, the show *must* go on and, hopefully, many more will join in our (velvet) revolution!
• Live 30-min interview on Look TV—the “Casa Poporului” program hosted by Ciprian Aron, 1 August 2017, about the persistent, ubiquitous, to-many-unbelievable-but-sadly-real problems of the Romanian university/ academic system concerning Economic Sciences (and not only), and about initiatives meant to help, such as, e.g., the ERMAS annual conferences, etc. No link online appears to be available, but see some pics.
• Actual de Cluj, 26 July 2017, by Kristina Restea: “Ce fac economiştii din diaspora în ţara unde laureaţii de Nobel nu au loc în universităţi“, about the ERMAS (2017) conference and its contribution to bringing back to life Economic Sciences in Romania; taken over, under various formats, also by Hotnews.ro, Fluierul.ro, Roportal.ro, Instrainatate.ro, etc.
• Adevarul, 24 April 2017, by Remus Florescu, “„Marşul pentru Ştiinţă” în ţara în care se fac analize economice bazate pe numerologie. Cum poate fi România „reparat㔓—with expanded comments about this Romanian ‘march for science” also on my blog.
• Comments/ consultation for various articles published in the national newspaper “Romania Libera” or by the Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism (CRJI), January-November 2017, mostly by the investigative journalist Sorin Semeniuc, about cases of plagiarism and other violations of academic ethic among Romanian dignitaries: Isarescu: 23 Jan 2017 and 25 Jan 2017 ;  Tranca & Matei: 31 Jan 2017; Grindeanu: 3 Feb 2017; the “doctorate factories” inside several Romanian ‘academies’: 21 Mar 2017; Serban Nicolae I: 21 May 2017  (on the same topic, see also Starea Natiei,  16 May 2017, from min 10); Tudose: 4 Jul 2017; Enache: 30 Aug 2017; Serban Nicolae II: 22 Nov 2017, CRJI.
• Adevarul, 14 December 2016—saved PDF version—by Remus Florescu, “Cercetarea economică din România, sub cea a ţărilor africane. Revoluţia „de carton“ a CNATDCU: „poţi în continuare candida cu lucrări în hernie abdominală“”. If the previous bullet point (6 Dec 2016 entry) tackled coverage of Buhai et al (2016)‘s main findings (see also my essays page, 4 Dec 2016 entry), this interview focuses on what was achieved through the national CNATDCU-ECON’s newly voted criteria (on 5 Dec), subsequently signed into law by the then-Minister of Education & Research (on 20 Dec). Short answer: almost nothing (even this tiny, malformed, redundant ε is likely to die young, given the new RO Gov and particularly—ironically from the perspective of our study—the new educator-and-researcher-in-chief). Florescu’s article has also been distributed by, e.g., Antena.ro, Baleares.ro, Fluierul.ro, Ziare.com, ZiaruldeIasi, Portal-ro.com, Infoziare.ro, etc. Despite media exposure and vehement scientist reactions—many public or directly sent to CNATDCU—the pseudo-scientific, incumbent Econ nomenclature has again chosen to sacrifice academic decency, at the expense of the RO Econs’ long-term well-being, and of the RO academe’s/ society’s welfare more generally. The saddest is that utter failure affected even decision-making technocrats expected to fully grasp our study’s implications (after all already obvious from my mediatised earlier study—see below); this was ex post reconfirmed, e.g., by an amazingly bad (albeit some ok parts) interview with M. Andruh, CNATDCU head and, unlike others therein, a qualified scientist (fast reactions here, here, here, or here). What now?… Do not forget, do not forgive, relentlessly pursue (the Romanian dream of) academic integrity & scientific performance: we shall overcome!
  
