Economic Policy

Israeli reserve soldiers are making unimaginable sacrifices to protect their country. To rise to the challenge of meeting the IDF's expanded personnel needs, Israel's policy solutions must be as diverse as are the reservists serving this nation. A "one-size-fits-all" compensation approach will not cut it. 

High cost of living in Israel is addressed at the Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society.

Bank of Israel Governor: “the Israeli economy has experienced a significant shock in recent months following the proposed changes to the judicial system... continued uncertainty has significant economic costs.”

Even though the tax seems to have reduced the use of disposable utensils, its repeal demonstrates that a sustainable change in behavior requires additional measures, including running information campaigns tailored to the ultra-orthodox, making alternatives available, and encouraging their use.

The majority of the population in Israel lacks significant precautionary savings and thus are not capable of dealing with Mega-Macro Shocks - mandatory precautionary savings should be put in place for all citizens for use during such a crisis.

With the Jewish New Year approaching, Israelis are pessimistic on the country's outlook but hopeful on peace with UAE; 41% of Israelis think the upcoming year will be worse than the last; 68% of Israelis think that Israel will be heading to elections when the budget compromise between Likud and Blue and White expires in December.

The current crisis threatens the heart of the labor market with 400,000 workers between the ages of 35-54 designated as "temporarily absent from work" due to the coronavirus

After three contentious election campaigns, Israel's new government has been sworn in. IDI's experts weigh-in with their recommendations on the most important issues on the agenda. Dr. Nasreen Hadad Haj-Yahya and Ayman Saif on the urgent challenges facing the 35th government to address the significant economic gaps that between Israel's Jewish and the Arab populations.

More than half of Israelis think a second wave is a matter of time and 39% think that the return to normalcy is too fast

Daphna Aviram Nitzan presents an analysis of unemployment in Israel in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Prof. Karnit Flug's press briefing today focued on the Coronavirus’ effect on the Israeli economy and policies that could mitigate the damage inflicted by the pandemic.

What will be the economic ramifications of the coronavirus outbreak on the Israeli economy? Prof. Karnit Flug explains.

The Israel Democracy Institute Names Former Bank of Israel Governor Karnit Flug William Davidson Fellow - new partnership will focus on ensuring Israel’s continued economic vitality.

Prof. Karnit Flug, former Governor of the Bank of Israel and currently Vice President for Research at the Israel Democracy Institute, analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the Israeli economy.

Developing human capital in Israel is the key to narrowing the labor productivity gap as a key to reducing income disparities

Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society – First Day, Second Session

Prof. Karnit Flug, Vice President of IDI and Former Governor of the Bank of Israel spoke at the 2019 Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society: “With no government in place, the ability to make economy-related decisions is impaired. In the current situation, what is done depends entirely on what the Knesset Finance Committee is prepared to do."

Benny Gantz, Chair of the Blue and White party and former IDF Chief of Staff spoke at the 2019 Eli Hurvitz Conference: "Government ministers bicker daily with the professional echelon - a situation that harms Israelis"

Yohanan Plesner, President of the Israel Democracy Institute and Prof. Eugene Kandel, CEO Start-Up Nation Central, open the two day conference, welcoming senior executives from the public and private sectors. 

Profit remains the ultimate objective, but the focus should be on profit for all those with a stake in a company, and not just its shareholders

In response to the Ease of Doing Business 2020 index that was published this morning, Daphna Aviram-Nitzan, director of the Center for Governance and Economics at the Israel Democracy Institute, who leads the regulation reduction project at the Institute, commented on Israel moving up 14 slots to the 35th place after 5 points improvement last year.

Excerpts from the presentation of Prof. Karnit Flug, IDI’s newly appointed Vice President, at the ‘Globes’ Governors Conference”

Two and a half weeks ahead of the elections, a special IDI survey reveals that the Israeli public gives government economic policies a failing grade and supports increasing the budgets allocated to health, education, welfare, and public transportation services

In light of their demographic growth, the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel have to attempt to become part of in the broader Israeli society.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is awarded high grades for improving Israel’s international standing (60%), enhancing the country's military strength (56%), and successfully contending with the Iranian threat (50.5%) but poor grades for failing to increase solidarity between Israel's different segments of society (51%) and on the question of personal integrity (49%).

How do young ultra-Orthodox couples cope with the housing crisis? The most recent figures on home-buying point to a change of the trend in the ultra-Orthodox internal migration. This change poses a challenge, but also an opportunity. How should the state respond?

Reframing the eco-system to prepare for Israel’s job market of the future.

Israel improved by five spots over last year in the index of 190 countries. In first place is New Zealand, followed by Singapore, Denmark, Hong Kong, and South Korea. The Ease of Doing Business Index is an international indicator of how easy it is to do business in various countries.

