23
April
2014
In the second quarter of this year, the ISET Business Confidence Index registered 21.7 on a scale of 100 points (see methodology below). This is down from the 30.2 recorded in the first quarter of the same year. The positive number nevertheless indicates that the confidence factor among businesses is about 21.7 more positive, rather than negative or neutral (e.g. a confidence index of 100 would have indicated that all firms in the sample reported a positive outlook.
21
April
2014
A few weeks ago, the Israeli ambassador His Excellency Yuval Fuchs delivered a speech at ISET, explaining the amazing transformation of Israel from what essentially was an agricultural state into what many economists call a knowledge economy. The ambassador reported that in his youth the foremost product Israel was known for were oranges. In the last thirty years, however, Israel created a high-tech sector that can compete (and in many aspects surpasses) the high-tech industries of the United States and Europe.
07
April
2014
According to a rumor circulating among economists, there exists an econometric study that shows that the economy of a nation is doing worse the more great economists it produces. While this may be a myth, casual observation suggests that the correlation between the economic performance of a country and the quality of its economics profession is indeed unclear.
04
April
2014
The objective of the project was to produce a pilot RIA on the draft Code on Spatial Planning and Construction in order for the regulators to make an informed decision.The project included a training phase to build the capacity of ISET Policy Institute (and two other Georgian organizations) to perform Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA). The ISET-PI team performed a pilot RIA on the draft Spatial Planning and Construction code.
03
April
2014
ISET is proud to announce that it has officially been accepted as a member of the International Chamber of Commerce of Georgia (ICC). In addition to ISET’s membership, Eric Livny, ISET’s Director, has been invited by the ICC Executive Board to establish and chair a new committee on economic policy at ICC.
