During the last 12 months, the Georgian authorities have been conducting interesting experiments designed, so it seems, to test the resilience of domestic beer producers. In September 2014, the industry was hit by Article 171 of the Civil Code, prohibiting alcohol consumption in public places. The beer market, 97% of which is supplied by local producers, has immediately shrunk by 22% (in physical volume, see chart), in annual terms.

According to Steve Johnson (a popular American science writer and media theorist, the author of Where Good Ideas Come From), coffee and coffeehouses were a significant contributor to Europe’s scientific and industrial revolution. The first coffeehouses opened in London in 1650 and quickly mushroomed all over Europe. The coffeehouse had two major positive effects.

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the word gay refers to a cheerful, lively, and high-spirited person. The LGBT Prague Pride Parade, which I was fortunate to observe on my recent visit to Prague, lived to the very definition of the word. What I saw was fabulous: unicorns and countless rainbow-colored flags, balloons, and thousands of exalted people dancing and singing in the middle of Wenceslas Square.

The objective of this activity is to design, develop and implement an operational the Georgian Reform Progress Tracking System (GRPTS) that informs grant beneficiaries on how new reform efforts of the Georgian government have progressed against their intended objectives and continue to improve development outcomes.

Today I’m sitting down for a conversation across a continent and an ocean. Our guest is Professor Matthias Matthijs of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is the editor of the renowned and timely book “The Future of the Euro,” and a two-time recipient of the Max M. Fisher Award for excellence in teaching at SAIS. We will be talking about the Eurozone crisis and the lessons other small-state economies and their policymakers can learn from Greece’s unfortunate situation.