Informing
Policy
for Progress

The Corona Crisis as a Growth Engine for the North of Israel

This report includes insights and recommendations on the Corona crisis as a growth engine for the north of Israel. It focuses in three areas: Economics & Industry 4.0, Education improvement, and the Social System in the north. This is a result of three roundtables in the above three areas. The work was done in a […]

Towards a reform of the tax system

Israel is facing very large fiscal needs as a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the need to upgrade vital public services after a long period of neglect, and therefore tax increases will be inevitable in the near future. At the same time the many flaws of the Israeli tax system call for urgent reform, […]

Crossing the Valley of Death Between Academic Research and Effective Policy

Why does much valuable academic research fail to impact public policy?  I argue that the way forward to relevance and credibility for economics lies through RCT’s – randomized controlled trials, in which the methodology of scientific experimentation joins with the theoretical insights of behavioral economics. By joining the insights of behavioral economics with the rigor […]

High tech nation and market driven economy

The paper posits that contrary to the common notion that the Israeli High-Tech industry is the consequence of the market-driven economy, in fact it is the results of far more profound reasons.

We will bounce back

This book comprises some 65 short blogs, written mostly during the coronavirus epidemic, in March and April.

Save lives, save jobs

This essay surveys emergency economic bailout programs in the wake of the pandemic, including the Israeli program, at a cost of 80 billion shekels.

The Health System at a Roadcross

The health system in Israel has long suffered from the growing scarcity of hospital beds, long queues for tests and services, overworked medical personnel, and overcrowded emergency rooms – all of which attest to systemic problems that require an urgent response. The Corona crisis provides further proof that decades long under-investment in the public health system […]