This study investigates the psychological and contextual mechanisms through which consumers’ awareness of agriculture’s contribution to climate change translates into a willingness to pay (WTP) for low-carbon agricultural products. Drawing on data from Eurobarometer 93.2 (ZA7739; N = 24,193), the research applies a moderated mediation model (Hayes’ PROCESS Model 14) to examine the mediating role of support for mandatory environmental labelling and the moderating effect of residential context. The results indicate that climate change awareness is significantly and positively associated with WTP. Moreover, support for mandatory labelling partially mediates this relationship, suggesting that institutionalized transparency may serve as a key mechanism through which environmental concern becomes economically actionable. The findings further reveal that this indirect effect is moderated by the level of urbanization, being stronger in urban areas than in rural settings. This highlights the importance of socio-spatial context in shaping consumer responses to sustainability information. Overall, the study contributes to the literature on sustainable consumption by demonstrating that willingness to financially support low-carbon agriculture depends not only on environmental awareness but also on trust-enhancing policy instruments and contextual factors. The findings offer important implications for policymakers aiming to promote sustainable food systems through information-based regulation.

Agriculture faces significant challenges related to globalpopulation growth, climate change and pressure on naturalresources. In this paper, the positive impact of integratingdigitalization into farming practices to promote sustainabilityand efficiency in the agricultural sector is explored. Theresearch aims to highlight the importance of smart farmingin the sustainable development of agriculture. This analysiswill be carried out at the level of scientific studies conductedaccording to the Scopus database. The main results showthat the interest in exploring IoT and digitalization inagriculture has increased in the last ten years, mostlybecause adopting sustainable practices and regenerativetechnologies minimizes the environmental impact andpromotes biodiversity. The findings add knowledge tothe literature and contribute to a better understanding ofthe benefits of implementing digitalization in agriculture;as such, farmers make more informed decisions aboutfertilization, irrigation, and crop protection, while reducingresource use and environmental impact.

The rapid integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into digital commerce and social structures has created a complex perceptual landscape for consumers. While AI is often associated with efficiency and progress, it simultaneously triggers concerns regarding algorithmic opacity and loss of human control. This study investigates the dual role of digital literacy as a predictor of both perceived utility and consumer scepticism, as well as their subsequent impact on the overall perception of AI as an opportunity or a risk. Using secondary data from a nationally representative German survey on artificial intelligence (GESIS, Study No. ZA8719) and employing Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), the research tests a conceptual framework based on the “Privacy Paradox” and technology acceptance theories. The results reveal that digital literacy significantly enhances the perceived utility of AI while concurrently amplifying consumer scepticism. Furthermore, the study identifies a dominant effect of perceived utility on the overall evaluation of AI, whereas the impact of scepticism remains statistically non-significant. These findings suggest a compensatory mechanism where pragmatic benefits outweigh perceived risks in the consumer’s decision-making process. The paper concludes with strategic implications for digital marketing and e-commerce platforms, emphasizing that value creation is the primary driver for overcoming consumer resistance in the digital era.

Romanian agriculture is dominated by numerous small and medium-sized producers, who barely manage to market their outputs. Scientists indicate that cooperation by forming short chains may overcome this situation, thus the paper explores the willingness of farmers to join short food supply chains, starting from the premise that most of them want to organize themselves in such networks. The objectives of the research are to identify the challenges faced by small and medium-sized farmers, and the factors that determine them to form short supply chains. To achieve this goal, a survey has been conducted to identify the correlations between farmers' willingness to join short chains and the factors that may influence this decision: producer's experience, farm size and profile, and form of organization of the farm. The main findings show that farmers' willingness to join short supply chains is influenced by the farm profile, more precisely, farmers who grow vegetables and raise animals are willing to form short chains to market their outputs. Derived results can be used in macroeconomic policy decisions, targeting these farmers in particular with incentives for the formation of short supply chains.

Nowadays, consumers' confidence in the benefits of food on human health has increased, and health concerns are becoming increasingly significant in food choices. The objective of this research is to identify the types of food that have meaningful associations with health, based on the statistical significance. In pursuing mentioned, a multiple linear regression analysis has been performed, while using statistical data about foods' consumption, and new cases of endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases emerged over the last thirty years, in Romania. The main results show that some foods, such as cereals, beef, beer, grapes and melons, have significant statistical associations with new cases of underlined diseases. Research relevance lies in optimizing nutrition and consumers' choices based on healthy eating principles.

This paper aims to explore customer preferences for craft beer through a questionnaire-based survey, analyzing key factors influencing purchasing decisions. The research focuses on aspects such as taste, aspect, alcohol content, and price sensitivity to understand the motivation behind the customer choices. The study collected responses from diverse samples of craft beer consumers, examining demographics influences on preferences. The results of the survey show that most respondents are familiar with craft beer, which they consume occasionally, usually in pubs. The bitter taste and fullness of craft beer are appreciated, they also prefer a beer made from quality ingredients with golden color, clear and glossy having a low content of alcohol packed in a glass bottle.

