A country without oil needs smart people! This clearly applies to Georgia. Not endowed with substantial amounts of natural resources, Georgia totally depends on its human resources. Yet how good is the intellectual equipment of the Georgians that is so urgently required for driving the economic development of this country?
When it comes to applied knowledge that can directly be utilized for economic activities, the picture is rather disenchanting. According to UNDP data, 81% of Georgian unemployed completed secondary or higher education. Yet as we wrote ...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
May
13
May
10
When speaking about unemployment, arguably the sorest problem in many market economies, “better education” is one of the standard remedies proposed by economists. This recommendation is given to rich and poor countries alike. Yet since I am in Georgia, I am increasingly skeptical about this recipe. To what extent can the education and training of people, or, to use the economic term, the accumulation of human capital, foster economic development?
In Georgia, you may have studied law and you really know your trade, but there is an oversupply of lawyers, a...
May
08
Recently, we discussed the low ranking of Georgia when it comes to social capital (“Since When Do Georgians Trust Banks More Than Friends?”). In the 2012 Legatum Prosperity Index our country ranked #140 in the social capital subindex, out of 142 surveyed countries! This seems unbelievable and even shocking, but if we explore the topic a little bit deeper, we may find reasons for such a low ranking.
The World Bank definition of social capital is the following: “Social capital refers to the institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and ...
Apr
17
“Fast and furious... Soviet-style: Crazy stunt drivers of Georgia try to impress Hollywood by speeding through crowded public streets.” The clip, uploaded by the team of would-be-stunts has reportedly received 2million YouTube views in a week. While supposedly there is no such thing as bad publicity, Georgia may find the hard way that this is not an iron clad rule.
With very low levels of domestic savings and no oil and gas resources at hand, Georgia can only achieve higher productivity levels by borrowing abroad and increasing the quantity and qual...
Apr
09
Large gaps exist between male and female wages across the world. Eurostat data about the unadjusted Gender Pay Gap (GPG) represent the difference between average gross hourly earnings of male and female paid employees as a percentage of average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees. In 2011, in the EU, women earned 16.2 percent less per hour compared to men. The difference varies from 2.3% for Slovenia till 27.3 % for Estonia. The Worldbank Development Report on Gender Equality analyzed data of sixty-four developing and developed countries a...
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