ISET Economist Blog

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!

29 November 2015

Eric Livny

On Education and the Sacred Duty of Defending One’s Motherland

Rati, Lasha, and Irakli are first-year engineering students at the Georgian Technical University (GTU). Rather unusual students, one should add. At 22-23, all three are very much alive. Yet, they never attend classes and are not taking exams. BSc in engineering would be their third educational degree, yet neither one of them has any intention of completing his studies at GTU. And one more interesting detail: their ‘studies’ at GTU are paid for by the Georgian taxpayers because engineering (as well as mathematics and natural sciences) is considered to be a priority subject by the Georgian government.

23 November 2015

Florian Biermann, Charles Johnson

Georgia’s Ravaging Nepotism

Georgian media is full of stories about nepotism and the funny justifications of those involved: When Irakli Garibashvili, still being Minister of the Interior, was confronted with nepotism allegations, he replied: “Don’t you know that a relative of your wife is not your relative?”

ISET Economist Blog

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