Once again, Georgians across the country are preparing for the holiday season, making travel plans, crushing walnuts for gozinaki, and buying gifts for their friends and families. Gifts are an important part of celebrating the New Year and Christmas, signifying the importance of friendship and allowing us to treat our loved ones to something to start a brand new year in style. It is therefore no coincidence that November and December are some of the strongest months for purchasing consumer goods in Georgia, not to mention across Europe and America. ...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Dec
20
Nov
16
“Why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up” – Thomas Wayne to his son (Batman).
The Georgian Government’s pride and joy of the previous years has been its high standing in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index. Investors, policymakers, and economy-watchers around the world have opened editions of magazines like The Economist to see full-page advertisements about why Georgia is ‘different’ among Post-Soviet countries when it comes to doing business. A line such as “Georgia is different because we are the World Bank’s ...
Nov
14
Apostle Matthew was a tax collector in Galilee -- perhaps the most hated occupation in the ancient world.By quitting his job and deciding to follow Jesus, Mathew accomplished one the greatest transformations possible in a person’s life. Modern tax inspectors are certainly not expected to follow Jesus. However, by following insights from behavioral economics, they may gain in respect and social status while also improving tax collection, in Georgia and elsewhere around the world.
As discussed in our previous article, Georgia’s tax administr...
Oct
22
As suggested by ISET’s most recent Consumer Confidence report, Georgian consumers are in no mood for shopping. And, yet, Tbilisi is abuzz with excitement about the recent lavish opening of East Point – a giant new shopping and entertainment center, the largest of its kind in the country. Thus, while consumer confidence is hitting new lows, supply of retail space and world class shopping malls continues to hit its highs. A natural question arises: is Georgia’s retail market able to accommodate this surge in the supply of retail space?
SUPPLY OF...
Oct
10
During the last 12 months, the Georgian authorities have been conducting interesting experiments designed, so it seems, to test the resilience of domestic beer producers. In September 2014, the industry was hit by Article 171 of the Civil Code, prohibiting alcohol consumption in public places. The beer market, 97% of which is supplied by local producers, has immediately shrank by 22% (in physical volume, see chart), in annual terms.
As if that were not bad enough, the Georgian Ministry of Finance had another surprise up its sleeve: a doubling of excise t...
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