In the last week's Khachapuri Index column in The Financial we took a break from agriculture and focused instead on the energy sector of Georgia. While the bulk of khachapuri cost is related to home grown agricultural products, to actually cook khachapuri one has to use energy. And though the share of energy in the total cost is very low, less than 6% (15 tetri, if using gas; 16 – if using electrical oven), it does not make the sector any less interesting to discuss.
Let us begin by stating the obvious: ever since we started our Khachapuri Index survey i...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Jul
04
Jun
19
In May 2012, the ISET Policy Institute piloted a new monthly survey to measure consumer sentiment and expectations. The first pilot included about 60 randomly selected individuals who were asked about their well-being, saving and spending plans, etc. While based on a relatively small sample, the pilot points to a very large gap in consumer confidence among Tbilisi and the rest of the Georgia. Tbilisi households perceive themselves to be marginally better of at present, yet they report a much larger drop in wellbeing during the last 12 months and are less...
Jun
05
This week marks the first anniversary of the “ISET Khachapuri Index” in The Financial. During the last 12 months, our faithful readers have followed the ups and the downs of the index, and learned many economics lessons in the process.
The sharp seasonal fluctuations of the Khachapuri Index are very much reflective of the state of Georgian agriculture: fragmented, unorganized and underdeveloped. The roller coaster of agricultural production is no great fun for consumers and small Georgian farmers alike. When bringing their products to the bazari in high...
May
08
You may think that the subject matter of economics is human behavior. Well, not so fast. There is a growing body of behavioral economics literature suggesting that the subject matter of mainstream economics has been behavior by “Econs”, not “Humans”. Consider this journalistic account of “Nudge”, an influential book by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein:
Economics has traditionally ignored psychology. In NUDGE, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein take a step toward greater realism about it. […] The authors start off by differentiating "Econs" from "Huma...
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