[PDF] Israels Crisis And Economic Reform eBook

Author : Michael Bruno
Publisher :
Page : 76 pages
File Size : 20,68 MB
Release : 1989
Category : Economic conditions
ISBN :

GET BOOK

This article analyses the roots of the deep crisis that has afflicted the Israeli economy since 1973 and the attempt at economic reform and recovery since 1985. All of these are discussed against the background of the long-term evolution in Israel's structure and growth process. At the center of the analysis lie the implications of an oversized government and especially the devastating effects on growth and inflation of the large and persistent public sector deficit on top of the growing tax and public expenditure levels. The norm of "living beyond one's means" at the public sector level has also severely affected the norms of behavior of the private, household as well as business, sectors. Since 1985 there have been signs of recovery originating from the balancing of the budget and the relative stabilization of the currency. Labor and capital markets are gradually becoming more flexible and real interest rates are coming down. Even so, inflation rates are not yet down to international levels, continued budget balance is not assured and excessive wage increases have substantially diminished profit rates and investments in the business sector. Structural problems, rooted in economic mismanagement of the crisis years, are surfacing. Resumption of a sustained growth process requires persistent budget balance and a substantial additional reduction in public expenditure and tax levels. Structural reforms, only barely started, have to be persistently followed in the labor and capital markets, in the fiscal system, and in the further opening up of commodity and financial markets to competition from both home and abroad

Author : Michael Bruno
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 47,28 MB
Release : 1993
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0198286635

GET BOOK

This book authoritatively considers the phenomenon of the severe economic crises of the 1970s and 1980s, as exemplified by the combination of high inflation and negative growth in Israel and Latin America. The author analyses the common characteristics of such processes and their possible cures-with a detailed first-hand account of Israeli stabilization policy, and a comparative policy-oriented analysis of Latin American reforms. Professor Bruno also calls on his experience to give a preliminary evaluation of recent stabilizations and reform attempts in several East European economies. The discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of `shock' treatments provides a good example for the blending of a number of disciplines: lessons of economic history; open economy monetary and macro theory; game-theoretic applications to the theory of economic policy design (concepts such as dynamic inconsistency, government reputation, and credibility); and the rationalization of incomes policy. The Clarendon Lectures in Economics were established in 1987. They consist of coherent sets of three or four lectures given by distinguished economists which are accessible to advanced undergraduates and also of interest to academics. Subjects vary from high theory and applications of theory to policy-oriented topics. Lecturers include Professors J.-M. Grandmont, David Kreps, Kenneth Arrow, Angus Deaton, Robert Schiller, and Oliver Hart.

Author : Maoz Rosenthal
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 163 pages
File Size : 12,81 MB
Release : 2016-11-22
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1498513425

GET BOOK

This book examines the governability crisis faced by Israeli governmental institutions. For a long period of time, observers of Israel’s government have reported the same phenomena: instability in most political positions not allowing for proper policy design, enhanced control of the bureaucracy over the policy making process, and complete uncertainty regarding the implementation of policies by the bureaucracy. However, while one expects that with such a toxic combination of all the wrong policy making components Israel would collapse, Israel has been able to achieve quite impressive landmarks in its overall performance. During the first decade of the 21st century, Israel became an OECD member and enjoyed high growth when the world was facing stagnation and economic collapse. Israel’s government, which regularly faces quandaries in a variety of policy fields, is able to initiate large scale policies when needed. Yet, this same government refrains from initiating large-scale reforms in institutional structures. Hence, for analysts of political institutions, the Israeli state of affairs is one of choice: while initiating changes to reform and overhaul the Israeli institutional system is possible it is also perilous. To cope with that duality Israeli political leadership on all sides has developeda variety of mechanisms that allow them to provide the policy output needed so as to maintain the status-quo. This book examines these mechanisms as they exist in different facets of government work and explains their output and persistence. Examples include coalitional making and breaking, the ways in which ruling coalitions maneuver in parliament, and policy design and implementation. The book also explores the problem that exists in Israel’s governability: the lack of a strategic high-order far sighted decision making. Finally, it offers a method of electoral reform that can address both of these systemic maladies.

