Fight of the Century? Well, that was Joe Frazier against Muhammad Ali, New York 1971, right? Wrong! For an economist, the Fight of the Century refers to the intellectual debate between the illustrious economists, John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) and Friedrich August Hayek (1899-1992). A battle at least as hot as the boxing fight, if not even much hotter!

Last week I discussed the economic consequences of inequality. Contrary to a traditional tenet of economics, empirical research has shown that inequality may have adverse economic consequences. Inequality increases the risk of political instability in a country, posing a threat to investments due to the fact that political unrest is highly detrimental to the profits made from any economic activity.

Economics Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, well-known for sharply criticizing the conventional wisdom of development economics, once summed up his views in a rhetorical question: “We have felt the pain, when do we get the gain?”

Like many, I like having more choices but hate making choices. As a result, many of the most important choices in my life, including the choice among alternative partners, have been made for me by … others.

For many observers, the Georgian job market is a mystery. Companies are bitterly complaining about a lack of engineers, forcing them to withhold the expansion of production capacities and to cut down investments. Yet Georgian young people, who could make good fortunes by studying technical subjects, prefer to learn the law, business administration and the like, qualifications that are oversupplied in the market and on average do not yield high salaries.