Imagine the following public exchange between two guys - Serge, the president, and Larry, the CEO of a company by the name Oogle:
Serge (Oogle president): You know Larry, our stock market numbers look pretty good today. The Wall Street Journal said it must be because the president is taking the company in the right direction!
Larry (Oogle CEO): Come on, Serge, we all know that the president is not calling all the shots around here. And by the way, the numbers would have been much better, if your design team hadn’t made those …. pink-tinted glasses.
Serge...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Mar
26
Mar
05
Some years ago my dad, who is an avid blogger, wrote a piece about a plague of disorderly advertising that was chocking Kyiv. Notices promoting everything under the sun were plastered on the walls, fences, lamp-posts, in metro cars, on the bus stops, even on the pavement. Our own building’s entrance was a sad sight - always covered with debris of paper and glue.
Our neighbor, and elderly lady, laboured heroically to wash off the wall and the door frame every now and then, but it was a Sisyphean task. The clean wall only served as a magnet for ...
Feb
20
Sometimes, transformation requires a crisis. Economists in particular are very well aware of this maxim. We are reminded of it every time a country undergoes an economic shock. A country in those times is a bit like a patient who gets the last warning from a doctor to drop the unhealthy habits or face irreversible consequences.
One of these scenarios has been unfolding in front of our eyes during the past year. Georgia’s neighbor and one of the largest trading partners, Azerbaijan, has been going through tough times.
THE UNFOLDING OF A CRISIS
In the last...
Feb
06
If you visit any post-Soviet country after spending some time in the West, one thing strikes you immediately: the average age of visible poverty. Not only are you more likely to see old people begging on the streets, but old people are also dressed more poorly, and tend to buy the cheapest things on the market.
Georgia is no exception. The main source of income for most Georgian elderly is the state pension. The level of benefits is extremely low and can barely lift people up above the poverty line. And yet, for many households, state pension is the only...
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