A question of causality: Does modernization of agriculture lead to economic growth or does growth induce a modernization of the agricultural sector? For many years, this question has been hotly debated among development economists. While those economists who believe in growth-led agriculture (GLA) were dominating until recently, now the proponents of agriculture-led growth (ALG) are afloat again. Which insights does this debate yield for Georgia?

ISET Policy Institute executive director Lasha Labadze attended the fourth annual ADB-Asian Think Tank Development Forum 2016 on October 27-28 in New Delhi, India, organized by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), and the Asian Development Bank.

ISET's prominence in the agricultural development sector has been displayed once again with the institute's participation in a meeting led by the Georgian Alliance on Agriculture and Rural Development (GAARD) on October 26 at Tbilisi's Courtyard Marriott hotel. Led by Oxfam, GAARD is one of four ENPARD implementing consortia.

The International School of Economics in Tbilisi (ISET), in cooperation with TBC Bank, invites applications for participation in the 2016/2017 “Executive Leadership” program, designed for entrepreneurs and business executives who strive to take their careers to the next level.

Nino Kvirkvelia and her husband Irakli Todua are not exactly your typical Georgian smallholders. Both spouses are well-educated (both hold economics and business degrees from reputable Georgian institutions). More importantly in the context of Georgian agriculture, the couple owns 28(!) hectares of arable land in Georgia’s horticultural heaven, Samegrelo, best known for its hazelnuts.