ISET Economist Blog

02 July 2018

Davit Keshelava

Will Georgia Ever Get to the World Cup?

This summer, Russia is again at the epicenter of the world, but this time for hosting the 21st FIFA World Cup football tournament and not for the occupation of its neighboring countries’ territories. The majority of the world’s population is gripped by football fever, and Georgians are no exception. You can see random people on the streets wearing the jersey of their favorite nation. Students attend classes wearing jerseys or football T-shirts.

30 June 2018

Irakli Barbakadze

Real Estate = Real Investment

Summer is a good time for traveling to the sea, but now I want you to join me in the journey in time. A memory from my childhood in the early 2000s was the discussion among people about the choice between “Khrushovka” and “Chekhuri.” Households were buying flats and making investments in real estate.

18 June 2018

Eric Livny, Laura Manukyan

Georgian and Armenian “Deplorables” and "Desperados" Taking It to the Streets

Georgian and Armenian ruling parties have been until recently basking in the glory of high GDP growth rates. Armenia’s stellar growth performance of 7.5% in 2017 and Georgia’s respectable 5% are, indeed, worthy of praise. However, do these figures really matter for the objective well-being of the majority of Georgians and Armenians? Second, how does economic growth, as measured by GDP, affect people’s subjective perception of happiness?

18 June 2018

Selam Petersson

The Quest of Finding Blue Money

Do you happen to have some 1.7 trillion USD to spare? Somewhere between 2 and 10% of the Georgian population suffers from a lack of basic access to drinking water (Global High-level Panel on Water and Peace, 2017; The Global Water Partnership and OECD, 2015). Globally, 1 in 4 people will be affected by shortages of freshwater by the year 2050 (United Nations, 2018).

11 June 2018

Ia Katsia, Salome Gelashvili

Sweet Little Lies – Things That Make Us “Happy”

On May 17, 2017, the Georgian government adopted amendments to the Tobacco Control Law with 85 votes in favor and only one against. This highly debated new regulation, which bans smoking in public places, was initiated by Parliament member Ms. Guguli Maghradze who just recently discussed the obesity problem in Georgia, which is caused partly by excess sugar consumption.

04 June 2018

Irakli Barbakadze

When Football Meets Finance, Education Scores

World Cup 2018 is getting close and football can already be felt in the air. The squads are almost finalized, new jerseys are already on sale, and fan clubs are preparing venues to watch football. These are all traditional preparation for the World Cup, but interestingly for me, and possibly for you as well, football has also affected education, specifically financial education. If you are interested in how football and financial education are linked, Financial Football is the answer.

ISET Economist Blog

A blog about economics in the South Caucasus financed within the institutional grant by the Government of Sweden.