Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP11445
Authors: Assaf Razin; Steven Rosefielde
Abstract: The global economy has been buffeted by several unprecedented economic events during the past 35 years. Israel had a remarkable development, from a low income high-inflation developing economy in the 1970s, to a medium to high income stable- inflation advanced economy in the 2000s, while increasingly integrated into the world economy. We survey the impact of these events on Israel’s development, institutions, and economic policies. The extraordinary events surveyed include: (1) The collapse of the Soviet Union and the massive immigration to Israel which followed; (2) The Great Moderation in inflation and employment fluctuations in the advanced economies; (3) The 2008 global financial crisis, epi-centered in the US, and the contagion of the financial crisis to Europe; and (4) The rise of East Asia high-growth economies.Moderating spillovers from the advanced economies during the Great Moderation, the global information technology revolution, the influx of skilled immigrants from the former Soviet Union, the gradual buildup of robust and well-regulated financial institutions over decades after the hyper-inflation crisis, and the deep and extensive integration into the global economy, all provided the Israeli economy with an entry “ticket” to the OECD; the 35-member group of the world advanced economies. . However, it came at the cost of growing income inequality.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: F0; N51
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| collapse of the Soviet Union (P27) | rise in disposable income inequality (D31) |
| influx of skilled immigrants from the former Soviet Union (F22) | rise in disposable income inequality (D31) |
| rise in disposable income inequality (D31) | shift in welfare state's redistributive policies (H53) |
| Great Moderation (E65) | stable macroeconomic environment (E60) |
| stable macroeconomic environment (E60) | low inflation (E31) |
| stable macroeconomic environment (E60) | stable GDP growth (E20) |
| robust financial institutions and effective monetary policies (E58) | successful post-crisis performance (H12) |
| robust financial institutions and effective monetary policies (E58) | economic resilience (R23) |