29
March
2013
I have snapped the picture above in one of Tbilisi’s main streets. To the economist’s eye, however, this picture should be disturbing. While the general observer will see clean and wide sidewalks, beautiful classical-style buildings, and a single pedestrian in this early hour of the day, one also sees two adjacent currency exchange booths (Lombardi, as they are called here).
27
March
2013
Those among our readers who happened to spend a good deal of their lifetimes in the Soviet Union may remember that there was not just one kind of socialism, but there were many different versions.
22
March
2013
An unprejudiced look at the Georgian economy is rather disenchanting. Starting in 1990 at a per capita income that was close to Poland’s, Georgia went into a free fall as a result of secession wars, loss of markets, an explosion of crime and corruption, and the staggering incompetency of its governments.
19
March
2013
The Kingdom of Bhutan is a very special country. When in 2004 King Wangchuck announced that there would be free elections and the kingdom would be gradually transformed into a democracy, people demonstrated in the streets against these reforms.
12
March
2013
Consider yourself in Germany in 1923, entering a bar for drinking a beer. How much would you have had to pay for that? Well, the average price for a glass of beer in the autumn of 1923 was four billion Marks.
