ISET Economist Blog

20 December 2015

Charles Johnson

Give Your Country a Holiday Gift: Buy Small, Buy Local, Buy Georgian!

Once again, Georgians across the country are preparing for the holiday season, making travel plans, crushing walnuts for gozinaki, and buying gifts for their friends and families. Gifts are an important part of celebrating the New Year and Christmas, signifying the importance of friendship and allowing us to treat our loved ones to something to start a brand new year in style.

14 December 2015

Nino Doghonadze

Mass Family Gatherings in Georgia: Tradition of Waste or a Form of Insurance?

There is a Georgian joke that goes: “Relatives are the people you see whenever their number changes”. In other words, relatives all tend to gather when any of them gets married, gives birth, or dies. As a result, we frequently observe Georgians organizing mass gatherings to either celebrate or mourn numerical “changes” in their families. While there is a recent trend among the wealthier and better-educated people to switch to more intimate, smaller events, the poorer rural people continue to arrange Georgian supra of monumental proportions.

12 December 2015

Eric Livny, Lasha Lanchava, Charles Johnson

Russo-Turkish Drama: a Christmas Gift for the Georgian Economy?

On November 24th, a Turkish Air Force fighter jet shot down a Russian SU-24 that briefly strayed into its airspace. One pilot was killed, and another member of the Russian military perished in the rescue attempt. Vladimir Putin called the event a “stab in the back” even though he had turned his back on Turkish warnings about incursions into its airspace. Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, facetiously stated that Turkey would not apologize for the event and that Russia should be the one apologizing.

07 December 2015

Giorgi Kelbakiani, Eric Livny

If You Are So Smart, Why Are You Stuck in Kutaisi?

Rachvelis, the natives of a beautiful highland region in western Georgia, have a reputation for being slow but thorough in speaking and behavior. Whether slow or not, Rachvelis are certainly not dumb. At least according to their performance in the national General Ability Test (GAT). In 2012, students from Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti (R-L-KS) were 2nd (!) after Tbilisi on the average GAT performance (Chart 1).

06 December 2015

Levan Bzhalava

How Can Georgia Raise a Creative Generation

Every human is born with billions of neurons or nerve cells, which form networks to process and transmit information. The structure of neuron networks constitutes the foundation for learning, memory, and other cognitive abilities.

30 November 2015

Salome Gelashvili, Phatima Mamardashvili

Innovation Starts Here and Now … In Lisi Lake Greenhouses

Innovation is not necessarily about Silicon Valley Hi-Tech startups. It can happen here and now. In particular, contrary to what we have been hearing from our liberal politicians, there is plenty of scope for innovation in Georgia’s agriculture!

ISET Economist Blog

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