This process involves a transition from massive production to mass customization, the Central Bank governor explained.
The advantages of using Chinese labor force are being replaced by the advantages of bringing production closer to the market, and large companies are already making a comeback in the U.S., Europe and even Romania, Mugur Isarescu, governor of BNR, believes, anticipating a transition from mass production to mass customization, Mediafax reports. “We are currently witnessing an increasing digitization of industrial production marked by the convergence of an entire range of superior technologies. Intelligent software, advanced robotics, nanotechnology, state-of-the-art materials, 3D printing, expansion of online services. Digressing a little, will stores become extinct after we have built all those gigantic structures? I don’t know. There is a possibility of manufacturing products with a higher degree of diversification, which are, thus, closer to consumer preferences, at relatively low costs,” Isarescu said during a speech at the Politehnica University of Bucharest. The head of the central bank believes the new technology will lead the way to a new economic growth cycle lasting 50 years and characterized by the transition from mass production (typical of the second industrial revolution) to mass customization.
The BNR governor pointed out that long periods of prosperity tend to create the impression that the economic cycle is past and the economy is heading toward a “new era”, and examples include the ‘20s, ‘60s or ‘90s. “However, the illusion was always shattered by a new recession outbreak. Nonetheless, even considering the recent financial crisis, the pattern of cycles has changed after World War Two. The expansion phase became longer while the contraction phase grew shorter,” Isarescu explained. The BNR governor added that the situation would have been different if society in the 1990s had chosen to sell or “technologically upgrade whatever had not been upgraded yet.” “Perhaps the Romanian industry would have been salvaged,” Isarescu continued. In his opinion, “we, Romanians, practice market economy because this is our path, not because someone told us to.” The governor emphasized that financial cycles always influence economic cycles considerably, and economic cycles work differently than political ones.
The BNR governor received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa at Politehnica University
On Friday, Mugur Isarescu, scholar and governor of the National Bank of Romania, received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa at Politehnica University of Bucharest in a ceremony held in the Radu Voinea Amphitheater of the prestigious institution. Ecaterina Andronescu, chairwoman of the Politehnica University of Bucharest Senate, said that scholar Mugur Isarescu was one of those Romanians who, in the words of Nicolae Titulescu, has supported Romania’s interests among those of the great world powers, Agerpres informs. In the Laudatio customarily held on such occasions, George Darie, PhD University Professor and Rector of Politehnica University of Bucharest, spoke of Isarescu’s contribution as governor and prime minister “to Romania’s recovery through smart monetary policy”, and ultimately, to “fulfilling every Romanian’s true ideals and the deeply European vocation of our people.”
In his response entitled “Economic cycles…”, Mugur Isarescu praised Politehnica University of Bucharest for being “a junction where teaching meets technological research, development and innovation,” and mentioned BNR’s collaboration with this education facility through the years.
The event was attended by Ion Iliescu, former Romanian president, Ionel Haiduc, chairman of the Romanian Academy, Tudor Prisecaru, Secretary of State, Nicolae Tapus, deputy chairman of the University Senate, and Claudia Popescu, Pro-rector, as well as scholars, scientists, professors and students.