• PressOne, 6 December 2016—with saved PDF version—article by Bianca Felseghi, entitled “Laureații Nobelului pentru Economie nu întrunesc criteriile pentru a fi profesori în România”. This is a good commentary in Romanian—including additional answers I gave to the journalist—of some of the main aspects of a paper written in English by myself and eight others, Buhai et al (2016): “The Rise for Academic Integrity in Romanian (Domestic) Economic Sciences”; see my “essays page” the 4 Dec 2016 entry, for details. In a nutshell, RO Econ Sciences are, in terms of quality-adjusted research output, at 1/2 of Africa’s (!) level, while criteria for evaluating performance therein are out of touch with sanity, s.t. even Econ Nobel Laureates would not minimally qualify for professorships: we call for a rise against the regime which enacted & continues to defend this imbecilic state of affairs. Felseghi’s PressOne commentary of our study was subsequently featured in a comedy show by Europa FM, a national radio broadcaster, as well as summarized/ distributed by other media outlets, such as Money.ro, Cultural.bzi.ro, Antena3.ro, Ziare-pe-net.ro, Ziarelive.ro, personal blogs, etc. Some public reactions from foreign/RO scientists have been collected as “retweets” on twitter EconAcademia (Dec 2016).
  
• Adevarul, 23 September 2016—with saved PDF version—by Remus Florescu: “Cercetător român la Universitatea din Stockholm, despre învăţământul din ţară: „În România, un doctor în economie nu mai înseamnă, din păcate, nimic“”. This is the 2nd part of an interview in Adevarul on the implications of Buhai, Litan and Silaghi (2015): “Disincentiving the performance: the case of the Romanian national criteria in Economic Sciences” (English abstract), now specifically about wider, societal consequences, and about what was done, and what to do about the truly inane status quo in RO domestic Economic Sciences; see the bullet point entry for 19 August 2016 below for the 1st part of this interview. This Adevarul article was disseminated also through Antena.ro, Gazetarul.ro, Nmedia.ro, ZiaruldeIasi, Roportal.ro, ZiareLive.ro, Ziare.com, etc. Read also an overview on my blog: “Despre universuri paralele in evaluarea performantei in cercetarea economica”, with reader comments covering both interview parts from Adevarul.
  
• Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism (CRJI), 12 September 2016, by Sorin Semeniuc—saved PDF version—on the plagiarism of “academic experts” (here, one of many losers w/out any expertise from the national decision-making CNATDCU body) appointed to assess alledged plagiarism by other ‘wannabe academics’ (here, a hapless former RO Minister of Internal Affairs), ubiquitous in my country… I am quoted in a paragraph at the end of this article stating that plagiarism in RO is the tip of the iceberg (RO journalists care only about plagiarism), the problems of academic misevaluation, awarding of titles and perks, and promotion/proliferation of pseudo-values being widespread and more important for both academe and society—as I & co-authors have shown for Economics (see my ‘essays page’ or relevant bullet points on this page).  This gets eventually back to who is to set standards, who is to evaluate “evaluators”? My sine qua non is that any “evaluators”, any decision-makers such as CNATDCU members, have to be *internationally* acknowleged as relevant in the academic profession, and w/o the slightest trace of ethics violation. The CRJI article was covered also by 7est.ro, Nasul.tv, ReporterIS.ro, ZiareLive.ro, etc.
  
• Digi 24 TV: “Starea Natiei”, 31 August 2016, minutes 39-43: no less than 4 min allocated on a popular national Romanian TV comedy show hosted by Dragos Patraru, to the subject of  ERMAS, disincentiving scientific performance, and the Romanian Rahova Institute of Technology. For foreigners: get someone to translate that clip for you, since it scores reasonably high on the fun scale (albeit with tragic nuances for RO Econ academics, and eventually for the RO society). This was again popularising some of the findings by Buhai, Litan and Silaghi (2015)—see also the previous bullet point.
  
