Georgia is among a few countries in the world that do not have a deposit insurance system in place. Does the country need to have such a system? Or is deposit insurance likely to do more harm than good? The answer is not as clear-cut as it may seem.

Is inequality bad for economic development? There has been a lively debate on this issue. Some economists argue that inequality is necessary for economic growth, while others are against it.

Wages and productivity levels differ across countries. For instance, in 2011 the average yearly income in the US was about $53 000, whilst the same indicator was $250 in Madagascar.

In 1905, Max Weber, in his masterpiece, “The Protestant Ethics and Spirit of Capitalism”, proposed an interesting hypothesis which claimed that Protestantism, Calvinism, and Puritan ethics influenced the development of capitalism.

This is the last issue of the Khachapuri Index column in 2012 (#44 this year and #74 overall since the project’s launch in June 2011). Therefore, we would like to wish our readers many causes for the magnificent Georgian supra in the new 2013, with a lot of khachapuri and wine.