Vladimer Papava (Georgian: ვლადიმერ პაპავა) (born March 25, 1955) is a professor of economics at the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, an Academician at the Georgian National Academy of Sciences (2013), the former Rector of the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (August 16, 2013 – April 20, 2016), and the former Minister of Economy of Georgia (June 1994 – May 2000). Life and career Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Papava graduated Tbilisi State University (with a specialization in Economic Cybernetics) in 1977. He received his Candidate of Science degree in Economics (PhD) from the Central Economic Mathematical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, in 1982, and his Doctor of Science degree in economics from Tbilisi State University in 1989 and Leningrad State University in 1990. In 2005-2006 he was a visiting scholar at the Central Asia–Caucasus Institute at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of more than 400 publications. In 2013 He was elected on the position of the Rector of the main university of Georgia – Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. Contributions to Economics Papava is an author of the Semi-Productive Matrix Approach for Input-Output Models the Theory of the Economic Ability of the Government and Egalitarian Goods, the Model of an ‘Economy Without Taxes,’ the Theory of Laffer-Keynesian Synthesis, the Theory of the ‘Shadow Political Economy’ (with Nodar Khaduri), the Indexes of Tax Corruption, the Method of the ‘Social Promotion’ for Post-Communist Transition to Market Economy, the Doctrine of Market Equality and Its Application to the Process of Post- Communist Transformation, the Theory of ‘Necroeconomics – the Political Economy of Post-Communist Capitalism,’ measurement of catch-up effect in economic growth, and ‘Retroeconomics – the Theory of Moving from Dying to Brisk Economy.’ Contributions to Geopolitics Vladimer Papava (with Eldar Ismailov) elaborated the geopolitical Concept of the Central Caucasus. He also is an author of the geopolitical Concept of the Central Caucaso-Asia. Other Activities Papava is a Member of the Editorial Boards of the Problems of Economic Transition (USA), Central Asia and the Caucasus (Sweden), Journal of World Economic Research (USA), European Journal of Economic Studies (Slovak Republic), Transformations (Poland), Economy of Ukraine (Ukraine), Society and Economy (Russia), Finance: Theory and Practice (Russia) and Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences (Georgia). In 1992-2005 he was the Chief-Editor of the Proceedings of the Georgian Academy of