ISET Economist Blog

12 April 2021

Tamar Sulukhia

Inflation of Trust

World economies hampered by the pandemic; countries facing public healthcare crises, with millions killed by COVID-19; thousands of cities under lockdown; social distancing and transformed social practices; countless institutions functioning online; the youth spending endless days and nights in front of computer screens; and, globally, over a year of online education. This is the reality in many countries around the world, including Georgia, in the spring of 2021.

05 April 2021

Yaroslava Babych, Giorgi Mzhavanadze, Davit Keshelava

A Georgian Woman’s Burden: How Pandemic Affected Distribution of Household Work Between Men and Women, And Why It Matters

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives and perceptions in many important ways: the value we put on face-to-face interactions, the importance of personal space, communication with loved ones, and much more. Some of these perceptions and social changes may actually outlive the pandemic.

22 March 2021

Luc Leruth

COVID and the City – A Spatial Fracture in Georgia?

The COVID pandemic raises a vast number of questions for economists, though researchers have mostly focused on advanced economies and on the economic ‘scarring’ that the virus has inflicted. Not all, however, as a few economists have been interested in the likely evolution of cities after the pandemic. They observe that some cities, in particular travel hubs, have been epidemic hotspots, while many others, usually smaller, have been reasonably spared. More rural areas have also been less affected, although with strong variation across regions.

15 March 2021

Guram Lobzhanidze, Norberto Pignatti

How Can Georgia Deal with its Plastic Waste?

In the modern world, plastic waste recycling has become one of the more crucial activities to combat environmental degradation. The plastic pollution portal from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) highlights that every year around 300 million tons of plastic waste is produced globally. Historically, 9% of the plastic ever produced has been recycled and 12% incinerated, with the remaining 79% going to landfills. Plastic is now truly found worldwide, including within our very food and water, and it is already negatively impacting both wildlife and human wellbeing.

08 March 2021

Salome Gelashvili, Ia Katsia, Salome Deisadze

The Wheat Market in Georgia

On February 15th 2021, export quotas on wheat, rye, maize, and barley entered into force in Russia. Russia also imposed customs tariffs and prohibitive duties amounting to 50% of customs value on these products.

08 February 2021

Yaroslava Babych, Luc Leruth

To Prevent, to Repair, or to Start Over: Should Georgia Put ‘Maintenance’ Ahead of ‘Investment’ in Its Development Dictionary?

In a recent blog post, Y. Babych and L. Leruth raised several issues related to public infrastructure management in the city of Tbilisi. They observed that the consequences of poor past management practices were highly visible. But some of these consequences are also less visible or less immediate. Take schooling, for example. If the authorities fail to plan for the expected increase in the city’s population over the next few years and neglect to build an adequate number of kindergartens/pre-schools, the results will be overcrowded, fast-decaying pre-schools, and eventually poor educational outcomes. Similarly, as the number of cars keeps growing, the authorities must plan new roads and enhance their maintenance.

ISET Economist Blog

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