ISET

ISET Economist Blog

A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Feb
06

New Labor Migration Law – Homemade Explosive Device in the Making

LEGISLATING GEORGIA’S WAY INTO THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY – LESSONS FROM RECENT HISTORY On September 1, 2014, the Georgian society woke up to a very unpleasant reality – after years of extremely welcoming visa regime which put the country on the map as an attractive tourist and foreign direct investment destination, a new migration law regulating foreigners admission and stay in Georgia came into effect. Business owners, foreign students, employees of large and small companies, and even residents of Georgia’s border areas found themselves in a very uncertain...
Rate this blog entry:
Continue reading
4919
8 Comments
Write a Comment
Feb
03

Does Competition Spoil People?

Many of the influential critics of capitalism shared a sentiment that life under competitive pressure is not good for human beings. Marx felt deep uneasiness about the fact that workers have to “sell” their workforce -- he feared that this would contribute to “alienation” between the worker and their work. One of the main objectives of the Socialist society was therefore to create a new kind of human, a human who would not compete with others in the market arenas and who would not be driven by selfish motives. Rather, the human grown in Socialism would c...
Rate this blog entry:
Continue reading
3405
4 Comments
Write a Comment
Jan
27

Real Estate Prices in Tbilisi: No Bubble, No Trouble

Bubbles belong to the most fascinating phenomena in a market. Suddenly, people are willing to pay prices which are completely out of touch with the fundamental economic values of assets. In the stock market bubble of the 1920s, persons who had never before considered to become investors borrowed money and bought shares, so as not to miss out on the chance to become rich. Euphoria grew and grew, until even housewives, dock workers, and cleaning personnel had no other topic to talk about but the news from the stock markets. All this went on until in 1929 t...
Rate this blog entry:
Continue reading
5830
9 Comments
Write a Comment
Jan
23

Georgia’s Trade in 2014: Does Export Decline Suggest a Loss of Competitiveness?

According to the latest GEOSTAT figures, merchandize exports from Georgia decreased by 1.63% between 2013 and 2014. This is certainly not great news for the country, but does it imply that Georgian goods have become less competitive on the world market? Recent trade data suggest that this is not necessarily the case. The first thing to note is that much of the decline in exports is related to one particular activity – the re-exports of Georgian cars to Azerbaijan and Armenia. Beginning in 2009, this business has become a “cash cow”, capitalizin...
Rate this blog entry:
Continue reading
4848
4 Comments
Write a Comment

Our Partners