JIMS-CSJE Inaugural Lecture by Nobel Laureate Robert Aumann
Virtual Library
The CSJE virtual library contains a
large collection of studies touching upon Judaism and Economics. This bibliography is the first resource of its kind in the world.
The government's support for the business sector does not achieve its goals. Ultimately, it buttresses the concentration of economic power.
That is because the main beneficiaries of the assistance are giant corporations such as Nochi Dankner's IDB or Ofer family companies.
The study finds that over the years, large corporations won the lion's share of government grants and tax breaks, which unfairly increased
their market power at the expense of smaller companies.
The report recommends that the government should simply abolish the current system of grants for corporate investment.
Israelis have good reason to celebrate:
Tax Freedom Day (TFD) falls on June 22, 25 days earlier than in 2009.
It's the first time since 1990 that Israel can enjoy such an early TFD.
TFD marks the day when on average Israelis stop working for the government, and start earning money for private consumption (or savings).
For the first time since TFD was retroactively calculated in 1990, Israelis will work less to finance government expenditures than their private activities.
In 2010, Israelis will work 175 days for the government and 190 days for themselves.
JIMS' paper assesses the cost of Judicial Activism from the Israeli Supreme Court to be over 14 billion NIS. For example,
the decision not to privatize prisons cost the state about 9 billion. The legal rulings that delayed the building of the Israel Cross
Highway adds up to 6 billion shekels and the economic cost of heavier traffic on Road 1 after the opening of Highway 443 to Palestinian
cars is estimated at 3.5 billion.
Legislation to curb executive pay has been suggested by members of Knesset, and a ministerial committee has been set up to study the issue.
The paper reviews the academic literature in Israel and abroad on executive pay, and determines that executive pay is strongly correlated to
firm performance. Furthermore, the paper shows that the sharp rise in executive pay in recent decades can be fully explained by market-driven reasons.
On April 22, when Israel marked Earth Day, JIMS
hosted Israel’s first Human Achievement Hour.
Originally conceived by the Competitive Enterprise Institute in
2009, Human Achievement Hour coincides with the earth hour
campaign but salutes those who keep the lights on and produce
the energy that makes human achievement possible.
When it comes to teaching environment and climate change, the State of Israel, as many other western States has adopted the view of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC). In this paper, JIMS shows that the IPCC theories have been scientificaly questioned by other theories of climate change and therefore
Israeli students should be taught all competitive existing theories.
