When Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich decided not to sign the association agreement with the European Union and instead opted for a Russian package of long-term economic support, many Ukrainians perceived this not to be a purely economic decision. Rather, they feared this to be a renunciation of Western cultural and political values, and – to put it mildly – were not happy about this development.
The Russian political system, characterized by a prepotent president, constrained civil rights, and a government controlling important parts of the e...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Mar
21
Mar
17
The recently published government strategy “GEORGIA 2020” aims “to ensure that the majority of Georgia’s population benefits from economic growth”. The natural million-dollar question, however, is how this “inclusive growth” objective could be achieved in reality. In other words, how to make sure that the economy grows while creating jobs and business opportunities for the poor.
Before delving into this “how” question, let’s state the obvious trade-off: efforts to achieve inclusivity by means of aggressive income redistribution (e.g. increased social ben...
Mar
14
In a 2012 article that was published on the ISET Economist Blog, Yaroslava Babych did justice to what lately has been a theme of scientific gossip and backstage talk, which I have personally often encountered among socially (albeit not exclusively) inclined economists about the alarming sex ratio at birth (SRB) statistics in Georgia and its neighboring countries. Yaroslava Babych presented numbers showing that SRB—the ratio of boys to girls in a baby population— of Georgia is topped just by China, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.
Judging from the number of comme...
Mar
10
Assume you have lent your brother 1000 laris, and because he is a close family member, you do not charge interest from him. One day you get a phone call from your brother, and he offers you to pay back the debt either today or in one year from now. What would you choose? If you act in line with standard economic theory, you would choose to get the money back today. You are driven by what economists call time preference, a kind of “psychological interest rate” with which you discount future payoffs.
There are a couple of reasons why it makes sense for hum...
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