In a global economy, textile and clothing companies operate in a highly competitive international market, where numerous firms compete for consumer demand, characterised by frequent changes, depending on fashion. Therefore, increasing economic performance is essential to survive in such an environment. This piece of research has the objective to analyse the factors that determine performance expressed in the form of companies' turnover, at sector level in the European Union region, trying to answer the question of which are the drivers influencing the turnover in the textile and clothing industry and how strong their influence is. In pursuing this, multiple linear regressions have been performed between turnover and its determinants. The findings show that turnover is strongly influenced by the number of employees, imports and exports and less influenced by consumers' expenditure. These results may serve to underpin the macro policy decisions regarding the textile, clothing and footwear industry.

Organic farming supports sustainable agriculture and connects not only food requirements in an environmentally friendly way, but also future requirements to fight climate change. Organic production is an agricultural system that combines biodiversity, good environmental and climate action practices, high animal welfare standards and conservation of natural resources. The objectives of the research are to identify the contribution of organic farming to the economy and sustainable development. In pursuing this, statistical data regarding the area under organic farming have been analyzed and correlated to the use of chemical resources. The main findings show that the sector of organic farming has developed in Romania, in the last period. The topic is relevant because organic farming has a double role: social, it develops a specific market that responds to consumers’ demand for organic products, and it provides goods that contribute to the protection of the environment and animal welfare.

This article investigates the impact of rural tourism on the economy and on sustainable development in rural areas of EU member states. Rural tourism is a distinct form of tourism carried out in rural areas, which attracts tourists interested in authentic experiences, nature, and local culture. The article explores the multiple ways in which rural tourism influences the economy of rural areas. This paper seeks to identify factors that can enhance economic development in rural areas through the tourism sector. Therefore, various indicators of rural tourism and businesses operating in the accommodation sector will be analysed in order to determine their influence on gross value added. The analysis used the linear multiple regression method to determine the influence of these factors on gross value added. The analysis of the data identified that the founding countries of the European Union have a developed rural tourism activity, with the most nights spent as a tourist occurring in rural areas in France and the most rural accommodation establishments occurring in Italy. At the same time, Germany recorded the highest number of employees in the accommodation sector in 2021.

Studying food waste is crucial to achieving sustainability goals and ensuring global food security. A thorough understanding of food waste issues and the development of effective solutions requires detailed research and analysis. Through food wastage studies, effective strategies and policies can be developed to help reduce this major problem and support a more equitable and sustainable food system. Studying the factors causing food waste and its social, economic, environmental and nutritional implications helps stakeholders to better understanding this global issue and to identify solutions for its reduction.

This paper presents the scientists' interest in studying the topic of unfair trade practices in agro-food chains, trying to answer the questions how important is this topic in academic writing and how it interferes with other terms? Exploring and understanding fairness-enabling practices in the agro -food chain is essential to create a sustainable and resilient agro-food system. The objectives of the research are to identify the main unfair trade practices that impacts the agents along the agro-food chain and the solutions given by scientists to solve inequity. In order to achieve these goals, a systematic literature review of papers covering the topic of unfair trade practices in agricultural sector has been conducted. The results show that there is an increased and relatively recent interest in studying unfair trade practices in the agro-food sector, with a noticeable growth in research since 2018. The main research connections of this topic include sustainability, emerging technologies to improve fairness in supply chains, the role of governance, agro-food policy and producers' organizations in mitigating unfair trade practices, the impact of different crisis on supply chains and trade practices. The results are relevant for rising awareness of how unfair trade practices impact the agents of agro-food chains and for finding solutions to avoid or reduce them.

Although it originated from the Slow Food and Cittaslow movements, slow tourism has spread to many spheres of tourism. The purpose of the paper is to investigate what people associate with slow tourism, and how and where they engage in slow tourism. Social media content analysis on Instagram, using hashtag #slowtourism, was performed in the research. The general conclusion is that people mostly associate slow tourism with different forms of architecture and landscape, and to lesser extent with transport and food. Also, there was significant content variation within the architecture and landscape categories, suggesting that people associate different types of architecture and tourism destinations with slow tourism. When it comes to location, the majority of photos were taken in Italy, which is not surprising, considering that Slow Food and Cittaslow movements originated in this country.

Worldwide, smallholder farmers are encouraged to join short chains or to organize themselves into different forms of association. The main reasons are related to empower negotiation across the agro-food chains, market entry barriers, and reducing transaction costs. The objective of this paper is to identify the determinants of the farmers’ willingness to join a short supply chain. In order to achieving this goals, a survey has been carried out and the correlations between variables have been analyzed using the contingent coefficients. The results indicate that the probability of farmers’ membership in a short supply chain is determined by gender, domain of study, domain of activity and form of business organization and less by age, education and environment. The current study contributes to the literature by analyzing the determinants of short supply chain formation using the results of a survey and the finding may be used to underpin macroeconomic measures to finance collective actions in food supply chains.

The present study aims to highlight the existence or non-existence of a degree of concentration in Romania's foreign trade in agri-food products. For this purpose, data from national databases (National Institute of Statistics) on the value of imports and exports were used and subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis as well as the determination of indicators and coefficients on the degree of concentration according to import sources and export destinations. The results showed a low degree of concentration, but a slightly higher degree of concentration was observed for imports than for exports.

