The ability of families to meet their most basic needs is an important measure for the development of a country. Poverty touches on questions of human dignity and fairness in a society, but beyond that, poverty causes problems that may impair long run economic prospects, like crime, social unrest, and underinvestment in human capital. Given the libertarian agenda pursued by the United National Movement since the Rose Revolution, one might suspect that Georgia has a poverty problem. Is this true?
POVERTY IN GEORGIA
According to the ISET Consumer Confidenc...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Mar
05
Mar
01
Georgia is flooded with cheap Turkish products: tasteless winter tomatoes, clothes, construction materials, you name it. Turkish goods are everywhere – in specialized shops in central Tbilisi, supermarkets, and the Eliava Bazroba. Is this happening because Turkey is our neighbor, because Georgian people love Turkish products, or what?
Turkish exports to Georgia have been growing very fast since the Rose Revolution but they received an additional push in 2009, following the signing of a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries in Nov...
Feb
26
Not long ago I heard an interesting statement from an appreciated person about schooling. He said that the "one-size-fits-all" or "factory" model of schools was an inefficient use of the children's time. According to his opinion, homeschooling could be more effective and yield better outcomes than standard mass education.
There is no doubt that the school system children are exposed to have an impact on their developments, starting at a relatively early age. So the topic is important for every country, but in particular for a country like Georg...
Feb
25
Recent strikes of minibus drivers in Tbilisi have reminded all of us about the long-forgotten issue of labor rights in Georgia. Since the new government came to power in the beginning of October, employee protests have become a regular “inconvenience”. Some strikes lasted longer than others, as in the case of the Chiatura manganese mine and Poti port, generating significant losses for the Georgian economy. The situation reminded me of a year I spent as an exchange student in Thessaloniki, Greece, where walkouts by public and private servants became a dai...
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