On June 30, Caucasus University hosted the public defense of the doctoral dissertation by Valida Pantsulaia, a student of the English-language PhD Program in Economics at the School of Economics. The dissertation was titled “The Effectiveness of Macroprudential Policy in Small Open Economies: Evidence from Panel Local Projections” and was supervised by Mariam Kharaishvili.

The dissertation defense was held before the Dissertation Committee composed of:

• Vano Benidze, Professor, School of Economics, Caucasus University;
• Mariam Kharaishvili, Assistant Professor, International School of Economics at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (ISET);
• Azer Dilanchiev, Professor, School of Economics, Caucasus University;
• Davit Keshelava, Assistant Professor, International School of Economics at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (ISET);
• Akaki Tsomaia, Professor, School of Economics, Caucasus University.

During the defense, the doctoral candidate presented her dissertation and responded to the questions raised by the Committee. The reviewer, Professor Azer Dilanchiev of Caucasus University, then shared his evaluation of the dissertation.

Based on the assessment of the Dissertation Committee, Valida Pantsulaia successfully defended her dissertation and was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Economics.