ISET Economist Blog

13 June 2022

Mariam Tsulukidze

Challenges and opportunities – making the Georgian energy sector more secure

During the Russia-Ukraine the EU has become a clear example of how substantial reliance on a single country to satisfy energy needs can threaten nations’ economic development, and how challenging the task of achieving energy security is while substantially depending on a single country in key energy products.

27 May 2022

Giorgi Mzhavanadze

The impact of COVID-19 on tobacco consumption in Georgia

Excessive tobacco consumption is an important public health policy issue. According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), 32% of the adult population in Georgia smoked tobacco in 2019 (WHO, 2021). The prevalence of smoking in men was 56.9 percent – the fourth in the world and first in Europe.

26 April 2022

Nutsa Bazlidze, Erekle Shubitidze, Guram Lobzhanidze

Developing a circular economy in Georgia – the benefits, achievements, and challenges

Circular economy and integrated waste management are both concepts we often hear when discussing issues of ecological well-being or climate change. This way of imagining the economy has already gained a foothold in many countries. The idea of the circular economy itself implies a different attitude towards patterns of production and consumption, that which aims to minimize wasted resources.

28 March 2022

Tamar Sulukhia

Is climate change a serious threat that affects you?

Today is 24 March, and it’s been snowing heavily in Tsavkisi for the past few days. My yard and street are covered by about a full meter of snow. Cars are stuck on the snow-covered streets and our small community is physically cut off from the rest of the world. Locals can’t remember such a snowstorm, especially in March.

21 March 2022

Tamar Sulukhia

How has Ukraine offered an opportunity for the world to become better, and how is the world responding?

The war in Ukraine had just begun when I wrote (on the ISET Policy Institute's website and in the Georgian Times) that the present events in Ukraine offer the world a chance to become better. I could not have predicted at the time that hostilities would unfold in such a disastrous fashion or scale, nor could I have anticipated that, following four weeks of the war, we would witness an even larger and, I would say unimaginable human and global catastrophe.

16 March 2022

Mariam Tsulukidze

Should Georgia worry about the dependence on Russian energy?

During such challenging times, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalates daily and threatens the lives of thousands, as well as the wellbeing of everyone around the world, having experienced the horror of war, we Georgians especially feel the pain of the Ukrainians.

ISET Economist Blog

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