On May 22, ISET hosted a panel discussion on the importance of properly defining problems, a measure that serves as the first step of impact assessment and existing practices in Georgia. This was the first meeting of a series of RIA evening talks organized in the scope of an EU-funded project, “Legislative Impact Assessment, Drafting, and Representation”.

On 27 March 2018, the ISET Policy Institute in partnership with the World Bank and UNICEF hosted a high-level policy discussion, “Higher Education Reform in Georgia: Challenges and Opportunities”, which was the fourth in a series of education policy dialogues focused on higher education.

ISET was honored to host a third delegation representing the long-time partner, the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen. A four-day program included anti-corruption seminars, public discussions, and site visits to relevant public institutions and businesses.

ISET would like to congratulate two of its resident faculty members, Karine Torosyan and Norberto Pignatti, together with our visiting faculty member Maksym Obrizan, on the publication of their new joint paper “Job market outcomes of IDPs: the case of Georgia”, in the IZA Discussion Paper Series from the Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn (the series is ranked 6th worldwide for economics by IDEAS/RePEc).

Drug policy reform is now at the center of a heated debate in Georgia. Despite the importance of the subject, however, most of the discussions I have heard so far are based on phobias and myths, rather than on evidence. This is a pity, as a society will ultimately have to decide on the subject by voting YES or NO on this reform, thereby choosing between very different potential outcomes. Having an informed opinion on the issue is, therefore, extremely important.