Increased awareness about the importance of a safe food together with human concerns about health have changed people approaches to food they consume and increased the demand for high quality food. Certification is a tools signalizing to consumers that food is safe and has high quality. A growing number of producers make more effort in certifying products they put on the market. In this respect, the goal of this paper is to highlight the importance of food certification, assessing its linkages to other terms. A literature review and a bibliometric analysis were undertaken in order to highlight the importance of food certification. The results show that food certification is a growing global concern because of its role in assuring food safety and, moreover, because of its positive impact on public health, international trade, farmers’ income and ensuring overall food security. The relevance of the research lies in its capacity to enrich literature on food certification and rising awareness about its impact on consumers, producers, government and communities.

This article investigates how governmental agricultural R&D expenditure affect economic prosperity and sustainable development, attempting to verify the hypothesis that agricultural research and development expenditures are among the key factors influencing the farmers’ income, as one of the sustainable development indicators. Statistical data were retrieved from European international databases for the period of 2004–2020 and were analyzed using the regression model. The results of the study indicate positive effects for most of the EU member states. The countries where the results validate the hypothesis are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Croatia, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom, as a former member state of the EU. Further, the model confirms that a significant portion of farmers’ income growth is explained by the governmental R&D expenditure. These findings may change the methods and directions regarding the agricultural R&D expenditure, underpinning the macroeconomic policy and agriculture in rural areas along the pathway to achieving the sustainable development goals.

Fair Trade is a global network, a certification system whereby producers meet certain social, economic and environmental standards, with additional funding to improve these conditions and a minimum price set for their products. The literature shows the rapid spread of movements implemented by countries who want fair trade, fair prices and high quality products. The present research demonstrates the need for the implementation of the Fair Trade movement at the level of each country in the European Union and the benefits for the actors involved. At the global movement level, the total number of producer organisations in the FairTrade scheme in 2020 was 1880, of which 950 were registered in Latin America and the Caribbean. The paper is based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of areas and productions for the 7 main agricultural products: tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, bananas, cottonseed and plants and flowers, as well as the calculation of the main statistical indicators standard deviation, coefficient of variation and growth rate. At E.U. level there are 16 countries representing national Fair Trade organisations, of which Germany ranked second in terms of retail trade of FairTrade products in 2017. The recognition of certification in Europe is an important asset, as the high living standards in Western European countries mean that they are interested in buying products with this label.

The International Conferences on Economics and Social Sciences (ICESS) organized by Bucharest University of Economic Studies provide an opportunity for all those interested in Economics and Social Sciences to discuss and exchange research ideas. The conference takes place in Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Piata Romana 6, Bucharest, Romania.Contact: conference.icess[@]ase.ro The papers presented at the Conference are available online in the Conference Proceedings series (ISSN 2704-6524): Volume 2019 Collaborative Research for Excellence in Economics and Social Sciences, ISBN 9788366675322 Volume 2020 Innovative Models to Revive the Global Economy, ISBN 9788395815072 Volume 2021 Resilience and Economic Intelligence Through Digitalization and Big Data Analytics, ISBN 9788366675704 The past years’ uncertainties and pressures resulted from the pandemic, alongside new developments in social technology, 5G, cloud computing, augmented and virtual reality, generated the perfect setting for the metaverse to gain traction. Several companies found there’s a critical need to redefine the work environment and started exploring the metaverse concept beyond the entertainment sector. Thus, new tools for collaboration and data visualization within a digital shared space are being created, aiming for a fully immersive interaction between the virtual and the physical worlds within the next few

The bioeconomy concept is generally defined as the use of renewable biological resources to produce food, materials and energy. This concept is now seen as an innovation trigger that will be the cornerstone of a knowledge leap in most economy sectors, on the way towards increasing sustainability of human activity. Agriculture occupies the most i and in Romania as well. The present study encompasses a general overview on bioeconomy mportant part of the revenues obtained from economic activities in many countries in EU potential in Romania, pointing specific issues regarding the challenges and opportunities for environmental protection and for agricultural activities. From a methodological point of view, the indirect research methods were used, reviewing specialized literature published until now: scientific articles and press releases. Extraction, observation, analysis and comparison of data provided by official databases was also applied.

Dietary diversity is an important characteristic of the diet quality, showing the nutrient adequacy and playing a significant role in nutrition security, health status and wellbeing of people.Numerous studies point out the food consumption, in the context in which highly processed low-cost foods and sugar based beverages are increasingly common.We start our research from the premise that the consumption of these categories of food increased in the last decades in Romania, slowing down the assurance of nutrition security and a diverse and healthy diet.The objective of this paper is to identify the food consumption trends for those products considered to ensure dietary diversity.The results show that the consumption of food considered to ensure the dietary diversity slightly increased over the last two decades and the consumption of sugar based food and beverages significantly increased in the same period.The relevance of the study lies in its capacity to draw conclusions upon people diet in Romania, the results serving as assumptions for future quantitative research of dietary diversity.