Erez Cohen

The Effect of Advance Industry on the Resilience of the Economy during War - the Israeli Hi-tech Industry as a Case Study

Q e e( ect of war on domestic economic indicators has been repeatedly explored in many countries and regarding di( erent eras. Q e current study focuses on the Is- raeli economy during the Second Lebanon War, which erupted in 2006, and shows the contribution of Israels advanced industry to the resilience of the local economy during that period. Q is resilience is clearly manifested in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) indicator, which continued to grow at an increasing rate despite the war and unlike previous wartime eras experienced by Israel .Q e explanation of the change in the behavior of the GDP during the Second Lebanon War versus its behavior during previous wars is rooted in the striking technological transformation experienced by the Israeli economy from the mid-1990s until the onset of this war. Q e transformation resulted from the rapid and consistent development of Israels advanced industry, with its high recognized contribution to the Israeli economys total GDP, both in absolute terms and relative to other industries .Q e paper presents data attesting to this contri- bution and portraying its high probability.

The Office of the Chief Scientist and the financing of high tech research and development, 2000–2010

The Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) provides public financing for high tech Research and Development. This article describes the OCS and its evolution since 2000, and assesses the governments response to crises in venture capital financing during 2001–03 and 2008–10. It finds that the governments response was inadequate in 2001–03; the OCS budget was reduced, and essential reforms were adopted belatedly. In 2008–10, the picture is mixed; the OCS budget was increased in 2009, then reduced in 2010. In July 2010, the government proposed a comprehensive package of reforms, whose impact remains to be seen.

The rise in Israel’s real estate prices: sociodemographic aspects

Abstract The conspicuous rise in Israel’s housing prices from 2008 to date, after the stable prices in the early 2000s, has raised concerns of a property bubble in the Israeli economy. The grave effects of real estate bubbles that emerged in various countries around the world throughout history and led to severe long-term economic crises within the country and elsewhere add to the concern about such occurrences in the Israeli economy. This article focuses on the current effects of the real estate bubble on Israeli society at the preliminary stage, and examines the sociodemographic implications of Israel’s rise in housing prices and its impact on several social parameters, such as the average number of members in a household, Israel’s residential density, age at marriage, the extent of emigration from the country among the young, the population’s spread to peripheral areas, the inequality index, and more.

Regulation of Academia in Israel: Legislation, Policy, and Market Forces

The rapid development of Israel’s system of higher education in recent years has led to a sharp rise in the number of students, the establishment of new institutions certified to award degrees, and legislation and policy changes. The evolving circumstances are explored in the current article, which follows the sources, causes, and justifications for these changes. The study analyzes three major processes that occurred in Israel’s system of higher education since its reform in the early 1990s: the increase in the number of students, admission terms to the departments, and the demand for studies. The research findings indicate that it was the government’s decision to establish colleges in the early 1990s, rather than free market forces, that led to the considerable increase in enrollment for academic studies. Then again, free market forces appear to determine admission terms to the various departments in accordance with the principles of demand and supply. Furthermore, the government intervenes to regulate the supply of high-demand fields of study but does not complement this by acting to regulate demand trends, which are determined exclusively by the free will of applicants. Therefore, the research conclusion is that Israel has no clear well-formulated policy on higher education, a fact that allows the unrestrained detrimental domination of this system by free market forces.

Development of information technology industries in Israel and Ireland, 2000–2010

This article analyses the evolution of the advanced industries in Israel and Ireland in the 2000s and the ways they were affected by, and responded to the two major crises of the decade: the dot.com crisis of 2001–2003, and the subprime crisis that began in 2008. Changes in the economic indicators of these countries during the crises are analysed and compared in detail, with a focus on the hi-tech industries. In addition, government responses to the crises to which the industries were exposed and the courses of action taken (if any) to cope with damage to the local economies in general and the hi-tech industries in particular are discussed.