Informing
Policy
for Progress

The global Environmental Market – An Economic Opportunity for Israel Primary model to assess the costs and benefits of governmental investment in the field of environmental technologies

Israel can and should play a viable role in the global market for environmental technologies. The role of the government should include not only direct financing of this sector, but also help in marketing, “door opening” and governmental insurance. The basic assumption of the model is that by using the governmental aid, the odds of […]

Sustainable Agriculture. How may the external values of agriculture be integrated as part of the farmer’s income, in the different areas of Israel

Agriculture takes a relatively marginal place in Israel’s economy today. The future of agriculture demands public intervention, and care. The need for sustaining agriculture is due to its external contribution, beyond its function in the production of food and fibers: aesthetical contributions in generating open green spaces; social contributions- values of the contact between Man […]

The Global Environmental Market – An Economic Opportunity for Israel. First Position Paper, Analysis and Initial Conclusions

For decades, Israel has led the world in finding new methods of water conservation. More recently, its scientists have also developed pioneering methods of environmental monitoring, protection & remediation, recycling and waste treatment as well as alternative energy. Israeli firms in this field are increasingly active in the emerging markets of developing countries. Israel is […]

Total Factor Productivity as a Performance Benchmark for Firms: Theory and Evidence, SNI R&D Policy Papers Series

We propose using Solow’s macroeconomic approach and the concept of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) as a microeconomic tool for analyzing individual firms. TFP long used in analyzing macroeconomic growth among countries, is a useful strategic performance benchmark for individual firms. TFP calculations permit managers and investors to partition labor productivity growth between two sharplydifferent underlying […]

Evolutionary Venture Capital Policies: Insights from a Product life Cycle Analysis of Israel’s Venture Capital Industry, Science, Technology and the Economy Program (STE) – Working Papers Series STE-WP-20-2003

The significance of VC as a component of the Silicon Valley model of high tech has led many countries during the 80s and 90s to implement government policies aimed at stimulating this activity. This paper suggests that a major factor in the failure of many of these policies to create an early phase, high tech […]

A Micro-Economic Approach to Government Support of R&D Investments in the Private Sector, Science, Technology and the Economy Program (STE) – Workin

This paper focuses on the economic decisions of the government to subsidize investments in the private sector, and to discriminate among firms in its support programs. The presumption is that, by taxing corporate profits the government, affects investment decisions made by corporations and causes them to invest less than what would be socially optimal. Accordingly, […]

The Impact of R&D Spillover on Growth and Productivity in Israeli Manufacturing Industries 1990-1994, Science, Technology and the Economy Program (STE) – Working Papers Series STE-WP-14

The study presents the positive external effects (spillovers) of investments in research and development in manufacturing industries, in Israel and abroad. This examination quantifies the spillover of domestic and imported technologies, through intermediates and capital goods, to establishments that did not participate directly in the research and development process. The analysis examines the interactions between […]

Incentives and Invention in Universities, Science, Technology and the Economy Program (STE) – Working Papers Series STE-WP-18-2003

We show that economic incentives affect the number and commercial value of inventions generated in universities. Using panel data for 102 U.S. universities during the period 1991-1999, we find that universities which give higher royalty shares to academic scientists generate more inventions and higher license income, controlling for other factors including university size, quality, research […]