This thesis contains four papers. While the first three take a micro labor perspective, the fourth takes an international macro perspective. The common theme in the first three papers is the acquisition and destruction of human capital. The fourth was inspired by a seminar given by Jacques Melit...
This thesis puts in a new light the old problem of institutional design for ethnically divided societies. The lens through which I examine this question is mass education, a key mechanism of cultural reproduction and ethno-national homogenization. In doing so I integrate the insights of various ...
This thesis examines the relations between the United States and Romania through the prism of the interaction of détente in the ‘long seventies’ with the US policy of differentiation towards Eastern Europe. It deals with the dynamics that shaped the evolution of their bilateral relations after B...
The objective of this dissertation is to shed further light on the nature of European integration by examining the relationship between religion and politics throughout the whole process. The thesis aims at answering the following research question: which forms of secularism have underpinned the...
The paper attempts to explain the following question: why ethnic violence and riots broke out in some neighborhoods but not in others? It contributes to our understanding of communal violence and ethnic conflict with a novel approach that will widen our perspectives on the relationship between e...
Coherence in EU external relations is a long-standing concern. While seemingly surpassed in the last years by the idea of the 'comprehensive approach', the latter is nothing but the latest attempt to advance coherence in this field. The issue of the role of law in the quest for coherence is char...
This thesis deals with the economics of crises, within the macro-finance literature. The first chapter, co-authored with Rasmus Pank, deals with how crises emerge. Particularly, we are interested in how confidence affects the outcomes in an experimental asset market where the fundamental value i...
In current debates turning on the fundamental values which the legal order of the European Community should be committed to respect and protect legal issues relating to administrative process and, in particular, the adequate degree of procedural protection to be accorded to individuals have incr...
How is electoral competition structured in Europe? This fundamental problem lies at the core of democracy, as popular sovereignty depends on the existence of a real policy choice, and requires the most preferred alternative being selected and implemented (Dahl 1956). However, there is no consens...
