Matsatso Tepnadze, ISET class 2012, has been recently appointed head of the division of planning for infrastructure projects at the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia (MRDI). This division is in charge of elaborating project selection and planning methods, based on a systemic evaluation of strategic public infrastructure projects.

Using the panel data on the German and Ukrainian labor markets, Prof. Pignatti and his co-authors Thomas Dohmen (University of Bonn, Maastricht University, IZA and DIW, Berlin) and Hartmut Lehmann (University of Bologna, IZA and DIW, Berlin) show that risk attitudes have permanent (exogenous) determinants that are valid at different stages of economic development and in different structural contexts.

Supported by Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ISET’s collaboration with the Norwegian School of Economics (Norges Handelshøyskole – NHH) started more than four years ago with regular faculty visits by some of the most senior NHH scholars, professors Einar Hope and Rognvaldur Hannesson. The main goal of the new 3-year phase, to be financed by the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (Senter for internasjonalisering av utdanning (SIU)), is to develop a dual degree program in energy and environmental economics.

Just like Duddy Kravitz, Georgian men (and women) appear to be reluctant to part with their parcels of land, however small and unproductive. Whatever the reason, Georgia sees almost no structural change out of agriculture, and, as a result, very low productivity and income growth for the poorest strata of its population. As of today, employment (or, rather, under-employment) in agriculture is a staggering 45% of Georgia’s total labor force.

Currently, the Georgian agricultural sector is characterized by relatively low productivity (by international standards) and its contribution to the GDP of the country is much lower than what it could be, considering that 45%1 of the Georgian labor force is currently employed in agriculture.