Joseph Zeira is professor of economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He lives in Jerusalem. Website josephzeira.weebly.com
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. "An excellent overview of the Israeli economy. Long before Israel became known as the Start-Up Nation, there were wars and massive immigration waves and hyperinflation. Zeira's brilliant book analyzes the factors that led to Israel's remarkable economic development, and also offers a sober assessment of some of the most pressing economic challenges the nation faces today."-Effi Benmelech, Northwestern University "A fascinating analysis of how, despite a tough geopolitical environment, a small and poor country became one of the richest countries in the world. Joseph Zeira does a masterful job of showing the role of human capital, fast technological adoption, and a good quality public sector in the Israeli economic success. These are important conclusions, and important lessons for other countries to learn from."-Olivier J. Blanchard, Peterson Institute for International Economics "Written by one of the finest macroeconomic theorists in the world, this book tells the fascinating story of Israel's miracle growth, covering a range of topics from the phenomenal success of the high-tech sector to the nation's unacceptable levels of inequality. The Israeli Economy will be of value not just to those interested in Israel but to students of development economics as well as policymakers in emerging economies trying to crack the secrets of growth."-Kaushik Basu, former chief economist at the World Bank "An insightful history. Zeira uses data, institutional facts, and economics to trace the development of the modern Israeli economy and provides an insightful analysis of the lessons to be learned from Israel's experiences. The book should be of great interest to economists and noneconomists alike. Highly recommended."-Martin S. Eichenbaum, Northwestern University