• Adevarul, 19 August 2016—with saved PDF version—by Remus Florescu, in Romanian, entitled “Economistul genial considerat „şansa României la Nobel”, profesor la Oxford şi la Sorbona, nu e suficient de bun şi pentru a preda la o universitate din ţară” (the journalist’s title might appear exaggerated, but is meant to capture the paradox as vividly as possible…). This is a press material commenting the Buhai, Litan and Silaghi (2015) study—see also my ‘essays page’ for the entry dated December 2015—about the absurd, fully inane national criteria of evaluation/promotion in Romanian domestic Economic Sciences, embodying a universe parallel to both scientific excellence and academic mere decency, given international standards for this field; it contains further interview QAs. This was further disseminated under various formats (summary, commentary) by other outlets, including B1.ro, Business24.r0, Wall-Street.ro, Alternativenews.ro, StirileKanalD.ro, Antena.ro, Realitatea.net, Gazetarul.ro, ZiaruldeIasi, Ziare.com, Sputnik.md, 9am.ro, etc. The ERMAS 2016 conference press coverage also contains selected links. Read also the corresponding post on my blog: “Despre universuri paralele…”, with reader comments and reactions.
  
• Adevarul, 18 April 2016, with its saved PDF  version, an article by Petre Munteanu entitled “100 FP Romania/ 2015:- what was relevant in terms of Ideas & Projects: academicians, historians, politologues, psihologists, economists, entrepreneurs” (RO: “100 FP Romania/ 2015- ce a fost relevant in materie de Idei & Proiecte: academicieni, istorici, politologi, psihologi, economisti, antreprenori”), with info on the new FP Romania Laureates “Top 100: People and Ideas which Move Romania”—category Ideas/Projects, including my own listing there; the bullet point below has more details.
  
• Foreign Policy Romania, nr. 50, ed. Feb/March 2016, available fully only in print, in Romanian; see the relevant page scan (see also the category screenshot from the FP Romania Top 100 Prize Gala in March 2016); an article with detailed information about all the 2016 FP Romania Laureates “Top 100: People and Ideas which Move Romania”, including my own listing there under the category “Ideas/ Projects”, and the entry “Sebastian Buhai, economist: For the Insistence to Align Economics Research in Romania to International Standards ”  (in original: “Sebastian Buhai, economist: Pentru Insistenta de a Alinia Cercetarea Economica din Romania la Standarde Internationale”). More specifically, I was listed in this FP Romania top 100 for a proposal that the Romanian National Bank (BNR) starts a Romanian Institute for Economics and Finance (“Institutul Roman pentru Economie si Finante”=IREF), analogous to the Bank of Italy-initiated EIEF and respectively the Bank of Spain-initiated CEMFI.  This was my 2nd consecutive listing in the Foreign Policy Romania Top 100, in the previous year being listed, together with 3 colleagues, in the same “Ideas/ Projects” category—and then actually winning the category’s prize—for initiating the ERMAS conference (see corresponding links below).
  
• Adevarul, 14 December 2015, by Remus Florescu, in Romanian, with the title “De ce esueaza reformele Educatiei: spiritul de turma si centralizarea puterii. Trasaturile lumii academice romane incompatibile cu modelele occidentale”, summarizing conclusions of the 2015 Report of the G3A Think Tank on Romanian academic/research policies, where I and two co-authors contributed an analysis on the dismal situation of Economic Sciences within Romania (read the abstract in English, entitled “Disincentivizing the performance: the case of the Romanian national criteria for evaluating research in Economic Sciences”)
  
• Press release of the National Bank of Romania (BNR), 5 October 2015: the BNR Governor’s speech in a ceremony rewarding BNR researchers admitted to present papers at the Annual Conferences of Romanian Academic Economists from Abroad (ERMAS), which I together with 3 colleagues initiated in summer 2014 (see further links below for various prizes/articles related to this conference).
  
