A rigorous analysis of the role played by globalization in key episodes in the development of the Israeli economy, from hyperinflation crisis to high-tech surge. Anti-globalization sentiments are rising, especially in Europe and the United States, with the increasingly integrated global economy blamed for domestic economic distress. In this book, Assaf Razin argues that Israel offers a counterexample to this view, showing decisively positive economic effects of globalized finance, trade, and immigration. He offers a rigorous analysis of the role played by globalization in key episodes in the remarkable development of the Israeli economy. His findings may hold lessons for productivity-challenged advanced economies as well as for other countries such as China currently making the transition to fully developed economies. Razin examines the wave of immigration after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as highly skilled Soviet Jews migrated to Israel and the effect on income inequality; the Great Moderation of inflation and employment in advanced economies, as Israel's inflation converged in parallel with low world inflation rates; Israel's robustness in the face of the deflation shocks of the 2008 financial crisis; and technology transmission through foreign direct investment, reinforcing Israel's high-tech sector surge. He also considers such ongoing challenges as high fertility and low labor market participation and the economic costs of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

An authoritative economic history of Israel from its founding to the present In 1922, there were ninety thousand Jews in Palestine, a small country in a poor and volatile region. Today, Israel has a population of nine million and is one of the richest countries in the world. The Israeli Economy tells the story of this remarkable transformation, shedding critical new light on Israel's rapid economic growth. Joseph Zeira takes readers from those early days to today, describing how Israel's economic development occurred amid intense fighting with the Palestinians and neighboring Arab countries. He reveals how the new state's astonishing growth continued into the early 1970s, and traces this growth to public investment in education and to large foreign transfers. Zeira analyzes the costs of the Arab-Israeli conflict, demonstrating how economic output could be vastly greater with a comprehensive peace. He discusses how Israel went through intensive neoliberal economic policies in recent decades, and shows how these policies not only failed to enhance economic performance, but led to significant social inequality. Based on more than two decades of groundbreaking research, The Israeli Economy is an in-depth survey of a modern economy that has experienced rapid growth, wars, immigration waves, and other significant shocks. It thus offers important lessons for nations around the world.

Contents: (1) U.S.-Israeli Relations and the Role of Foreign Aid; (2) U.S. Bilateral Military Aid to Israel: A 10-Year Military Aid Agreement; Foreign Military Financing; Ongoing U.S.-Israeli Defense Procurement Negotiations; (3) Defense Budget Appropriations for U.S.-Israeli Missile Defense Programs: Multi-Layered Missile Defense; High Altitude Missile Defense System; (4) Aid Restrictions and Possible Violations: Israeli Arms Sales to China; Israeli Settlements; (5) Other Ongoing Assistance and Cooperative Programs: Migration and Refugee Assistance; Loan Guarantees for Economic Recovery; American Schools and Hospitals Abroad Program; U.S.-Israeli Scientific and Business Cooperation; (6) Historical Background. Illustrations.

The Israeli economy was performing well before the COVID-19 shock but the pandemic is threatening to reverse some of Israel’s recent economic achievements, raise poverty and exacerbate wide productivity disparities between its vibrant high-tech sector and lagging sheltered sectors. Lockdown measures and high uncertainty have led to a sharp contraction in output and reduced employment.

What the world can learn from Israel's meteoric economic success. Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion dollar question: How is it that Israel -- a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources-- produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK? With the savvy of foreign policy insiders, Senor and Singer examine the lessons of the country's adversity-driven culture, which flattens hierarchy and elevates informality-- all backed up by government policies focused on innovation. In a world where economies as diverse as Ireland, Singapore and Dubai have tried to re-create the "Israel effect", there are entrepreneurial lessons well worth noting. As America reboots its own economy and can-do spirit, there's never been a better time to look at this remarkable and resilient nation for some impressive, surprising clues.

In recent years, Israel has deeply and quickly transformed itself from a self-perceived social-democratic regime into a privatized and liberalized "Start-Up Nation" and a highly divided society. This transition to neoliberalism has been coupled with the adoption of a hawkish and isolationist foreign policy. How can such a deep change be explained? How can a state presumably founded on the basis of socialist ideas, turn within a few decades into a country characterized by a level of inequality comparable to that of the United States? By presenting a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the evolution of the Israeli economy from the 1930s to the 1990s, The Israeli Path to Neoliberalism seeks to explain the Israeli path to neoliberalism. It debunks the ‘from-socialism-to-liberalization’ narrative, arguing that the evolution of Israeli capitalism cannot be described or explained as a simple transplantation of imported economic models from advanced liberal democracies. Rather, it asserts that the Israeli variant of capitalism is the product of the encounter between imported Western institutional models and policy ideas, on the one hand, and domestic economic, social and security policy problems on the other. This mechanism of change enables us to understand the factors that gave rise to Israel’s unique combination of liberalization and strong national sentiments. Providing an in-depth analysis of Israel’s transformation to neoliberalism, the book is a valuable resource for those studying the economic history of Israel, or the political economy of late-developing countries.

The debate about globalisation and its discontents