Lecture: Weiss, Social and Economic Policy in Israel (Berkeley, April 7, 2016)

Thursday, April 7

PUBLIC LECTURE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC POLICY IN ISRAEL  Avi Weiss Executive Director of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel Time & Location To Be Announced Please RSVP Here Co-sponsored by the Department of Economics

New Article: Benchimol, Money and Monetary Policy in Israel during the Last Decade

Benchimol, Jonathan. “Money and Monetary Policy in Israel during the Last Decade.” Journal of Policy Modeling (early view; online first).

 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2015.12.007
 
Abstract

This study examines how money and monetary policy have influenced output and inflation during the past decade in Israel by comparing two New Keynesian DSGE models. One is a baseline separable model (Gali, 2008) and the other assumes non-separable household preferences between consumption and money (Benchimol & Fourcans, 2012). We test both models by using rolling window Bayesian estimations over the last decade (2001-2013). The results of the presented dynamic analysis show that the sensitivity of output with respect to money shocks increased during the Dot-com, Intifada, and Subprime crises. The role of monetary policy increased during these crises, especially with regard to inflation, even though the effectiveness of conventional monetary policy decreased during the Subprime crisis. In addition, the non-separable model including money provides lower forecast errors than the baseline separable model without money, while the influence of money on output fluctuations can be seen as a good predictive indicator of bank and debt risks. By impacting and monitoring households’ money holdings, policy makers could improve their forecasts and crisis management through models considering monetary aggregates.

 

 

 

New Book: Krampf, The National Origins of the Market Economy (in Hebrew)

קרמפף, אריה. המקורות הלאומיים של כלכלת השוק. פיתוח כלכלי בתקופת עיצובו של הקפיטליזם הישראלי. ירושלים: מאגנס, 2015.

 

 

URL: http://www.magnespress.co.il/

 

About the Book

During the consolidation of Israeli capitalism, economic policy went through dramatic changes that reflected the key challenges of its society, the power relations between various groups of Israeli political economy, and the changes in worldviews and economic theories in the global arena. This book surveys the shifts in economic worldviews that guided the policymakers of of the State of Israel, and identifies the causes of these changes. The book is based on a variety of historical documents, some of which did not gain scholarly attention so far, and illuminates many issues from a new perspective. It also exposes unknown episodes in the history of political economy of the pre-State years and of Israel. The author presents this economic history in a clear and coherent storyline, readily accessible to readers. This cohesion is achieved through a crystallized and innovative theoretical framework. The book focuses on the period from the 1930s to the year 1967. However, readers will be able to better understand the nature of the relations between the state and the market today and gain insights about Israel’s economic and political future. (Yuval Yonay)

The author presents his readers, both professionals and the general public, with data, analasis and a narrative which will surprise many of them. Many will be surprised to learn that the planners of Israeli economy were far less socialist than they are told to be, and that the process of the formation of Israeli capitalism began long before the era of liberalization and globalization. (Guy Rolnik)

For a full Table of Contents (in Hebrew) click here (PDF).