On January 15, ISET had the privilege to host a living economic legend when Professor Erik S. Reinert visited the institute to participate in the Georgian-language launch of his book, How Rich Countries Got Rich, and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor. His work, which was originally published in 2007, has now been published in over twenty languages and remains one of the most widely-discussed economic works of recent years.

The economic policies of successive Georgian governments have arguably lacked cohesive direction when it comes to inclusive growth. There still remains an open question of whether the overall goal has been to pull people from agriculture or to leave them where they are while pushing productivity up via, for instance, funding the development of cooperatives or clusters. Concurrently, the state also has introduced industrial policies, like establishing SME support agencies that operate under the auspices of different ministries.

The International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University (ISET, www.iset.ge) in Tbilisi, Georgia seeks to make one or more appointments at the ISET Policy Institute (www.iset-pi.ge), a leading economic policy think tank in the South Caucasus.

On December 10, the parliament of Georgia approved the state budget for 2020. The budget includes allocations of around 14.4 billion GEL. Out of which, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA) will receive 353 mln. GEL (2.4% of the total budget allocation).

A nationally representative sample of around 350 Georgians, interviewed in early October, November and December 2019, reveals that the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) deteriorated in the two consecutive months, October and November, by 0.4 (from -19.3 in September to -19.7 in October) and 2.1 index points (from -19.7 in October to -21.8 in November) respectively.