Author : Asa Maron
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 13,24 MB
Release : 2017-04-14
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0192511467

GET BOOK

This book explores the politics, institutional dynamics, and outcomes of neoliberal restructuring in Israel. It puts forward a bold proposition: that the very creation of a neoliberal political economy may be largely a state project. Correspondingly, it argues that key political conflicts surrounding the realization of this project may occur within the state. Neoliberal restructuring and the institutionalization of permanent austerity are dependent on reconfigured power relations between state actors and are manifested in a new institutional architecture of the state. This architecture, in turn, is the context in which efforts to change social and employment policies play themselves out. The volume frames the coming of neoliberalism in Israel as a set of concrete and far-reaching changes in the power and modes of operation of the key players in the political economy. These changes undermined and neutralized veto players and enabled the ascendance of two state agencies - the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank - which gained greatly augmented authority and autonomy. These reconfigurations were set in motion by state initiatives that combined punctuated and incremental change. The volume comprises case studies of changes in specific social and labor market policies, revealing a close elective affinity between programmatic neoliberal changes on the one hand, and on the other the proactive drive of the Ministry of Finance to enhance its control over public spending and policy design. The book explores successful neoliberal reforms but also reforms that were blocked, undermined, or overturned by opposition, emphasizing the importance of reformers' capacity to translate temporary achievements into entrenched strategic advantages.

Author : Yoram Ben-Porath
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 452 pages
File Size : 10,35 MB
Release : 1986
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780674468788

GET BOOK

Research papers on economic conditions in Israel - considers population growth and its role in economic growth; covers structural changes in economic structure and industrial structure, capital investment, relationships between educational level and wage differentials, public expenditure on defence and public services, income redistribution, taxation, etc.; examines balance of payments and energy problems, the system of cost of living allowance, and dynamics of inflation; includes economic policy suggestions. Graphs, references, statistical tables.

Author : Jonathan Nitzan
Publisher : Pluto Press
Page : 430 pages
File Size : 29,12 MB
Release : 2002-08-20
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780745316758

GET BOOK

The debate about globalisation and its discontents

Author : Gershon Shafir
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 305 pages
File Size : 28,5 MB
Release : 2018-02-13
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0429964714

GET BOOK

The New Israel: Peacemaking and Liberalization argues that the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian peace process will be expedited by increased economic liberalization. Israel has undergone dramatic economic change in the 1990s, shifting from a strongly protectionist, state-centered economy to a more international, neoliberal one. The book maintains that these fundamental changes have in turn transformed Israeli society as a whole, resulting in a significant moderation of attitudes toward the Palestinian people and Palestinian nationalism. The New Israel contains contributions from both established Israeli sociologists and promising young scholars. The New Israel: Peacemaking and Liberalization is an insightful commentary on one of the most crucial international issues of our time.

Author : Daniel Schiffman
Publisher : Springer
Page : 180 pages
File Size : 47,17 MB
Release : 2018-03-06
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 3319606824

GET BOOK

This book illustrates the role of international economic advisors in the development of Israel’s economic policies. Based on extensive archival and historical research, it presents case studies on the policy impacts of the world-renowned advisors Michal Kalecki, Abba Lerner, Richard Kahn, Milton Friedman, Herbert Stein and Stanley Fischer. The authors evaluate the contributions of these advisors to policy developments in various fields, including international trade and capital flows, exchange rates, fiscal and monetary policy, industrial policy and labor relations. Readers will discover a wealth of previously unpublished information on these advisors’ activities, perspectives on policy and interactions with policymakers and the public. Using the Israeli experience as a guide, the authors subsequently derive general hypotheses regarding the conditions that are conducive to the success of economic advisors.

Author : Daniel Maman
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 17,38 MB
Release : 2011-03-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1136822364

GET BOOK

This book examines the local and global political and institutional processes that have led to the strengthening of the Israeli central bank within the context of the now predominant neoliberal regime. Using Israel as a case study to identify broader patterns around the world, the authors examine the strengthening of central banks as a key dimension of the institutionalisation of the global regime. Drawing on an in-depth analysis of the political economy of the Israeli central bank since the mid-1980s, the authors show how the Bank of Israel mobilized global logics in order to strengthen its position vis-à-vis competing actors, especially the Ministry of Finance, and to promote the institutionalisation of the neoliberal regime. Employing a conflict-centered theoretical perspective, the authors elucidate the character of this institutional transformation and the mechanisms that were involved. Chapters examine the different phases of the process of central bank strengthening, focusing on the actors involved, the interactions between them, and the political strategies they employed, and analyse the consequences of the process for the shift in macro-economic management and in the mode of state involvement in the economy. Addressing the political and institutional processes that have led to the fundamental transformation of Israeli political economy, this book is a valuable addition to the existing literature on the Israeli banking system, political economy and globalisation.