Guaranteeing an independent Supreme Court. Integrating the Ultra-Orthodox into the IDF. Boosting participation of Arab women in the workforce. Improving the ease of doing business in Israel. These are some of the challenges facing IDI’s new cadre of program and center directors.

A recent law stripped local authorities of the power to decide on allowing commercial activity on Shabbat and handed it over to the Minister of the Interior, a development which was met with public uproar. Would it not be better to leave these powers in the hands of the municipalities, which act according to the profile of their resident population? Dr. Shuki Friedman makes the case for leaving these decisions in the hands of the local authority.

Half of the Jewish Israeli public think that Palestinians deserve an independent state, but believe that the two-state solution would be impossible to implement.

On the occasion of this year’s Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society (June 19-20) the Israel Democracy Institute published a special survey to assess public opinion on Israel’s economic future.

Israel suffers from a shortage of skilled workers in manufacturing industries and hi-tech and an overflow of the service sector; priorities in the allocation of public resources for the training of human capital must be changed to better fit the needs of the economy.

The number of vacation days in Israel is among the lowest in the world. Research by Prof. Yotam Margalit presents a new model which will ensure a minimum of 18 vacation days for each worker.

Dr. Peter Jarrett, the head of the Country Studies Division at the OECD, says the government must do more to integrate all Israelis into the economy if it is to continue to prosper and grow. "Boasting that Arabs and Ultra-Orthodox Aside, Israel's Situation is Excellent - is Simply shortsighted and Foolish."

An ambitious plan aims at slashing the 4-6 years it currently takes to pass all the regulatory hurdles in Israel

For the first time since 2013- a decline in the number of ultra-Orthodox men in the workforce

For the ultra-Orthodox sector and for us as a society, justice is not charity.

Our Democracy Index shows that while Israel’s citizens love their country and are optimistic about its future, they feel a lack of confidence about their personal futures.

In a dynamic labor market, challenged by technological disruption and increasing longevity, flexibility is key.

srael's GDP is 40 percent lower than that of the U.S. and its level of productivity is 33% less than most OECD countries, according to a presentation by Dr. Karnit Flug, governor of the Bank of Israel.

As the Israel Democracy Institute's annual Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society kicks off today in Jerusalem, IDI's Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research sheds new light on Israeli socioeconomic discourse.

Israel Democracy Institute's leading economic conference will focus on integrating innovation into the government, actuarial crisis,
and role of business press, among other topics

Following the publication of the Poverty Report, Dr. Sami Miaari points out the large percentage of Arab Israelis that live in poverty. He says the current situation requires a new strategy and economic investment on several levels simultaneously. This article first appeared on Times of Israel.

Dr. Gilad Malach, who heads IDI's research program on the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, discusses the barriers that weigh down attempts to increase the employment rate in the Haredi community and suggests possible solutions.

Dr. Benny Porat discusses the precept of debt cancellation during the sabbatical year (Shemita) and proposes ways in which to update this practice to suit the economics of contemporary Israel and create a model society. 

An exploration of the existential, social, and economic dimensions of the Shmita year, that calls for bringing together social, moral, cultural, religious and national forces to implement the idea of Shmita in non-agricultural and national contexts in Israel.

In an op-ed, originally published on the Ynet website, IDI Senior Fellow Dr. Momi Dahan reflects on the wave of social protest of the summer of 2011 and stresses that the response to the protest must be a new social-economic agenda.

In this article, originally published in Haaretz on April 1, 2010, IDI Senior Researcher Prof. Avraham Ben-Bassat warns that Israel's policy of reducing taxes should be frozen since it may precipitate an economic crisis, and advocates giving preference to increasing public spending while preserving the economy's stability.

Prof. Yedidia Z. Stern examines the reality of the ongoing financial crisis, and tries to explain how such a rational industry gets carried away with reckless decision-making procedures.

With 50% of young Haredi men expected to enter the labor market actually those with poorer skills and abilities, there is an urgent need for an in-depth rethinking about Haredi education. 

For Israel's economy to grow, significant investment in building a strong and effective infrastructure for occupational training and reemployment is critical.

With the featured participation of: Bank of Israel Governor, Education Minister, Economy Minister, Director-General of the Finance Ministry, Director-General of the Prime Minister Office, Chairman of the Histadrut Labor Federation, Director-General of Bank Leumi, Director General of Microsoft Israel and other VIPs

Top Israeli economist, Professor Eytan Sheshinski, has joined IDI as a senior researcher in the Center for Governance and the Economy, under the leadership of Dafna Aviram-Nitzan.