On 25 May 2016 ISET faculty member and head of the Macroeconomic Policy Research Center at ISET's Policy Institute, Dr. Yaroslava Babych, was an invited panel speaker at the conference on Industrial Policy for the Development of Georgia, organized by the Centre for Social Studies of Georgia.

Georgians have revealed themselves to have overall low levels of financial literacy. Only 6% of respondents to a new research survey were financially literate, which naturally negatively affects the economic situation in the country. ISET's Policy Institute, together with TNS and TBC Bank, conducted the first-ever large-scale survey on financial literacy in Georgia.

Already in ancient times, philosophers debated the nature of happiness and the recipes for a happy and fulfilling life. Today this question is also hotly debated by scientists and politicians, who are particularly interested in what can be done to increase the happiness of their voters (and citizens, more generally). Happiness has become so important nowadays that four countries: Bhutan, Ecuador, UAE, and Venezuela went so far as to employ ministers of happiness!

We are proud to announce that Revaz Geradze (ISET class 2011) has been recently promoted to Head of Macroeconomic Analysis division at the Georgian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. Revaz previously served as Chief Specialist in the Economic Policy and Analysis Department at the MoESD.

14 years ago, the American educationalists Valerie E. Lee and David Burkham published a highly noticed and controversial study titled “Inequality at the Starting Gate: Social Background Differences in Achievement as Children Begin School” (Economic Policy Institute 2002). The authors work with a sample of 16,000 children who entered US kindergartens in 1998 and 1999 and who had taken the ECLS-K entry test, measuring children’s basic reading and mathematical skills.