The ascent of the Israeli economists: a historical perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT From the Zionist movement’s early days, it mobilised scientific and technical knowledge in order to implement its goals. Economists were also recruited for this mission, but not as decision-makers; they agreed with the political decision makers’ goals and policies and were involved in their implementation. The economists’ secondary status lasted up until the 1980s, when they helped to overcome the hyper-inflation crisis. They were mobilised to back the politicians, who implemented an unusual heterodox massive stabilisation plan. Its success became the economists’ springboard for massive political-economic influence. It was only after the program’s success, that their economic position gradually became central. Their position became dominant in the 1990s, after the politicians implemented privatisation, which opened up the neoliberal era in Israeli socio-economic policy. The political echelon accepted the neoliberal ideology as framework, while the economists actually applied it.