1 April, 2014, ISET Economist's special correspondent in Geneva. The ISET Economist was invited to attend the signing ceremony concluding the last round of trilateral negotiations held in Geneva under the joint sponsorship of the Swiss Confederation, the US, Russia and Turkey. The three countries, represented by heads of states, agreed to join the newly created Transcaucasian Confederation and thus bring peace and a promise of prosperity to a deeply divided region that has provided the setting for yet another round in the Great Game – the battle between ...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Apr
01
Mar
31
At the end of Act 2 of Bertolt Brecht’s Three-Penny-Opera, the proletarian petty criminal Macheath and his prostitute Jenny reply to the bourgeois representatives of the establishment urging them to uphold moral standards: “First comes a full stomach, then comes ethics!” This aphorism echoes the widely held contention that ethical behavior is a privilege of those who have satisfied their material needs. How can one expect somebody who is fighting for survival to be decent and honorable? Indeed, when civilization broke down during wars and disasters, huma...
Mar
28
As Georgia embarks on an ambitious program to develop farmer organizations, it is worth considering both the positive and negative lessons from the experience of similar initiatives, both in Georgia and elsewhere in the developing/transition context. The piece by Tim Stewart, originally published on www.springfieldcentre.com, identifies some of the main reasons for the failure of start-up farmer organizations. The challenge for Georgia is to learn from these mistakes in planning and implementation, and ensure improved coordination among the many cooks in...
Mar
24
Until the 1960s, Japan was an amazing place to live. One did not have to lock one’s house, car, or bicycle, as nobody was going to steal anything. Theft, burglary, and cheating were virtually non-existent in the Japanese society of those days. Imagine how much resources this saved, as Japanese did not have to employ guards, they did not have to install alarm systems, they even did not need to buy locks.
Moreover, they needed less police and prisons, and Japanese firms did not have to install complex control mechanisms for making sure that employees did n...
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