• Live 50-minute interview/ discussion on the Romanian TV channel Digi24 (Cluj-Napoca), “Vocile Clujului” rubric, with Marius Benta as — superlative — moderator, 28 July 2015. If easier to access, now you can also see this interview on YouTube. In this talk-show, entitled “Economist din diaspora: Cercetarea de top este posibilă în Romania”, I have discussed some of the steps that need to be taken in Romania in order to eventually reach excellence in terms of scientific research and graduate education status quo, with focus on Economic Sciences (arguably, Economics has one of the sorriest state among all sciences represented in my country). Inter alia, my advice for my co-nationals was to plagiarize… yes, to plagiarize!… but with a twist: they need to stop- and punish properly- plagiarizing scientific papers or PhD theses as currently habitual even at governmental levels in Romania, and instead copy/plagiarize/emulate the organization/management of scientific research and graduate education from e.g., US, UK, Western Continental EU. The large and reasonably successful community of Romanian academic economists from the diaspora is ready to help, but our colleagues from within Romania have to be prepared to listen carefully and act… before further generations are lost. To read comments subsequent to that talk-show see my corresponding blogpost.
• Adevarul, 17 June 2015 (with saved PDF version), in Romanian: under the (translated from Romanian) title “A Romanian economist from the diaspora challenges Mugur Isarescu [Governor of the National Bank of Romania=BNR hereinafter]: BNR should capitalize on the top Romanian economists from outside the country“, this is Remus Florescu’s well adapted version of an article I initially wrote for Blog EconAcademia (blog of Romanian academic economists that I initiated and co-founded in December 2014), proposing that BNR sets up a research institute in Economics similar to the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF) from Rome (founded by the Bank of Italy), revolutionizing the current, dismal status quo of the research and graduate education in Economics from inside Romania. The Adevarul article has been taken over by other online (news) sites, such as Gazetarul.ro, Comisarul.ro, RadioIntact.ro, Fluierul.ro, Ziare.ro, etc.
• “Sinteza- Revista de gandire si cultura strategica”, number 15, April 2015, in Romanian (available fully only in print; see imperfect fast-scanned version): adapted interview with me by Elena Nicolae, nicely entitled (by her) “The voice of the eXported Generation” (in original “Vocea generatiei eXportate“). I discussed briefly and generally about the Romanian ‘Generation X’ and how I fit in that, including my impression of Romania under Communism, the Romanian December ’89 revolution, my experience of studying/working outside Romania from very early on, etc.
• Adevarul, 4 March 2015 and Adevarul, 6 April 2015 (with saved PDF versions, pdf_4March2015 and respectively pdf_6April2016), in Romanian: 2 articles by Petru Munteanu with the list/description of the 2015 Foreign Policy (FP) Romania Prizes “Top 100: People and Ideas which Move Romania” (=”Top 100: Oameni si Idei care Misca Romania”); I have been awarded the 2015 FP Romania “Top 100” Prize– jointly with Mihai Copaciu, Cosmin Ilut and Cristian Litan– within the category “Ideas/Projects” (=”Idei/Proiecte”), for our initiating the Annual Conferences of Romanian Academic Economists from Abroad (“ERMAS” as Romanian acronym). The more recent article linked here is an ‘extended version’ of all those listed within the “Ideas/Projects” category of the 2015 FP Romania Top 100; starts with my colleague Mihai Copaciu’s photo receiving the category prize on our behalf, in Bucharest, 3 March 2015.
• Foreign Policy Romania, nr. 44, ed. Feb/March 2015 (available only in print; a relevant PDF fragment), in Romanian: an article with detailed information about the 2015 FP Romania Prizes “Top 100: People and Ideas which Move Romania”, including the prize that I and 3 other colleagues have won for initiating the ERMAS conference, within the category “Ideas/Projects”, see also the bullet point immediately above. This article was mentioned, inter alia, also in a press communiqué of FSEGA, Babes-Bolyai University, superlative hosts of the very first ERMAS edition (you can also check out a compilation of various news media about the 1st ERMAS conference edition, including on this FP Romania Top 100 prize).
  
