More on the topic of consumption… now on to durable goods and ownership in Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian households. TVs and DVD players: Everyone, more or less, in Armenia and Azerbaijan has a TV. Interestingly, less than two-thirds of Georgians in 2007 had a TV — is this a refugee issue? An electricity issue? (Electricity…
Sanitation — not the most interesting of topics, but nonetheless telling. Anyone that has visited the Caucasus can tell you that trash is problematic. And anyone that has travelled outside of the capital cities can discuss outhouses / outdoor toliet facilities. Taking into consideration that Armenia is the most urban of the three countries, it…
This begins a series of blogs looking at comparative economic wellbeing in the Caucasus. My primary questions are: who is doing well? Is wealth changing over time? and What are the differences/similarities between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. (This is Caucasus Barometer 2007-2010). The first topic is utilities. Some scholars argue that access to utilities is…
As I’ve discussed before, the sex ratio imbalance in the Caucasus is of great concern. In this region that already faces instability, the 2 consequences of sex imbalance (first general population decline, second more boys than girls) could have dire consequences. In other sex-imbalanced countries, the labor market decreases which slows economic growth. Men can’t…
I’ve been working on a project recently looking at lack of awareness of the Internet. In the U.S. we take for granted that most people know what the Internet is and have a general sense of what it can do, even if they don’t use it themselves. However, even in the U.S., there were (and…
Is there a “migration crisis” in the Caucasus? Maybe! There seems to be an increase in interest in migration in Armenia and in Azerbaijan and Georgia, while interest is high, it remains relatively stable. Based on the Caucasus Barometer, 40% of Georgians, half of Azerbaijanis, and 59% of Armenians are interested in temporary migration (This…
How do Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and Georgians feel about the direction in which their countries are headed? The 2010 Caucasus Barometer tells us that opinions on this are mixed. Few people in any of the three countries think that their country is definitely headed in the right direction (3% Armenia, 11% Azerbaijan, 11% Georgia), although some…
This analysis was conducted on the 2007 Caucasus Barometer on questions dealing with approval of being friends with, doing business with, and marrying other nationalities/ethnic groups. (I apologize that this is more “statistics-y” than other posts. I did this analysis for a statistics class assignment a few years ago but thought that people might be…
According to the 2010 Caucasus Barometer, people in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia have strong opinions about how their governments treat citizens. Three-quarters of Armenians (74%) do not believe that the Armenian government treats its citizens fairly (half strongly believe this and half somewhat believe this). Half of Azerbaijanis and 43 percent of Georgians think that…
People in the Caucasus think that their court systems favor some people over others, according to the 2010 Caucasus Barometer. Over half of Armenians (54%) and Azerbaijanis (57%) believe that this, and 43 percent of Georgians do. And while those that say that they don’t know are high in each country (10% of Armenians, 18%…