Being a researcher is not only my job, it is my way of life. Every time I get the chance, I start conversations with random people and ask them tons of questions. During a recent taxi ride, after I asked the driver how his business was going, he told me that the demand for taxis had fallen significantly in January.

ISET Policy Institute team conducted research on the current situation of the land registration process in Georgia, analyzed ongoing land reform, and outlined the challenges of land market development in the country.

The objective of this initiative is to complement the mission of ReforMeter by providing an in-depth analysis of government reform efforts through policy briefs, innovative indicators and other analytical products.

Resident faculty participated in ISET's Ongoing Professional Development Pedagogical Course. This year’s course followed on from the 2015 program, which consisted of consultations, practical sessions, and feedback on teaching methods, as well as discussions relating to the participants' own professional experiences.

On June 14, Maksim Obrizan, a Professor of the Kiev School of Economics, gave a presentation entitled “The Impact of War on Happiness: The Case of Ukraine” at ISET. According to Mr. Obrizan, his work was influenced by cases and papers described in Frey and Stutzer (2002) and Stutzer and Frey (2012), and the impact of wars according to Blattman and Miguel (2010). This has become a particularly poignant topic for Professor Orbizan, as more than 100 Ukrainian soldiers have committed suicide since coming off the front line in the ongoing war against Russian-backed separatists. Previous papers on war and happiness suggest that in 44 countries, the intensity of the war reduces happiness (Welsh 2008).