Until 2012, Georgia has been encouraging foreigners to purchase land, bring modern technology and management to the country’s ailing agricultural sector. On the one hand, Georgia’s extremely liberal approach was a boon for investment by global food industry giants such as Ferrero (4,000ha hazelnut plantation in Samegrelo) and Hipps (growing of organic apple and production of aroma and apple concentrate in Shida Kartli).

Worldwide, cash transfer programs are used to fight poverty. Developing countries typically spend between 1% and 2% of GDP on cash transfers (“Cash Transfers: a Literature Review”, DFID Policy Division, 2011). International donors also invest substantially into such programs.

On February 16th, ISET hosted David Bostashvili PhD. from the University of Houston. Dr. Bostashvili presented his job market paper: “Political Budget cycles and Civil Service in American State Governments”. The motivation for this paper was an observation that all levels of government tend to spend budgets right before elections.

On Friday, February 13, 2015, a debate on a new law on agricultural land ownership was held at Expo Georgia. The debate was organized by USAID’s G4G project and ISET. The debate’s panel comprised government officials, experts, foreign investors, and businesses, and the event was moderated by Eric Livny, Director of the International School of Economics.

On Friday, February 13th, ISET hosted Dr. Jan Fidrmuc from Brunel University, who presented a paper he co-authored with Juan De Dios Tena titled “Friday the 13th: The Empirics of Bad Luck”.