The Constitution of Georgia states “The State shall take care of human health care and social protection, ensuring the subsistence minimum and decent housing, and protecting the welfare of the family" (Constitution of Georgia, Article 5, 2017). However, at the moment, Georgian legislation is characterized by a lack of laws and regulations that clearly define the responsibilities of public institutions to solve housing-related issues in the country. To address this issue, the Government of Georgia (GoG) has established a working group including key stakeholders operating on social housing issues, led by top representatives of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia.

Around two years ago, ISET-PI published a blog article on the problem of over-indebtedness in Georgia. The article stressed the idea that due to notably increased access to finances, an aggressive marketing campaign provided by financial institutions, and poor socio-economic conditions throughout the country, Georgians (particularly the poorest) are mired in a swamp of debt, from which they are unable to escape.

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

A decade after its founding, ISET celebrates its entry among the top 10% economic institutions worldwide doing research on CIS countries. In November 2018 IDEAS ranked ISET the 142nd place out of the 1448 economic institutions in its database doing research on CIS countries. IDEAS is an international database that monitors publications in all fields of economics and ranks economic institutions around the world according to the visibility of their research i.e. how many times their online articles are viewed and downloaded.

Blockchain technology became a huge story last year due to the hype over cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Etherium. Banks and other financial institutions are rushing to adopt blockchain technology. Nowadays, about 15% of financial institutions use blockchain technology to secure and validate transactions. IBM was one of the first companies that saw the potential of blockchain use and encouraged startups related to the concept.