Perhaps as an early Christmas gift to the international community rooting for a cross-sectoral solution on combatting climate change, HSBC has announced its commitment to establish the world’s first bond. As explained by HSBC themselves, the bond is closely linked to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Following seven selected SDG targets, HSBC will fund 1 billion USD through the bond and thus financially support projects set out to increase the sustainable well-being of communities and the environment.

On October 20, members of the ISET community attended a guest lecture on international taxation from Ms. Femke van der Zeijden from PricewaterhouseCoopers Netherlands’ office. Ms. Zeijdenhas introduced issues of international taxation from a legal perspective. This was particularly useful and interesting for the audience as it primarily consisted of economists, for whom the legal aspects and problems of different taxation policies are not well known.

So far, 2017 has proved to be an exceptional year for ISET and its community. The school released its 10th cohort of well-educated and professional economists, with 32 students from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia joining the small but very strong community of ISETers.

On Tuesday, April 11, ISET hosted Warwick University Professor Omer Moav. Professor Moav delivered a profoundly interesting lecture to the ISET community about the work that he and his colleagues have worked on together, specifically a revolutionary hypothesis about the emergence of social and political hierarchies in early agrarian societies.

On Thursday, April 6, ISET hosted Professor Giorgio Brunello, who delivered a seminar for the ISET community. The title of his presentation was “Does Delayed Retirement Affect Youth Employment? Evidence from Italian Provinces”. According to his research, pension reforms that raise the minimum retirement age increase the pool of senior individuals aged 50+ who are not eligible to retire from the labor market.