• Adevarul, 1 January 2015 (with saved PDF version), in Romanian: interview in this newspaper’s cycle “Romani cu care ne mandrim” (=”Romanians who make us proud”), published in the very first day of the new year(!), in which I answered questions about my recent initiatives concerning Romanian academic economists, about my best research published in 2014, and offered my New Year wishes for Romania.
• Adevarul, 12 November 2014 (with a saved PDF version, in case the link stops working), in Romanian. An article by Remus Florescu, slightly adapting my questions on science/ research/ education policy addressed to the Romanian presidential candidates from the 2nd election round, November 2014 (this article gathered more than 1800 “likes” online on the Adevarul website, after just 1 (one) day since publication). The initial material embedding these questions appeared on my blog (where you can also read comments and my reactions to them). These 2014 questions are, in fact, identical to the ones I have addressed to the then-ROpresidential candidates a decade earlier, in Nov 2004 (e.g., see below on this media-coverage page, around November 2004; search also my essays page for documents from around that date), when they were also sustained by several associations of Romanian researchers, and individually by some of the top Romanian scientists from abroad, including the Romanian Nobel Prize winner George Emil Palade; then, in 2004 (as, sadly, now in 2014) few of the presidential candidates bothered to answer anything (and none replied concretely and/or to the point; for some of those 2004 documents, candidate replies, etc, consult a sum-up by the Ad Astra Association of Romanian Scientists), and, unexpectedly, nothing significant changed in terms of science or education policy in my country, which still performs below any other EU countries and way below its potential. This article from Adevarul appeared also on Yahoo News Romania or Comisarul de Cluj.
• Foreign Policy Romania (FPR), October-November 2014 edition– appeared in print 6 october– (so far only in print; in Romanian). The print edition has my short bio (with some errors, e.g., missing again one of my university degrees, but overall fine) on page 8- glimpse here– and an interview, taken by Raluca Maxim, on pages 40-41, entitled “Repatriere stiintifica. La ce pot fi buni acasa economistii romani validati in centre de cercetare majore din lume” , glimpse here. See also the index of topics from this FPR edition.
• ‘Sinteza- Revista de gandire si cultura strategica’, number 8, September 2014 edition (only in print; in Romanian), ample material by Elena Nicolae in the ‘Intelligent Business’ section– under my headline “Noi nu ne-am saturat de Romania” (which appeared also in one of my interviews mentioned below on this page, about 10 years earlier)– covering the ERMAS 2014 conference, based on interviews with myself, Mihai Copaciu, Cristian Pop-Eleches, Nicolae Garleanu, Virgiliu Midrigan and Mihai Manea. A glimpse of this Sinteza material (Sinteza’s journalists took pretty nice pictures!).
• VoxPublica.Realitatea.net, 22 August 2014 (in Romanian) , an article-analysis by Ciprian Domnisoru.
• Adevarul, 21 August 2014 (in Romanian) This material from Adevarul was also taken over by Yahoo News Romania.
• Adevarul, 20 August 2014 (in Romanian) . (Flattering) Article by Remus Florescu (from its very title: “Mintile sclipitoare ale Romaniei care schimba economia lumii. De ce nu s-ar intoarce acasa”), based on interviews with myself, Mihai Manea and Nicolae Bogdan Garleanu (NB: the article has got some relatively minor errors — such as missing one of my academic education degrees, etc.– but overall is written well and obviously with noble intentions :-)). This article also appeared and/or was mentioned/ adapted on Wall-Street.ro, Comisarul.ro, Romania20.org or Momentozero.eu.
• Actual de Cluj, 19 August 2014 (in Romanian)
• Digi24 Cluj-Napoca, 18 August 2014 (in Romanian), with short video interview about the ERMAS 2014 conference (following after Mugur Isarescu and Cristian Pop-Eleches in the linked videoclip). The content of the article appeared also on Yahoo News Romania.
• Hotnews, 14 August 2014 (in Romanian)
