This book discusses the period before and after the Soviet collapse and the impact on Georgia's economy and society. It examines the political economy and the technicalities of Georgia's groundbreaking reforms in 2004-2012 and how they were part of the broad state-building and modernization effort. The author elaborates on the three main pillars of Georgia's growth and investor outreach: health of the sovereign balance sheet, soundness of the business environment and the efficiency of the banking sector. The book also provides cross-country discussion to show how the state building lessons from Georgia could be applied to other similar economies and will be of interest to scholars and professionals in the fields of public finance and economic growth.