About the conference

Purpose: To organize an annual scientific conference of Romanian (and Romanian-speaking) academic economists. Starting with the 2023 edition, the ERMAS conference is organized each year by the National Bank of Romania, Babes-Bolyai University and the ERMAS Association. Other academic institutions can be involved as local organizers.

Participants: mainly Romanian academic economists affiliated with foreign universities/research institutes and their colleagues working in Romania. Moreover, starting with the 4th edition of ERMAS in 2017, the conference is also open for foreign economists. Similar projects have been implemented regularly in other European countries such as France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Italy, and Spain.

The conference will be organized based on two principles:

• The selection of conference papers is based on the quality of submitted papers. Submissions will be reviewed by a scientific committee composed of Romanian economists with research output recognized internationally, as presented on the corresponding section of the website;
• The conference aims to be fully inclusive, that is, open to any academic participants from Romania or abroad, with everybody being able to follow and interact with the speakers.

Among the main objectives of the conference:

• Encourage and disseminate research focused on, or applicable for, Romania, with possible relevance for specific projects that could be developed either by private companies or public institutions;
• Establish/ augment the interaction and collaboration between Romanian economists working in the academic field, with positive long term benefits on human capital development within Romanian universities;
• Share the academically-relevant expertise of Romanian economists affiliated at renowned institutes from abroad with their colleagues, as well as graduate and undergraduate students, at Romanian Economics Departments and Research Institutes;
• Enhance the quality of the debate on economic issues in Romania (e.g., those that receive a high media exposure) by engaging Romanian economists with internationally recognized reputation.

Short term expected gains

• The return of the Romanian academic “brain drain” in Economics Sciences, at least once a year;
• Sharing in academic knowledge, as well as know-how, on educational infrastructure from top universities and research institutes from abroad;
• Possibility of intensive specialized and/or general training sessions for the staff of private companies, professors/ researchers, and graduate/ undergraduate students, provided by experienced Romanian economists from abroad;
• Relevant dialogue between the academics, the private sector representatives and the policy makers, including the organization of round tables on actual economic issues.

Medium to long term expected gains:

• Long-term academic collaborations (teaching/research/ periodic invitations as guest professor etc.) with Romanian economists from abroad;
• Increased reputation of the organizing institutions, both domestically and abroad (that could result, for instance, in inviting a number of internationally renowned foreign professors at future editions of the conference, such as, e.g., Nobel Prize winners or potential Nobel Prize winners in Economics, along the best Romanian economists of the moment);
• Closer cooperation between academia and policy-oriented institutions (e.g., the National Bank of Romania).