I am writing this post in the wake of Florian Biermann’s excellent piece on the role of culture in the economic life of Georgia. The debate itself is infinitely fascinating, as culture is truly one of those complex, stupendously vast concepts, which I find very difficult to grasp, let alone define or analyze.
Cultural attitudes play a crucial role in the way human beings interact with one another, the way they define their values and priorities. From the economic perspective, culture has a significant bearing on the functioning and effectiveness of both ...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Jun
28
Jun
26
Members of the same nation have the same “cultural background”, which means that they share a good deal of political and social values and ideals, and they tend to believe in the same recipes to solve their problems. Such fundamental attitudes are often shaped by the historical experiences of a nation. For example, England had a kind of merchant democracy since the 14th century, when the House of Commons was founded. In the former Ottoman Empire, on the other hand, merchants had no institutionalized possibility to influence politics. Bribery and utilizin...
Jun
21
A new study by the ISET Policy Institute has interesting insights into Georgia’s growth performance:
This study applies the Growth Diagnostics framework and attempts to identify the binding constraints to economic growth in Georgia. While many policies potentially promote economic growth in practice only policies that relax the binding constraint do so. In contrast, policies that relax non-binding constraints will by definition do little or nothing to promote economic growth. This study builds on an existing growth diagnostics exercise b...
Jun
19
In May 2012, the ISET Policy Institute piloted a new monthly survey to measure consumer sentiment and expectations. The first pilot included about 60 randomly selected individuals who were asked about their well-being, saving and spending plans, etc. While based on a relatively small sample, the pilot points to a very large gap in consumer confidence among Tbilisi and the rest of the Georgia. Tbilisi households perceive themselves to be marginally better of at present, yet they report a much larger drop in wellbeing during the last 12 months and are less...
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