As reported in our Khachapuri Index Column, the prices of key khachapuri ingredients have started rising in July, given their strong correlation with the annual cycle of agricultural production in Georgia. A standard portion of Imeretian khachapuri can now be cooked at slightly more than 3GEL, on average. Now, while 3GEL does not sound like a lot for the expats and the better off Georgians, it may be beyond reach for many of the less fortunate Georgian households. To remind ourselves: about 9.2% of Georgia’s population (close to 400,000 people) are ...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Sep
05
Aug
22
We economists tend to search for economics behind everything. It's as if it is some kind of disease, for which there is no cure. I admit, I myself suffer from it.
Last weekend I visited Shatili, a historic highland village in Georgia located near the border with Chechnya. This unique fortress built with stone and mortar, isolated from the rest of the world makes you think about your ancestors. Our guide told us many interesting facts about people from the highlands, and one of them attracted my attention very much. Particularity the existence of “Urvadi”...
Jul
17
Putting “choose” in quotation marks is the main part of the title and a hint to my subjective view on the issue to be discussed in this post.
Based on my own experience and on the experience of my friends and acquaintances I came to the conclusion that most Georgian youths do not autonomously choose to get higher education, rather their choice is made directly by their parents. This is the case when parents impose their will upon their children. This is a case of paternalism, which means imposing your own will upon another person for his/her own good. Th...
Jul
06
The day of select economic links has come!
1. Ukrainewatch blog links to the ISET blog post by Michael Fuenfzig. International publicity is great! 2. Interesting stats from Mark Perry. I was always sure that US had the cheapest food compared to the income. My intuition was correct! 3. And from him again, a controversial but quite sensible post on racial diversity in practice. 4. Some economists think that there’s no real crisis in Europe. Do you agree? 5. The Economist writes about the similar recent decisions of three o...
Jun
29
Best day of the week – best links from Giorgi!
1. Sad news first – Anna Schwartz, famous for being Milton Friedman’s collaborator, passed away at the age of 96. RIP… 2. A somewhat original way of saving the Euro, from NY Times. 3. And an orthodox approach to the same problem, from Economics Help blog. 4. Not exactly economics (in fact, not economics at all!) but I’m sure you, as well as I, have long been interested why supermarket fruits and vegetables look so well and taste, erm, not so well. Here’s the answer for tomatoes. I’...
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