• Live 50-min dialogue on Romanian TV channel Digi 24 Cluj, 23 July 2014, together with Cristian Litan, and Marius Benta from Digi. If easier to access, now you can also watch this discussion on YouTube. The talk show was about ERMAS 2014 (18-22 August, Cluj-Napoca, Romania), i.e., the first edition of the Annual Scientific Conference of Romanian Academic Economists (“Conferinta Stiintifica Anuala a Economistilor Romani din Mediul Academic din Strainatate” in Romanian), which I have initiated and co-coordinated, including about its objectives, participants, near and far future, and related discussions about the Romanian scientific research, etc. All materials about the conference can be consulted on conferinta.econacademia.net (look for the PDF documents, available usually in both Romanian and English). These documents are also be accessible from my webpage with miscellaneous (non-research) essays.
• Live 50-min discussion on Romanian TV channel Digi24 (Cluj-Napoca), rubric “Vocile Clujului”, together with Marius Benta and Razvan Florian, 3 April 2014. If easier to access, now you can also watch this dialogue on YouTube. Inter alia, Razvan and I discussed about the current status of research and research policy in Romania, concrete ideas/ chances of bringing back or collaborating with the best Romanian scientists abroad, my involvement with the 1st Annual Scientific Conference of Romanian Academic Economists from Abroad (ERMAS 2014), and even… Salvo Montalbano, in the Romanian academic context :-). For some background in these discussions you may also want to read this essay on the condition of the Romanian scientific researcher that I wrote in 2004, or this other essay with questions addressed to the Romanian presidential candidates also in 2004, both mentioned in my Digi 24 interview (more such materials can be consulted here). And, of course, not sufficiently discussed in this interview, feel free to browse my and some of my enthusiastic Romanian economist colleagues’ initiative, Econacademia.
• Contributors.ro, 18 December 2013 (in Romanian) , article by Virgil Iordache.
• Tinbergen Institute Magazine #27, Fall 2013 (in English) See page 8 of this PDF.
• Hotnews.ro, 18 February 2013 (in Romanian) With the program of this RUSMG (the best I could do at the time in terms of a general name/ acronym :-)) workshop (in English)
• Romanian Embassy in Denmark website, 6 October 2012 (in Romanian) See also the full YouTube video record of the 6-10-12 BRAINetwork event that was mentioned in this article (my address starts about 33m30s – in Romanian; the subtitles in English are mostly fine, but not always correct).
• EVENTUALLY UNPUBLISHED 10-question interview in Romania Libera (the journalist who wanted to interview me, Petre Badica, seemingly changed his mind after I sent him– true, rather late: the excuse is that we have also other things to do in academia– the answers), 10 February 2012 (in Romanian)
• Live 40-min dialog on Romanian TV channel TransilvaniaLive.ro (former NCN.Ro), within the “Ziua de Zece” rubric (with Marius Benta and Sabin Gherman), 22 December 2011: I could not retrieve this online yet, will post a link here once I do. I discussed, inter alia, about the European Union labour market and Romania in this context, including labour market restrictions still kept by some of the EU Member States, North-South labour market differences in the EU etc. (in Romanian)
• Live interview on Romanian TV channel NCN.ro, within the “Cluj Zi de Zi” rubric (Ciprian Aron interviewer), 2 September 2010 (in Romanian): link1, link2 (my interview is the last of that day, starts about 94’30”). The interview was mainly about the status of the Romanian education and scientific research (e.g., recent education reforms of the Education Minister, Daniel Funeriu etc.), comparison to other European systems and to the USA etc. (in Romanian)
• Flacara, 20 January, 2009 (in Romanian)
• Cotidianul, 20 Aprilie, 2008 (in Romanian)
• Noua revista Cultura, 9 March 2006 (in Romanian)
• Internal University Press, Aarhus School of Business, 23 February 2006 (in Danish)
• Cotidianul, 26 October 2005 (in Romanian) (see also a note from the “Catavencu Media Group” about this )
• Timpul, 5 May 2005 (in Romanian)
• Ev. Zilei interview with then-Ad-Astra director Razvan Florian, 23 November 2004 (in Romanian)
• Forumul Academic Roman, comunicat de presa, 22 November 2004 (in Romanian)
• Ziua, 19 November 2004 (in Romanian)
• Cultura, November 2004 (in Romanian)
• Romanian Global News, 16 November 2004 (in Romanian)
• Romanian Global News, 3 November 2004 (in Romanian)
• Adevarul, 19 October 2004 (in Romanian)
• Elsevier, October 2004 (in Dutch)
• NRC, 2 April 1999 (in Dutch)