The Georgian Government’s pride and joy of the previous years has been its high standing in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index. Investors, policymakers, and economy-watchers around the world have opened editions of magazines like The Economist to see full-page advertisements about why Georgia is ‘different’ among Post-Soviet countries when it comes to doing business.

Apostle Matthew was a tax collector in Galilee – perhaps the most hated occupation in the ancient world. By quitting his job and deciding to follow Jesus, Mathew accomplished one of the greatest transformations possible in a person’s life. Modern tax inspectors are certainly not expected to follow Jesus.

After many years of chaos and utter collapse, Georgia’s once glorious tea industry is again showing signs of life. More and more individual farmers and businesses – mostly very small, but some quite ambitious, such as Geoplant (known for its “Gurieli” brand) – grow, process, and pack tea. Despite competition from major producing countries and international brands, Georgian tea has great export potential because of the value attached to it all over the former Soviet Union.

Professor Hans Wiesmeth from Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden) visit ISET last Thursday to present one of his recent papers “The Environmental Kuznets Curve”, co-authored with Shlomo Weber from New Economic School.

On November 5th, 2015 APRC at ISET Policy Institute presented the final results of a study called Regulatory Impact Assessment on crop insurance in Georgia. The goal of the workshop was to present and discuss the final results of RIA which was conducted by the APRC team from June to October 2015.