Some Perspectives on the Israeli Economy: Stocktaking and Looking Ahead

The overall economic record of Israel in the last decades has been a rather mixed one. It involved secular—albeit not uninterrupted—growth coupled with extremely high income inequality and increasing poverty, and with rising concentration and excessive market power, hampering competition in a number of significant industries. This record is the main concern of this article, which comparatively examines its main attributes and implications, and addresses some of the pressing issues that have surfaced in the intensive debates (culminating in the recent social protest and its aftermath) on economic policies and Israel’s socio-economic prospects. In discussing these issues, the fundamental question—what are the socio-economic regimes that the Israeli society could adopt, given its values, needs, and preferences—is considered.