Georgian and Armenian ruling parties have been until recently basking in the glory of high GDP growth rates. Armenia’s stellar growth performance of 7.5% in 2017 and Georgia’s respectable 5% are, indeed, worthy of praise. However, do these figures really matter for the objective well-being of the majority of Georgians and Armenians? Second, how does economic growth, as measured by GDP, affect people’s subjective perception of happiness?

Gigla Mikautadze, the manager of ISET’s “ReforMeter” project, was invited by the International Monetary Fund to the annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the IMF which took a place in Washington D.C. October 9-14. The participants of the event discussed the current trends in the global economy, government policies, and strategies for poverty reduction.

In the world of the 21st century, the number of people living without electricity in their homes is 1.3 billion. Even among those who have access, many do not own basic assets such as refrigerators, motorized transport, or washing machines. However, it is anticipated that over the next several decades, wide-scale poverty alleviation programs, as well as continued economic growth, will lift the incomes of many of the world’s poor.

In developed countries like Korea and Australia, employment in the agricultural sector is gaining more and more popularity, however, moving back to the countryside in developing nations remains associated with poverty, inefficiency, and lack of progress.

Structural transformation of the economy is one of the most important determinants of economic development. Almost invariably, nations that have managed to pull themselves out of poverty were able to diversify their economies away from low productivity sectors. In advanced countries, productivity differences between sectors are generally small, and growth mostly happens because of productivity improvements within sectors.